> BUT --- it's the bones that get me... I don't have a grinder and I'm
> nervous about adding bone... I know marrow is a great source of
> protein... and I don't know anything really about grinders...
 
What you all are making is very, very close to Bob Church's chicken
gravy.  Just add a couple of simple ingredients and you're there!  Bob
has taken pains to make sure the recipe is as nutritionally balanced
as we currently know about, so it might be something worth looking into
for you.  Look here for more information:
http://www.trifl.org/gravy.shtml  (I'm not associated with this site,
just refer to it often.)
 
As far as bones go, you have about five options.  You can leave them out
as you are now, but you're missing out on a lot of good nutrition in
them.  It's not so much proteins as essential vitamins and minerals that
you miss without them.  The marrow is good stuff, but so is the bone
itself.  Bob's diet and nutrition posts give much more detail if you're
interested.  Or, you can give the whole, raw bones to your ferrets.
They might not figure out what to do with them and you have to watch
for ferrets stashing them, though.  Or, you could grind the bones.
It's easier to grind them with the meat at the same time, but I don't
recommend it as it's messy, hard work.  (And you MUST clean the grinder
very carefully to prevent the potential spread of bacteria.)  Or, you
could have a butcher grind whole chickens for you.  Finally, what I use
and recommend, is wet cooking the bones for a long time.  (I pressure
cook them, actually.)  You're going to lose a small amount of delicate
vitamins this way, but most of the nutrients will still be there.  After
wet cooking long enough, chicken bones will soften to the point where a
kitchen blender will take them apart easily.  (You can test by squeezing
a thigh bone between your fingers.  If you can crush it, your blender
will have no problem with it.)  Just blend them up and mix the result
with the meat.  (I do them both at the same time.)  You may get some
small bone fragments, but they're nearly guaranteed to have smooth edges
by this point, and ferrets tend to eat around them anyway.
 
Don't try this with a food processor, and don't dry-cook the bones.  Dry
cooking makes them harder, while wet cooking softens them.
 
Good luck with your gravies!
 
roger
[Posted in FML issue 4778]