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Chicken guts....

 
Posts: 79
Location: Manitoba Canada
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Yep, I know. Not the most pleasant topic, but I gotta do it.

What do you guys do with the guts after you slaughter your chickens? I don't like dumping them in the bush to let nature take care of it because it attracts foxes and the like. Same goes for composting it (plus I haven't mastered the art of keeping it from smelling). I hate taking the guts to the dump, just because I hate taking ANYTHING to the dump and knowing it will be buried instead of used in a productive way.

So is there anything else I can do with the mess that you guys can think of that won't attract other critters, but that doesn't do more harm than good?
 
Posts: 116
Location: Southcentral Alaska
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If I don't have any animals to feed them to I bury them. I use post hole diggers I can dig a 3' hole and keep it small.
 
pollinator
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I also bury them and cover the spot with a large rock to discourage critters from digging.

 
James Stark
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I love the idea of using a post hole digger! I've buried them before, but wanted to avoid the digging. This would let me make a hole deep enough, without breaking my back. AND, I think I'll add a rock on top for good measure.
 
steward
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I keep the gizzard, heart and liver.  The rest goes into the compost.  Never had a problem with critters getting into the heap.
 
James Stark
Posts: 79
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Ken Peavey wrote:
I keep the gizzard, heart and liver.  The rest goes into the compost.   Never had a problem with critters getting into the heap.

Between my dogs and the resident foxes (whom I still haven't managed to get rid of) my compost heap would end up being spread out over an acre or two. Otherwise, I would most definitely keep trying to compost it, and work on the smell factor. I do compost the blood though.
 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
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James Stark wrote:
the resident foxes (whom I still haven't managed to get rid of)



Pretty hard to discourage foxes from hanging around when you've got chickens!
 
Posts: 65
Location: OR - Willamette Valley
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Pigs are awesome for cleaning up bodies, uh, evidence, uh, chicken guts (whew).  You could feed some to your dogs too.
 
steward
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Between my dogs and the resident foxes (whom I still haven't managed to get rid of) my compost heap would end up being spread out over an acre or two.



That is permaculture.  I wish I had enough dogs/foxes to spread my compost.  'twould save me a lot of labor!
 
                                    
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I bury them in a hole at least 12 inches deep, under a fruit tree or similar plant that can benefit from the nutrients.

Never had an issue with anything digging them up as long as they're at least a foot deep.
 
out to pasture
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I pop mine into the freezer then when I meet up with my vegetarian friend who breeds reptiles, I give them to him and he raises giant meal-worms on them to feed to his breeding stock. 

I used to put them in the humanure heap, well buried under the humanure!
 
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I add mine to a freezer bucket and use them as bait when I go fishing. Better than anything you can buy. Catfish jump into the boat when I use it.
 
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Location: Chihuahua Desert
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Guts go to the pigs, bones to the dogs.
 
                        
Posts: 66
Location: San Diego
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I have a soldier fly setup that takes care of my rabbit guts. I have a small space and had to decide between chickens or rabbits and chose rabbits. I wish I had room for both. Soldier flies also take care of things like moldy cheese that don't do well in compost. The leachate from the setup is a bit smelly but excellent fertilizer.
 
James Stark
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Location: Manitoba Canada
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Thanks everyone for your input. I took all the advice and kind of combined it. I built a sturdy wooden composter, and I'll bury the guts in the middle, surrounded by spent wood shavings from the rat barn. The high carbon will hopefully contain the moisture and keep it from smelling, since it will have about a foot and a half of matereal on all sides of the guts. I'm also planning to save some to go fishing on the river for channel cats!
 
pollinator
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Location: zone 7
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black soldier fly bin. toss the stuff in, it will be gone in 24 hours, no smell, no fuss. then you can feed the larvae to the chickens again. or actually you can set it up where the larvae self harvest. all you have to do is dump in scraps.
 
James Stark
Posts: 79
Location: Manitoba Canada
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Are black soldier flies native to the Canadian praries though? Can't seem to find any local info on them.
 
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        If you have space for a catfish pond in a green house or sunroom the catfish would clean up the guts and you never have to worry about smell or rats. Fish are efficient feed converters and the thermal mass of their tank would be useful for solar heating or for greenhouse temperature control.
 
master gardener
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Chicken byproduct/carcass that is not going to be consumed is slated for composting. I will make a hole in an existing pile and encase the parts and pieces in a bubble of carbon. This could be sawdust or shavings but I have some under and over then I close up the pile. Add some moisture to get that bad boy started and it generally processes down nicely.
 
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