Raw Feeding Question About The Frozen Meat…?
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Dec 9th, 2009 |
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I had gotten chicken backs for my dogs but getting a whole chicken is cheaper and more for your money, esp with the sales! i already have 2 frozen whole chickens. but..how would you break up the chicken..to only feed what they need..(yes ok this is probably one of those q’s that you say “well..duh” after reading, but i am one of those ppl who have eaten frozen dinners all through school..i don’t know much about defrosting and how to cut up a frozen chicken!!)
how do you guys do this part?
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The chicken has to be thawed (or at least mostly thawed) before you cut it up. Find the joints in the legs and wings, and sever at the joint. A good quality, large kitchen knife is a must for this. Cut the thighs off as well. Following the backbone, then angling down along the ribs, remove each breast – depending on the size of the chicken, each breast can be cut into 2 pieces. When done, you should have 8-10 pieces: 2-4 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 wings (you can cut the wings into 3 pieces each if necessary).
Add: to sever at the joint, flex the joint – you can feel where the two bones connect – cut there. It gets *much, much, much* easier with practise!!!
Add#2 – raw chicken bones are fine – ANY cooked bone is bad, but I’m sure the asker knows this already
Defrosting I can help you with I buy leg quarters and it is cheaper where I am so can’t help with the cutting.
I defrost my chicken in the fridge since I pack 4 quarters to a bag it takes about two days or if I am in a rush I fill up the sink with cool water, they can eat them a little frozen but not hard as a rock.
Raw chicken bones are Great for dogs, dispite what another poster has said. Its COOKED one that are a issue.
If you buy your chickens at the grocery, see if the men at the butcher counter/ Meat counter will cut them for you. Most of the time they will cut up a whole fryer for free if you just ask. Then you can break the meat down into smaller packages and freeze it until you need it. Also.. buying just wings is a great way to do it. they come already cut up ready to drop in ziplock baggies and your done
Have you ever gone to http://www.dogster.com?
They have a great forum (you will see it at the top labeled forums) about raw food feeding. There are awesome people there to answer questions that have been doing it for years. I know there are some people here that have some knowledge but there it is all about raw food and you will find so much more helpful information. You can post questions and read other peoples post and answers. This helped me a lot when I first got into it. Plus you can post things about your pets if you wish. There is one post now called “so you are interested in feeding your dog raw food” it has 151 replies.
Check it out, it will give you a lot of insight!
Good Luck and Congrats on the raw food feeding!!!
Chicken great. One of the very best foods for dogs, well done you. Yes, let it defrost and get a huge knife and off you go. Please watch your fingers so you don’t injure yourself.
DOGS MUST HAVE RAW BONES IN THEIR DIET -> this is for all of the people who answered who don’t understand about feeding RAW.
u must first cut it into sizable portions so that each time you take out a portion you allow it to thaw and then feed it to the dog rather than thawing the whole chicken and giving it bits and then freezing the rest.
Alton Brown from the Food Network had an excellent episode related to the easiest way to do this and the order that makes other portions easier. I’ll try and find the link.
I had a chef show me how to butcher a chicken– It really is quite easy once you learn how to look for the joints– I’ve altered how *I* do it because I have big dogs and I feed the breast plate as a whole– and when removing the wings I also remove a good quantity of breast meat (unless I’m stripping the breast meat off for the humans!).
I’ll bet there is a YouTube video of butchering a chicken.
FWIW– I refreeze meat if I haven’t completely and utterly thawed it (ie: chopped it up still slightly frozen)– my dogs don’t complain!
Oh.. Pork butts are on sale here– this is something I chop into meal size pieces pre-freezing. Its a great meat source to round out a chicken wing or chicken back meal (since they are heavy on the bone and light on the meat).
How to butcher a chicken:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SNjIzsKX…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9L_hxcad…
To break apart breast plate/backbone just run a knife through the small bones on either side … then *I* just rip.. I find its easier.
The reality is.. the dogs won’t care what style you use and you will develop your own way that works for you and your dogs.
Edit: Thawing- I thaw meat for my dogs in the “vegie” compartment” of my fridge… it keeps any possible leakage out of the rest of the fridge and I can pull it out to wash it. I have one friend who has a plastic bin in her fridge for thawing. I have other friends who thaw meat in coolers.
why would you feed any chicken to your dog that still has the bones?? Chicken off the bone ok, on the bone BAD BAD owner, chicken and pork bones will splinter and puncture the intestines and lead to death. JUST SAY NO TO PEOPLE FOOD PERIOD or if it is a vet. dietary thing, then boil the whole chicken pull the meat off the bone mix with cooked rice and freeze the portions for your dog…or refrigerate up to 3 days and it is fine remove the protion to heat prior to heating do not continue to reheat the whole portion.