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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 11:38:45 GMT -5
How's everything going Avy?  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 14:28:11 GMT -5
(It seems Tapatalk isn't sending me notifications?  ) Okay so menu- Monday AM: Chicken Wings (bone in) Monday PM: Gizzard (muscle) Tuesday AM: Turkey neck (bone in) Tuesday PM: goat (muscle) Wednesday AM: whole game hen (bone in) Wednesday PM: Heart Thursday AM: Whole mice (bone in) Thursday PM: Whole mice (bone in) Friday AM: Chicken wings (bone in) Friday PM: 1/4 liver 1/4 kidney 1/2 heart (organ Saturday AM: Turkey Neck (bone in) Saturday PM: Goat (muscle) Sunday AM: Rabbit ribs (bone in) Sunday PM: Liver Kidney (organ) Different proteins are color coded, that just makes it easier to figure out what I have.  I maybe lacking in fatty meats Where can I find pork rib ends? Everyone is doing super well! Cheshire hasn't been mean to anyone (though she hisses still when she eats), and they're getting pork for dinner for the first time tonight. (yay!) Mycroft is now eating about as much as the other boys and is looking so much nicer than when he was on kibble. I also found out I still have quite a bit of goat in our freezer and was wondering if they'd be okay to try some? I've come to learn that spending one day preparing a weeks worth of food is so easy and so helpful. Just separate into baggies, sharpie the day to be used and throw 'em in the freezer! Cheers! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 14:42:47 GMT -5
What's our girl Cheshire up to? Any new ferret mischief?while mucking about the living room someone brought in a 40lbs bag of bird seed which the girls found rather quickly. They knocked the bag over and 4/5 ferrets began war dancing and digging in the mess   I need to make them a new dig box, they had a cardboard board box full of lentils that they just used as a sleeping den. Then I filled a terrarium with about 1/4 lentils which they LOVED but somehow it got cracked and how to be thrown out.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 15:43:07 GMT -5
(It seems Tapatalk isn't sending me notifications? )I noticed the same thing happen with mine. Maybe there was an update that messed up with the notifications. What protein is the organ meal and heart & Gizzard meals?  You have around 8 Bone in meats, 4.5 Muscle meals (including the 1.5 heart) and two organ meals. Is the whole game hen, CGH/Cornish Game Hen or whole hen, insides and all? The added whole prey is also very good. Is there no egg day?  Your example plan is looking quite nice! Well done! Something to keep in mind for future, if you notice that a full day of bone in meat meals is giving dry or seedy poops, increase the muscle meat meals and or decrease muscle meat meals, Pretty much adjust when ever needed. Different proteins are color coded, that just makes it easier to figure out what I have. I maybe lacking in fatty meats Where can I find pork rib ends?I colour code my plans as well. It tends to make it easier to look at as well. hehe. I think you've done quite well to start with. I do recommend trying to get some beef in there if you can. Beef is high in Iron and Vitamin B. (as well as Taurine) I'm not too sure about the pork rib ends, maybe @poncesmom can help out there. Everyone is doing super well! Cheshire hasn't been mean to anyone (though she hisses still when she eats), and they're getting pork for dinner for the first time tonight. (yay!) Mycroft is now eating about as much as the other boys and is looking so much nicer than when he was on kibble.Hehe, Cheshire is so adorable. A new protein! What fun! Do tell us how that goes~ I think Mycroft has done surprisingly well so far. I almost thought he would have been the hardest one persuade, but you've worked magic with him for sure! We would love to see photos of Mycroft's beautiful coat~ I also found out I still have quite a bit of goat in our freezer and was wondering if they'd be okay to try some?Of course! If you want to try giving them some goat, go for it. The more proteins you try, the better. Eventually you can start following a plan that suits you and your ferrets, so you can focus on the balance part in time, for now focus on getting them onto new proteins~ I've come to learn that spending one day preparing a weeks worth of food is so easy and so helpful. Just separate into baggies, sharpie the day to be used and throw 'em in the freezer!Yes! I do mine monthly these days. I buy my bone in meats from interstate, so they come in bulk. I have to thaw out a whole large bag, so I basically have to chop and bag, weigh, label and freeze them all within a day. So far its been lasting me a whole month hehe. Doing them weekly or fortnightly also makes life so much easier since all you have to do is pull the bag out the night or morning before and thaw it out in the fridge. Speaking of thaw, I'll give you a small sneaky lesson on that. while mucking about the living room someone brought in a 40lbs bag of bird seed which the girls found rather quickly. They knocked the bag over and 4/5 ferrets began war dancing and digging in the mess Oh no! Bird seed hehehehe. My boys did the same thing the other day!!! They managed to get into our closed box of cockatiel things and ended up knocking over our box of seeds. Sigh. Ferrets are so cheeky.  I need to make them a new dig box, they had a cardboard board box full of lentils that they just used as a sleeping den. Then I filled a terrarium with about 1/4 lentils which they LOVED but somehow it got cracked and how to be thrown out.Oh wow Lentils! I'm too anxious to use those  Dig boxes are amazing. I'm getting my guys a sand box for christmas~ I ordered a box of (corn starch) packing peanuts, which came in a large box- so all I had to do was simple open it and away they go LOL I actually had a lot, so I put some in a pit for them. Have you tried a rice dig box? I hear thats a good idea for dig boxes. I haven't tried them yet.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 18:14:56 GMT -5
I just sat down to go over your menu and my oven beeped.
