Selfsufficientish.com

i always give the chicken carcasses along with the skin and horrible bits to the dog. theirs a few spiky bones that i pick out first in case they jag her mouth or throat. its messy work but the dog loves it.
when we kill our chickens im just going to put the carcasses into freezer bags and freeze them. then just take out one and boil it up with some rice and add some of our leftovers for the dog's dinner

feathers and any other leftovers not suitable for the dog i thought could just be composted.

Can you not mince the feathers in the same thing that you mince the bones in? Maybe make them wet before they go through, then they'll be a fine consistency to stick in the compost?

I have no idea...just theorising..

I think when I have to worry about this again (I haven't set any eggs to incubate yet this year), I will separate the fluffy downy feathers and see how well they compost as they are. The coarser wing and tail quill feathers will probably end up still being burnt unless I can find an easy way to deal with them in a better way.
Then it would be nice to find a better way to deal with the heads, feet and intestines other than burying them.

Any milliners, fly fishers etc round your way?

You can give the heads and feet, so long as they are uncooked, to the dogs along with the intestines, minus the gallbladder.

Or I've been reliably informed, by my non-veggie husband that you can wash the intestines and wrap them tightly around the chicken's liver or heart and either roast or cook it in broth. http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 4&p=106515 It's his fave bit.

Chicken's heads and feet are traditionally used to make Jewish penicillin (chicken broth) as they are the most flavoursome part of a chicken.

contadina wrote:Chicken's heads and feet are traditionally used to make Jewish penicillin (chicken broth) as they are the most flavoursome part of a chicken.

Full of gelatine. Mmm

Would a heavy-duty cross-cut shredder take the feathers? That might get the volume reduced to the point that boiling/steaming would become practical.

Feathers and hair are very high in nitrogen and organic sulphur and are fine additions to the compost heap. They tend to clump together, so they need to be admixed with other stuff. My preferred blend is a mixture of hair & feathers with up to four times their volume of grass clippings and the cleanings from the guinea pigs (they are bedded on wood shavings). This is one addition to the compost heap that I don't water with wee.

Nice one Jon, that encapsulates for me the best of this site,the perfect antidote to the life they would have us lead.


For me ,Top ' Ish ' post this year.

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:Feathers and hair are very high in nitrogen and organic sulphur and are fine additions to the compost heap. They tend to clump together, so they need to be mixed with other stuff. My preferred blend is a mixture of hair & feathers with up to four times their volume of grass clippings and the cleaning's from the guinea pigs (they are bedded on wood shavings). This is one addition to the compost heap that I don't water with wee.

i was planning on just composting the chicken leftovers, the feathers are other bits the dog wont eat.
seems to me like burning, boiling, shredding or whatever is a waste of energy, and time and effort.

but i like the idea of making pillows, quilts ect from the feathers, im going to have a go at that
maybe i could even make some patchwork cushions ect to sell at the market along with our fruit and veg..........

oldjerry wrote:Nice one Jon, that encapsulates for me the best of this site,the perfect antidote to the life they would have us lead.


For me ,Top ' Ish ' post this year.

I'm touched!

I'm just a tired old compost junkie, that's all.

Just take a bow ,isoteric with knobs on. I love it.

Here they eat all the insides of the chicken (except the bile gland). Heart, liver, kidneys, lungs are all cooked and eaten. The intestines get cleaned out and used as 'meat noodles' - I don't like them personally, but they are very popular.

Another thing they do is clean the intestines and then wrap them very tightly together and wrap with some more to make a sausagey type thing. This then gets boiled/steamed and then roasted (or barbecued) and sliced for dinner. I'll try to get a picture if i can find one somewhere.

demi wrote:

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:Feathers and hair are very high in nitrogen and organic sulphur and are fine additions to the compost heap. They tend to clump together, so they need to be mixed with other stuff. My preferred blend is a mixture of hair & feathers with up to four times their volume of grass clippings and the cleaning's from the guinea pigs (they are bedded on wood shavings). This is one addition to the compost heap that I don't water with wee.

i was planning on just composting the chicken leftovers, the feathers are other bits the dog wont eat.
seems to me like burning, boiling, shredding or whatever is a waste of energy, and time and effort.

but i like the idea of making pillows, quilts ect from the feathers, im going to have a go at that
maybe i could even make some patchwork cushions ect to sell at the market along with our fruit and veg..........

Pop them in a bag in the freezer before making pillows - will kill the bird mites.