Questions for hunters/those who butcher

[navygirl]

An offal question... what to do with large amounts (when butchering a number of animals or a large one)? Compost it? Dump in the boonies? Bury in the back yard? I'm asking 'cause I'm gearing up to butcher 25 chickens...

[MELOC]

i have foxes nearby who take care of all that sort of stuff. i cracked a groundhog this morning before i left for work and didn't have time to move it to the stone row where the varmints pick up their gifts. i would be surprised if it is still in the garden in the morning when i go to move it.

however, i would recommend composting it. why waste the nutrients?

[Bearfootfarm]

I have 7 dogs.
What they won't eat the buzzards will.

[LonelyNorthwind]

I have crab pots.

[stanb999]

With chickens the big issue is the feathers. The innards won't be too much. In order of what IMHO is best.

1.Put it out with the trash. It is garbage.
2.Burn it in a brush pile. It will turn to ash... but due this only if you don't have neighbors.
3.Bury it Deep. This will some what prevent critters from digging it up.
4.Compost. You need a good active pile.

Never just leave it to the wilds... Those feathers,heads,feet will last longer than your good sensibility.

[Riverdale]

Originally Posted by GrammasCabin

I have crab pots.

I use it to bait snapping turtle traps

The feathers compost nicely.

[fishhead]

I would scrounge up some carbon and compost it.

[Bear]

I chuck everything into the woods.

[agmantoo]

I took a 275 gallon surplused fuel tank and cut one end out and I also cut a hole about 16 inches in diameter in the other end. I buried the tank vertically and with the open end down and the 16" hole at the top but with this hole about 2 feet underground. A 2 ft long scrap piece of culvert was centered on the hole and dirt filled over the tank. A concrete lid from a well casing was recycled to function as a lid. I drop all slaughter waste into the bottomless tank and add some lime. It takes some time to decompose but doesn't smell a few feet away if the lid is in place.

[Kmac15]

we dig a hole at the edge of the garden, place a plastic tub near the butcher table and just dump it when we are done. Now the feathers are another bother, we put as many as we can into the tub but we seem to find feathers floating around for weeks.

We do the same for the hogs, tried to convince the city breed nephew we were planting hogs heads to grow more hogs LOL

[Trisha in WA]

we compost anything that doesn't get fed to the dogs. Dig a nice deep hole in the compost pile and cover with carbon and lots of stinky manure. We have never had anything get dug up.

[texican]

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs. Some of our big dogs will even munch on feathers.

Depending on the breed, you could sell the feathers on ebay or whatnot, for flyfishing lures. Or, you could make yourself "Indian Chief" headdresses. Or, dreamweavers. Or, or, or....

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by MELOC

i have foxes nearby who take care of all that sort of stuff. i cracked a groundhog this morning before i left for work and didn't have time to move it to the stone row where the varmints pick up their gifts. i would be surprised if it is still in the garden in the morning when i go to move it.

however, i would recommend composting it. why waste the nutrients?

Man I wish we had enough Groundhogs to hunt.Be extra for the Freezer.

We throw cleanings out in ther woods.

big rockpile

[Kris in MI]

I do about 25 chickens every fall. I collect feathers, heads, feet, guts in a large bucket. When done butchering, dh digs a hole in the garden w/the front loader on our tractor about 18" deep, we spread out the contents of the butcher bucket, and backfill the hole. Have not had any problems yet with critters digging up the offal.

[newtdog]

Bait a wire basket or 2 for catfish

[wogglebug]

Don't waste the chicken legs!

There's a lot of flavour and food in there!

Scald them in boiling water for a minute or two, then pop off hard covers of spurs and claws; and peel off the outer skin. This leaves the legs clean and smooth.

Now just boil them for stock. Almost all the leg will "disappear" as the gelatine dissolves, and you are left with an intensely chicken-flavoured stock. Delicious! This is what you get if you buy commercial canned chicken soup or stock, except they water it down.

[hotzcatz]

Yup, chicken feet into chicken stock. Best thing ever! Especially if you have enough of them to make a big pot of it. Otherwise, after cooking the chicken, boil the carcass for stock. They sell chicken feet in Chinatown on Oahu. There is a big open bin of chicken feet on a pile of ice and you can buy them by the pound.

We put the feathers into the compost and bury the heads and innards in the back of the garden. The livers are usually cooked up for the dogs.

Sometimes we peel the chickens and flatten the skins on a board then salt the back of them. That ends up with chicken "shields" as sort of a wall artwork sort of thing. This is especially good for barred rock roosters since the fly fisherfolk like to buy the flattened feathered skins to make fishing lures with. The fisherfolks are mostly looking for the neck and hackle feathers, although sometimes they like a tail feather or two.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

I took a 275 gallon surplused fuel tank and cut one end out and I also cut a hole about 16 inches in diameter in the other end. I buried the tank vertically and with the open end down and the 16" hole at the top but with this hole about 2 feet underground. A 2 ft long scrap piece of culvert was centered on the hole and dirt filled over the tank. A concrete lid from a well casing was recycled to function as a lid. I drop all slaughter waste into the bottomless tank and add some lime. It takes some time to decompose but doesn't smell a few feet away if the lid is in place.

hmmm. thats a neat idea

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by wogglebug

Don't waste the chicken legs!

There's a lot of flavour and food in there!

Scald them in boiling water for a minute or two, then pop off hard covers of spurs and claws; and peel off the outer skin. This leaves the legs clean and smooth.

Now just boil them for stock. Almost all the leg will "disappear" as the gelatine dissolves, and you are left with an intensely chicken-flavoured stock. Delicious! This is what you get if you buy commercial canned chicken soup or stock, except they water it down.

I wanna try that. Intersting

[Pony]

We compost what the resident animals (dog, cats, various poultry) won't eat. You ought to see the ducks go after rabbit lungs and kidneys!

Also use the bits and pieces for baiting live traps.

And yes! Chicken legs make the most fantastic, incredibly rich broth! MMMmmm good!