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Post by mjbez on Mar 31, 2014 11:56:57 GMT -5
How is it going?
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 1, 2014 10:01:10 GMT -5
Well. I'm stopping at the meat market tonight on my way home to get more boneless chicken to chop up as pieces for F&A. The boys have been fully raw for over 4 months now. I'm not sure if F&A will ever give up their commercial grinds. I have thought about trying tough love and see if they'll eat 100% pieces if they get hungry enough.
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 2, 2014 10:02:33 GMT -5
HUGE breakthrough this morning. F&A were very hungry, so I mixed up 3 parts organ soup and 2 parts small chicken pieces. No commercial anything. THEY ATE IT! Not all of it yet, but both tucked in and ate about half a bowl.
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Post by mjbez on Apr 2, 2014 22:10:47 GMT -5
That's awesome! Don't give up on the idea of them eating a non commercial diet. Many ferrets are on the soupir stage for a long time before taking fully to pieces. Just keep increasing the number of pieces in their mix. Keep up the good work.
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Post by mjbez on Apr 2, 2014 22:12:02 GMT -5
Are you mainly feeding chicken pieces?
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 2, 2014 23:01:17 GMT -5
Yes, the pieces that they've been eating are chicken. I chopped the chicken up, put it in a baggie, and flattened it evenly before I froze it. Once it was frozen, I was able to break a piece off and put it in the daily ration. Once I got near the end though, it was too thick to break, so I threw the entire thing in with organs to see what they would do. They didn't go back and finish off the meal like they usually do though. They ate about half and it just sat there till tonight's meal.
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Post by mjbez on Apr 3, 2014 8:12:13 GMT -5
Well if there were a lot more chunks in it, and the same amount of organs, then they probably ate about the same amount of oz. One thing I found mine preferred with their chunks was to cut them into sliver like pieces. So, longer but narrow. This helped transition mine onto bigger pieces as a few of mine didn't like the chunkier pieces at first. The narrow pieces are easier to pick up and chew. I would like you to try a meal of about 1/2 and 1/2 pieces and commercial raw. Try about doubling the length but making them narrow. So like 1-1.5 inches long but no more than about .5 inches wide. I made mine even narrower. I'm curious what A&F would think. It's worth a try
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 3, 2014 10:54:10 GMT -5
I reduced the organs from 5 cubes to 3 and added about 2 cubes worth of chicken pieces...they were about 1/2" long and 1/8-3/16" thick and maybe 3/8-1/2" wide. I'll try the 1/2 chicken, 1/2 cgf tonight. Which cgf would you recommend? I have frozen commercial chicken, rabbit, duck, lamb, & venison/lamb, as well as FDR Turkey. I'll be getting home later than usual, so they should be hungry. lol
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 3, 2014 20:27:58 GMT -5
So here was the view this evening. They ate the pieces. They were hungry, but they didn't eat as much as they usually do, even with the kitten helping out. lol
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 3, 2014 23:06:08 GMT -5
Yay! Foster went back for seconds later on!
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Post by mjbez on Apr 6, 2014 10:23:00 GMT -5
Sorry for not replying sooner. Life had been absolutely crazy. This week report cards went out so there were p/t interviews (so very long days). I apologize. But know that you are doing a great job! That is awesome. Just so you know when they eat pieces they may eat a little less. Chewing requires work For the cgf you use, use whatever they seem to like best. I would use something other than chicken since they get chicken chunks but if you are rotating it doesn't matter. Do you always leave the food in the cage for in between meals? You mentioned foster went back for more which they usually will do after a little while.
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 6, 2014 17:18:21 GMT -5
I leave the food in there until the next meal. Last night, they ate the entire thing...strips and all. I think that was mostly Avery. He was out free roaming until the wee hours, and when he finally stumbled in, he ate enthusiastically. :thumbsup:
Weights are good: Foster-2 lb 5.5ish oz (he is very wiggly) Avery - 2 lb 8.5 oz Kimble - 2 lb 7.5 oz
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Post by mjbez on Apr 6, 2014 21:00:08 GMT -5
Looking really good! Keep it up. Slowly increase the chunks. Are you finding strips work best?
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Post by kraesmom on Apr 6, 2014 23:30:44 GMT -5
I don't know if it is the shape or the frequency they are getting them, but something seems to be working.
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Post by mjbez on Apr 7, 2014 15:52:41 GMT -5
That's awesome. Keep it up.
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