Everything But the Squeal

I've heard that everything from a pig can be used but the squeal.  I don't think I'd be lining up to eat pig brains or eyeballs or snout or anything like that, but it's an interesting idea.  I don't have a pig, but I do have chickens, as a lot of people do.  So I wonder if the same saying might apply and us chicken owners might find ways to use what the chickens provide?  Chickens obviously give us eggs.  They can also give us meat.  The remnants from butchering can give us healthier soil.  But there are things a chicken gives that maybe we wonder what to do with.  Things like egg shells and feathers.  What do we do with those?

Egg shells might be the easiest thing to recycle: just feed them back to your chickens.  I do this here at our little farm.  I collect the shells from the eggs that I use in a bag in the freezer, after rinsing them.  Then, when the bag is REALLY full, I take the shells and dry them.  With all the heat we've had, they went outside for a few days to sit in the sun.  When they are really crunchy, they are done.  I take the shells, put them in a heavy duty bag, and smash the heck out of them.   Then I feed them back to the chickens.  Voila! Calcium for them, less waste for me.  What a beautiful cycle.  They lay the eggs, we use the eggs, we give the shells back when we're done.  Ultimate recycling. 

What about the feathers, though?  

They can be composted.  Or you can leave them on the grass and when the mower goes over them, they are chopped up and fertilize the grass for you.  With the geese finishing their molting, and the new chickens losing their "baby" plumage, it's looked like the inside of a feather pillow here for quite a while.  Some of the feathers are so pretty, that it's a shame to just leave them on the ground or throw them in the compost.

I'll tell you a secret: I don't like to waste anything, if I can help it.  And the pretty feathers are too pretty for me not to keep.  So I keep them.  Ever since our chickens have been shedding feathers, I have been collecting them.  The nicest ones I have kept in a bag in the garage to use later.  After quite a while (about a year or so), my bag was full and it was time to use the feathers.  So I made this:

Isn't that purty??   Those are feathers from pretty much all our chickens, past and present.  Everyone is represented to some extent, I should think.  I used a styrofoam wreath form from the craft store, bundled feathers into 4 and 5 feather bundles, secured them with floral tape, and then hot glued them on.  I used loose feathers to fill in the blanks.

I am very pleased with the way it came out, and I'm really pleased that I could use all those pretty feathers.  If you have some pretty chickens (and we all do, don't we?), and you have the mind to do it, save those feathers and make something pretty!  I think you will be pleased with the results!

Linking to: