[neezerfan]

I read in today’s paper there is a live poultry market near me. Who knew? They have chickens, ducks, guinea hens and rabbits. Quail, squab and pheasant available on request. I’m thinking if I buy from this place I’ll want to grind the chicken and duck, then freeze it. What is a recommended grinder to use? I’d like to know what that will cost me before I decide to go local or get already ground from Hare Today or MPC.
I’m kind of freaked out by the thought of ordering a live animal to be killed. I’m more comfortable in the fantasy world of the grocery store.
So, I’ll be visiting this place on Friday to see what’s what and how the prices are. They also sell soup hens, any advantage to those?
Thanks for your advice!

[theBCnut]

No advantage to soup hens except price. They are usually old laying hens, which means they are pretty boney, not much meat. Sandy’s grinder is the way to go!

[pugmomsandy]

A commercial grinder at least 1 HP – runs around $500+. I use a Weston 22 and I can grind whole chickens, young ducks and turkeys and pork ribs and lamb ribs. I haven’t tried beef ribs as they are pretty hard and don’t want to possibly break the grinder! But they are really good gnaw/recreational bones. Cabela’s has some grinders too. I can buy most ingredients (heart/gizzard/kidney/spleen) for less $2 and depending on what kind of chicken you prefer, large bags of chicken thighs are $0.39/lb or organic chickens are $3+/lb. You can buy whole turkeys cheap after Thanksgiving and stock up. But you will need a freezer too! I’ve ground 100 lbs in 15 minutes before.

There’s a demo video here:

http://www.northcoastpets.com/barf_hardware.htm

[pugmomsandy]

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_5170952x1024_zpsec466d4d.jpg

[neezerfan]

Yikes! Barf hardware is right!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Sandy you have the fanciest stuff! I have a hand crank grinder that belonged to my stepdad’s grandmother lol. Works great though and I don’t really grind too much, just some beef hearts and pork hearts once in awhile.

[neezerfan]

Yeah,, that grinder’s not in my budget. The #8 is supposed to grind chicken, duck and rabbit bones but the instructions say specifically not to grind bones with this model. Confusing.

[pugmomsandy]

For my small dogs, grinding stuff up together works since they get such a small amount I can balance it out better than feeding them several pieces like you do. And they still do get RMBs. It would be difficult to feed 4.5 oz meat, .5 oz bone, and .5 oz organ (.25 oz liver).

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