Post by Corvidophile on Sept 9, 2015 23:10:17 GMT -5
I'd like to have an organized critique on how I feed Winnipeg, I guess this would be the place to put it?
A couple of things first:
I don't want a dedicated mentor because I can't get on the computer to type up long things regularly. I can't commit to the frequency of updates I see others doing. It takes a whole lot more time and energy for me to explain myself over several paragraphs than it does to chop up two months worth of food. So please be patient, just because I don't update daily doesn't mean I'm not avoiding the thread or not doing things, I just need time to collect my thoughts sometimes, I'm shy and have a job that requires tons of socializing with customers, so my drive to form words at the end of the day is often zilch.
Second, I also don't follow the same feeding schedule you guys do. I know that makes me a pain in the butt to judge because you have to think and convert amounts instead of falling back in the same numbers that apply to most other members here. It also makes it a pain in the butt for me to reply and discuss my ways, because I too have to think and convert amounts when referencing all the guides and advice posted previously. (For those who haven't read my past posts or forgot, I give mixed bags every meal instead of doing bone-in meal, organ meal, etc) But I do feel very strongly about how I feed, and don't wish to separate it into themed days. Since I've only got one ferret, there isn't any issue with imbalance from preferential choosing, and his stools are far more regular this way.
So! Here goes:
First, I want to check the assumption that the breakdowns listed below are different ways of conveying the same idea:
9 parts bone-in cuts
2 parts non heart muscle
1 & 1/2 parts heart
3/4 part liver
3/4 part non liver excreting organ
=
67.5% bone-in cuts
12.5% muscle cuts
10% heart
5% liver
5% non liver organs
=
20% SEGREGATED bone weight
60% SEGREGATED muscle weight
10% heart
5% liver
5% non liver organs
AND.. Here's how I organize meals:
I buy chicken hearts + livers + eggs, whole mice, stew cuts + odd organs of beef, and prepped Cornish game hens (meaning, they're hollow inside except for a heart and gizzard goodie bag). I also get free chicken and turkey carcasses and gizzards from the butcher I buy the poultry from. Keep following!
I take the Cornish game hens, chop the legs at the hip and the wings at the shoulder, slice the breasts off as if I'd be cutting them to use as people food. The breasts go into the muscle pile, the carcass and limbs go into the bone-In pile. I also toss any gizzards that were in them into the muscle pile, and hearts into the heart pile for later use. Once I run out of hens or start getting tired, I weigh my bone-in and muscle piles. If they're not in proportion of 9 to 2, I bring them up to speed by tossing in either carcasses or gizzards. Let's say for example's sake I end up with 4.5 lbs of bone-in cuts and 1 lb muscle cuts after I'm done balancing them out.
Once I have these two piles in proportion, I figure out the goal heart weight I need to reach by taking the weight of the muscle pile and diving by 1.5. So let's say I had a pound of muscle, I'd need 0.67 lbs heart. So I make my heart pile 0.67 lb. I take half of the weight of the heart pile to find my goal weights for both my liver and non-liver organ piles, in this example they'd each be .33 lbs.
So now I have set out in front of me piles of segregated meat types heaped in bowls and plates, a whole lot of little sandwitch baggies, and a scale. What do I do? I hamfistedly start stuffing the little bags entirely by whim and eyeball proportioning until they each weigh about 4 oz, which is about what he's currently finishing in a day. I keep anything loose and jiggly paired with bonier cuts in the same bag to prevent diarrhea, but other than that, my only goal is to finish the bowls at the same time. I stick them all in the freezer and defrost them as needed.
So that's my "regular" diet! I generally divide it into two meals, three if I'm home during the day. It's supplemented, though:
Once a week, he gets an egg with half a teaspoon bone meal whipped in. I count this as 1/3 of a day's food. Or rather, he does, because that's what he won't eat of his regular food if I offer him choice of both, so that's what I no longer offer on egg days so that I'm not just throwing it out.
Once a week, he gets a house mouse. It generally takes him almost a full day to finish it.
Whenever I'm cooking a non-poultry meat, I give him a cut of it and hold back any muscle meat in his regular bag and put it back into the Master Pile of chicken muscle cuts to be divided later, and my organs at the moment are beef kidney and lung, I'll rotate them out to something else when I run out.
I believe I meet all of youse guys's recommendations for a balanced diet- always have at least three (chicken, mouse, beef) proteins served within a week's time, I balance nutrition on a frankenprey model, and I frequently switch up what organs are being used. Please let me know what you think, and I'm sorry for the novella, haha.
