Dry, crush, and toss into the compost pile or directly into the garden. You can also freeze them and use them to make meat stock.

But honestly, as small as they are I just put them in the compost bins as is. Dog can't get into my bins.

Dave

Make stock then bury in compost or trash.

Dry them, pulverize in a food processor, and use the bone meal as a fertilizer. At least you will know it didn't come from cows with mad cow.

If they are too hard, try boiling them first for about an hour, and then baking them in a really hot oven for another hour -- this seems to make them easier to grind.

How about, after you make stock, you put them in a gallon jar with cheap vinegar. They turn to rubber pretty fast and save you the grinding step. Toss the whole thing in the compost bin when it's full and bones are soft.

Bones are one of the few things that go into the trash around here.

I make broth, first, then into the trash they go.

I thought you weren't supposed to compost animal products (except for egg shells)?

We put them in a ziploc bag and freeze them to make stock and then (or if I'm not making stock, like from BBQ ribs) put them back in the bag and throw it in the trash. Gotta bag all our scraps that we don't compost or put down the disposal b/c of the bear(s) and raccoons. Coyotes don't seem to go after trash.

I thought you weren't supposed to compost animal products (except for egg shells)?

Actually in many rural areas and even at stockyards, chicken farms and cattle ranches, composting dead animals and animal products is a common practice.

While there are some who don't care to do it for personal reasons, there certainly is no 'rule' against it. It depends on your type of composting and your composting set up.

Dave

If you've got bears, you sure don't want to put animal scraps into the compost. They'd be bad enough just going after veggie scraps.

Probably multiple reasons why composting animal products is discouraged -- 1) flies; 2) scavengers/predators; 3) odor; 4) contamination of water sources with bacteria from decomposition.

It would have to be a judgement call based on individual circumstances. For example, living in the 'burbs, I sure wouldn't want to dump the carcass of a large dead animal, even something the size of a raccoon or opossum, into a typical suburban gardener's compost pile. But, I have buried carcasses of things killed in the road, as well as unwanted fish heads and guts, chicken skin, etc., nice and deep, like 18 inches, under/along side plants, trees, shrubs, and they seem to like it.

I would say, a few CLEAN bones (not a lot of flesh attached) would be OK in a compost pile, with the knowledge that some critter may get in there and drag them around, making a mess to pick up.