# Can we feed pigs chicken guts, when we butcher chickens?



## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

We're planning to get 2-3 feeder pigs in the spring. This will be our first year raising them.

We raise 100 chickens per year and process them all at once. Can we give the guts to the pigs? What about the heads and feathers?

We're planning on having the pigs right off the garden and using hog panels and an electric fence. We want to throw all of the garden refuse,l tablet scraps, etc. over the fence to them to supplement the grain.

How bad will 2-3 pigs stink? They will be within about 150 feet of the house.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

My opinion for what it is worth!!
Can you feed pigs chicken guts heads etc? Yes, BUT. If I were going to do it I would cook them to remove any chance of disease transmission or possibly entice them to eat other LIVE chickens you may not want them to eat. Will a pig eat a raw chicken, absolutely. if your pigs can catch one of your live chickens they will eat it before you get a chance to. Feathers?? there would be no nutritional value, so I see no reason to feed feathers???
Can you feed them Garden scraps? absolutely, although there are some vegetables like potatoes and the like that they would gain more nutrition from if cooked first.
Will they stink?? absolutely in the middle of summer if you keep them in a pen close to your house you will probably only do it for a little while until you are looking for an alternative housing area farther away. 

Now to get back to feeding chicken guts. If you are raising them for yourself, probably not a big deal. If you are thinking of selling any of them you probably need to check with your local and state laws beforehand, there is probably some sort of regulation covering this. 
Last here is how I decide what to feed pigs I am going to eat. Ask yourself this. If I went to another farm to buy a butcher pig and the farmer told me he raised his pigs on raw chicken guts and heads would I still buy it?? If the answer is yes, then no problem. If the answer is NO then you may want to rethink what to do with your chicken guts.
I would feed some scraps to breeding animals or younger pigs I was going to keep for myself, certainly would not be feeding them animal byproducts close to butcher time, if at all. I would never consider feeding animal byproducts to a pig I was planning to sell to someone.


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## PasturedPork (Jan 22, 2014)

I wouldn't do it. Your looking at a high risk for disease. 

Compost the guts.


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## PasturedPork (Jan 22, 2014)

Stink depends on how much area they have. I raised 2 pigs in a 30x40 pen within 50 feet of my house and they never smelled.


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## WildRoots (Nov 24, 2013)

Compost the chicken. Get some layers, boil the extra eggs. Great protein no disease


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Legally in most states you can feed the chicken guts to the pigs provided that you're not selling the pork. If you are selling the pork then the answer is you have to either cook the guts or not feed them - varies by state.

Disease is not a problem if there are not disease problems in your chickens. You judge.

Meat composts very nicely.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

I thought composting the guts would attract predators or rats. I'd be glad to compost them if that would work out.

I never thought of feeding them the extra eggs - we sure do end up with a lot of extra eggs. Of course there's the extra goats milk, too, which is the whole reason we thought of getting pigs.

I don't know if I would want to eat a pig that ate chicken guts - that's why I'm asking. Would it make them taste funny? It would just be the one batch. As far as disease goes - we raise our chickens in chicken tractors for us and our friends and family. We would never eat diseased chickens or give them to friends or family. We're planning on butchering chickens the last weekend in May. IDK how big the pigs will be by then or if the guts of 100 chickens would be way too much for them. The pigs will be processed in October or November.

It was just a thought that occurred to me last night when we were talking about getting the pigs - that we might not have to worry about disposing of byproducts this year.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Composting meat works very well. If you have a predator problem put a hot wire around it. If you have a rat problem put it in a sealed barrel with vents. I compost tons of meat. Works great. See:
http://www.sugarmtnfarm.com/?s=compost

Eggs are a really good food, especially for the younger pigs. Highly nutritious and easy to digest. Cook to double the available protein. Boiling is easy.

Dairy is fantastic too. Yogurtize.

I do not expect that eating the chicken guts won't make the pigs taste off. It isn't going to be a whole lot. Flavor goes into the fat in the last one to three months of an animal's life.

If you're worried about disease, just cook the chicken guts, offal, etc. Cooking kills almost everything.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Just an option, but one that I would probably consider if I were in your situation. I would find a big pot or wash tub and I would cook all of the chicken byproducts in a big pot of water OUTSIDE. Then I would mix it with the grain making a slop or mash or whatever you would like to call it and feed it out over several days or a week. 
I guess you can tell from the comments there is no Right or Wrong answer necessarily to your question, just differing opinions really!!