A couple of things first:
I don't want a dedicated mentor because I can't get on the computer to type up long things regularly. I can't commit to the frequency of updates I see others doing. It takes a whole lot more time and energy for me to explain myself over several paragraphs than it does to chop up two months worth of food. So please be patient, just because I don't update daily doesn't mean I'm not avoiding the thread or not doing things, I just need time to collect my thoughts sometimes, I'm shy and have a job that requires tons of socializing with customers, so my drive to form words at the end of the day is often zilch.
Second, I also don't follow the same feeding schedule you guys do. I know that makes me a pain in the butt to judge because you have to think and convert amounts instead of falling back in the same numbers that apply to most other members here. It also makes it a pain in the butt for me to reply and discuss my ways, because I too have to think and convert amounts when referencing all the guides and advice posted previously. (For those who haven't read my past posts or forgot, I give mixed bags every meal instead of doing bone-in meal, organ meal, etc) But I do feel very strongly about how I feed, and don't wish to separate it into themed days. Since I've only got one ferret, there isn't any issue with imbalance from preferential choosing, and his stools are far more regular this way.
So! Here goes:
First, I want to check the assumption that the breakdowns listed below are different ways of conveying the same idea:
9 parts bone-in cuts
2 parts non heart muscle
1 & 1/2 parts heart
3/4 part liver
3/4 part non liver excreting organ
=
67.5% bone-in cuts
12.5% muscle cuts
10% heart
5% liver
5% non liver organs
=
20% SEGREGATED bone weight
60% SEGREGATED muscle weight
10% heart
5% liver
5% non liver organs
AND.. Here's how I organize meals:
I buy chicken hearts + livers + eggs, whole mice, stew cuts + odd organs of beef, and prepped Cornish game hens (meaning, they're hollow inside except for a heart and gizzard goodie bag). I also get free chicken and turkey carcasses and gizzards from the butcher I buy the poultry from. Keep following!
I take the Cornish game hens, chop the legs at the hip and the wings at the shoulder, slice the breasts off as if I'd be cutting them to use as people food. The breasts go into the muscle pile, the carcass and limbs go into the bone-In pile. I also toss any gizzards that were in them into the muscle pile, and hearts into the heart pile for later use. Once I run out of hens or start getting tired, I weigh my bone-in and muscle piles. If they're not in proportion of 9 to 2, I bring them up to speed by tossing in either carcasses or gizzards. Let's say for example's sake I end up with 4.5 lbs of bone-in cuts and 1 lb muscle cuts after I'm done balancing them out.
Once I have these two piles in proportion, I figure out the goal heart weight I need to reach by taking the weight of the muscle pile and diving by 1.5. So let's say I had a pound of muscle, I'd need 0.67 lbs heart. So I make my heart pile 0.67 lb. I take half of the weight of the heart pile to find my goal weights for both my liver and non-liver organ piles, in this example they'd each be .33 lbs.
So now I have set out in front of me piles of segregated meat types heaped in bowls and plates, a whole lot of little sandwitch baggies, and a scale. What do I do? I hamfistedly start stuffing the little bags entirely by whim and eyeball proportioning until they each weigh about 4 oz, which is about what he's currently finishing in a day. I keep anything loose and jiggly paired with bonier cuts in the same bag to prevent diarrhea, but other than that, my only goal is to finish the bowls at the same time. I stick them all in the freezer and defrost them as needed.
So that's my "regular" diet! I generally divide it into two meals, three if I'm home during the day. It's supplemented, though:
Once a week, he gets an egg with half a teaspoon bone meal whipped in. I count this as 1/3 of a day's food. Or rather, he does, because that's what he won't eat of his regular food if I offer him choice of both, so that's what I no longer offer on egg days so that I'm not just throwing it out.
Once a week, he gets a house mouse. It generally takes him almost a full day to finish it.
Whenever I'm cooking a non-poultry meat, I give him a cut of it and hold back any muscle meat in his regular bag and put it back into the Master Pile of chicken muscle cuts to be divided later, and my organs at the moment are beef kidney and lung, I'll rotate them out to something else when I run out.
I believe I meet all of youse guys's recommendations for a balanced diet- always have at least three (chicken, mouse, beef) proteins served within a week's time, I balance nutrition on a frankenprey model, and I frequently switch up what organs are being used. Please let me know what you think, and I'm sorry for the novella, haha.
