I've routinely seen this little bean-like thing that I've always thought of as the kidney in regular-sized chickens. But I'm not sure WHAT it really is.... But if it IS the kidney, a Cornish game hen kidney must be near microscopic!

You almost definitely have the liver and heart. Maybe a gizzard.

 

Usually its just the heart, gizzard and liver not including the kidneys. My guess is the bean shaped thing you see is actually the heart. Unless its kinda a yellowish color and then it could be a gland of some kind.

Here's a good image to figure out what is what:

 

Uh ha, the bean things (hard and a lot bigger than a bean) would most definately be the heart. I know as I packaged up a few hundred chicken hearts yesterday for freezing.

 

Okay I thawed it out and it looks like I have a liver, a heart, a gizzard still stuck together. I think I also got lucky and got a kidney stuck on the outside of the bag At least I think it's a kidney judging from that picture, but with a yellow tint, which went away when I rinsed it a little.

How do you guys portion your organs for storage? These Cornish hen organs are tiny and no problem, but when I buy a beef liver or something of that size...organ is mushy and I see it freezing together into this giant frozen mess after I cut it up. Lots of little baggies or ice cube trays?

 

I feed one organ meal every couple weeks or so. I cut meal-sized portions up and put them in ziplock bags (I know, I know. But organs are the only thing I put in ziplock bags). I put each one in the freezer in a way so that it isn't touching anything else (and NOT on the wire freezer rack. It oozes right down in-between and gets stuck after it freezes and expands). Once it's pretty frozen, I move them together.

Sometimes, if I'm cutting up a bunch of stuff and organs happen to be one of them, I'll just toss a meal sized chunk into the tupperware container with the rest of the week's meals.

But if you have a small dog or feed organs every day, I really like your ice cube tray idea.

 

We aren't to organs just yet, (although I have plenty for when the day comes), and am wondering, with the one organ meal, is it the same amount, weight that is, as a regular meal or is it a smaller amount because it's so rich?

My girl hoodlum will be a sort of small dog...no more than 25 pounds, estimated, at adult weight....would I still feed her about a half a pound of organ meat once in awhile or would I make the amount smaller? And would that be all she gets or do I mix it with something else to equal half a pound of food?

 

When you first start feed organs, you want to do it verrrrryyy slooooowly. Like, a thumbnail size piece added to a bony meal. Gradually working up to a full meal-sized portion, poundage-wise.

But how you feed organs will depend on how well they like them. Ania likes them so I give her a whole meals worth every few weeks. Some dogs don't like organs, and have to have them force fed. This is probably easier to do with a full meal-sized amount. Some people feed tiny portions of organ every day.

 

Send it to me, I will dispose of that nasty heart for you.:biggrin:

It is great stuff, feed it as a rich meat.

 

The beef heart would be perfect to feed to the cats, since it is high in taurine. Heart is an important part of a cat's raw diet.

Of course it's good to feed to the dogs too!