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

Eeeeewww - cooking guts LOL! I can imagine the smell and I'm getting nauseated just thinking about it!  Then I'd have to keep it refrigerated for several days or a week. . . . in my refrigerator . . . . . 

yeah I think I'll just compost


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## PasturedPork (Jan 22, 2014)

I've never had issues with predators if I bury the offal deeply in an active pile.

We raise about 100 meat birds a year and I compost the wastes from them


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I will offer a bit of general advice, just because you said you were new to pigs etc. many first time animal owners or persons with little experience with animals make the same mistake of judging, food, living conditions, housing etc, by what they would find comfortable or good (as a Human). Most of the time this line of thinking will cause a person to spend unnecessary money and take unnecessary time doing things that in the end will be of little or no benefit to the animals health or well being. Try not to think of the welfare of your animal in terms of what "you" think would be good, but in terms of what the very nature of the animal in question would find acceptable. 
To you the smell of cooking byproducts may be bad, I can almost guarantee you it given the choice or having both offered at the same time, the pig would choose to eat the byproduct soup over ground corn any day!!. As far as refrigeration. If you plan your chicken killing in the fall when it is cool, this should not be an issue. Even in the summer after it is cooked it would be ok to feed for several days, if kept in a relatively cool shady place. 
I am neither encouraging you to feed this or encouraging you not to. I am simply saying, you cannot necessarily equate what you would like to what a pig would like. You may think you are doing them a favor only feeding them corn and not the chicken soup, but from a pigs point of view, they are wondering why you are keeping all the GOOD stuff from them!!! Just something to think about.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Pigs have been known to eat raw humans and survive just fine.. I can't see anything wrong with feeding pigs chicken entrails so long as they look normal when butchered... Myself, I'd feed it... but then again, I'm not going to be selling my pigs.. I'll be eating them and I'd be fine with it..


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

You could put the guts in the compost pile and then turn the pigs loose to flip your compost. That way you can cover all angles!


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Guess I won't invite you over for haggis and brawn...


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Had to look that one up.
Funny how different a language can be even in the same country. I sure like me some good head cheese, I would certainly accept an invite (if you Yankee's didn't live so far north!! haha) I am originally from Louisiana and you can still find blood sausage and Boudin made the right way (with all the good stuff in it) if you look hard. Of course the best is what you make at home. Who ever said there is 40% waste on a pig ain't ever been to my house during butcher time, maybe 20%!!
Actually, after you keep the heart liver and gizzard, there is not a whole lot to throw away on a chicken??


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## palm farmer (Jan 3, 2014)

i would not hesitate to feed it to them, you may want to freeze some of it in case its not too much at once, and feather meal is a feed stuff ingredient.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

barnbilder said:


> You could put the guts in the compost pile and then turn the pigs loose to flip your compost. That way you can cover all angles!


Hhheeeeeeyyyy! Awesome idea!


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## Nom_de_Plume (Feb 12, 2017)

I'm replying to this old thread only because it came up in a google search I was doing for someone else. One thing to avoid feeding your pigs (especially when you're processing up 100 chickens at at time) is the feet, they are too high in selenium and can give your pigs selenium toxicosis. Yes pigs do need selenium but in low doses only.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

I'm dubious of that. References? Selenium tolerance is fairly wide. I'm wondering why the feet would be higher in selenium than other parts...


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## Nom_de_Plume (Feb 12, 2017)

Don't have documentation, but when our pigs started getting anorexic and shedding their hair, the vet said it was selenium toxicosis, we own a poultry slaughterhouse and giving them a large amount of feet The vet told me chicken feet are high in selenium. He recommended them for our dogs with arthritis.


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

I always packaged up the feet separately after cleaning them up as best I could, and sold those separately. They make good soup, or so I've been told. There is an ethnic market for chicken feet, and they are also good for doggie treats!


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Interesting... It is also interesting in that usually selenium deficiency is the issue rather than excess.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

http://www.mealographer.com/food/Chicken/feet-boiled-05335.html


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## Nom_de_Plume (Feb 12, 2017)

http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/502/selenium/


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## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

Muleman said:


> Just an option, but one that I would probably consider if I were in your situation. I would find a big pot or wash tub and I would cook all of the chicken byproducts in a big pot of water OUTSIDE. Then I would mix it with the grain making a slop or mash or whatever you would like to call it and feed it out over several days or a week.
> I guess you can tell from the comments there is no Right or Wrong answer necessarily to your question, just differing opinions really!!


that is a good idea, and if you have way more then you can feed before it would go off, that would freeze well. Wonderful thing about freezing feed is it last forever and has almost no smell when frozen, so it won't stink up the place.


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