Tomorrow is a super long day and I'll reply when I get home.
Looking quickly over your menu, you have a good understanding of how to make a menu. Very nice!
One thing to remember is that with New to Bone Ferrets, they may have trouble with larger bones.
Turkey necks are tough for example. It may take them some time to work up to those.
Building jaw strength will help with that and gizzards are good for that and so are the other bone in meals as they get use to eating bone alot.
Pork riblets may also be too tough at first. Some have no trouble with them at all and others find them a bit of a rough go. I hear our Canadian ferrents talk about pork buttons but I have yet to find them.
If you're feeding whole mice, we'll want to adjust your organ meals. Whole prey has organs in it and that simply means we subtract two meals from their fourteen meals and adjust the organs based on 12 meals.
Let me go get my dinner before it burns up and I will post more tomorrow.
You're just doing so well at this. I love knowing you two smart ladies are working so well together.
Hugs to all of 'our' fuzzies.
:wave3:
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 18:42:00 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 21:19:55 GMT -5
Menu comments are noted! Thanks! Im not sure what proteins the organs will be yet, still gotta figure that out. I have easy access to rabbit and chicken organs (and turkey gizzards) but chicken would be nice for bone-in meals and i don't want a to chicken heavy menu. I didn't put snacks on that menu but did plan on having an egg day once a week! Today i also talked to a breeder and may have gotten some quail eggs lined up to be incubated. I also found of one of the farms around here breeds and sells pigeons so i may be able to work something out with her to book me up with meat! One other question: there was a mink farm down the road and when they closed down they gave our rabbity their cages (which got turned into a backstop for our outdoor shooting range) and all their wooden nest boxes. They're too small for our rabbits and I was wondering if one or two'd be okay to put in my cage for them? I had two separate FN 182's and now i have a 3 high (I gotta stand on a chair to get to them haha) and an emergency cage in my room. But now they are kind of empty (I've only ever had to furnish 2 or 3 cages at a time) I'll be posting on the pork after they eat tonight |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 21:32:31 GMT -5
 So tall! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2015 2:47:33 GMT -5
This is a late post (quarter to 12am here), fell asleep after dinner! So pork- after adding a bit of soup the boys ate it no problem, girls were a bit more hesitant but ended up eating it. They didn't eat as much as if it were chicken, but they had a bit later snack than normal. So over all, good! In the morning I'll give them pork again and maybe in the evening try the goat
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2015 7:11:43 GMT -5
Hi!! I'm so impressed by your ferrets large mansion! Thats incredible! It almost touches the ceiling lol Menu comments are noted! Thanks! Im not sure what proteins the organs will be yet, still gotta figure that out. I have easy access to rabbit and chicken organs (and turkey gizzards) but chicken would be nice for bone-in meals and i don't want a to chicken heavy menu. I didn't put snacks on that menu but did plan on having an egg day once a week! If you can get some Beef Organs, that would be great way to get some beef into the diet. Rabbit is also a nice option for organs since like you mentioned, you can easily get those. We just need to figure out how to balanced everything out and make sure its not chicken heavy like you mentioned, which we can work on in due time so no stress~ Some other good options for organs are Lamb, Beef, Possibly even Turkey and Duck. What ever is available to you~ Today i also talked to a breeder and may have gotten some quail eggs lined up to be incubated. I also found of one of the farms around here breeds and sells pigeons so i may be able to work something out with her to book me up with meat!Oh wow! Do you plan on breeding quail? They make a fantastic whole prey option. I've heard others using pigeon, they also must be a great option. The more options the better anyway. At least you've found a couple of sources. One other question: there was a mink farm down the road and when they closed down they gave our rabbity their cages (which got turned into a backstop for our outdoor shooting range) and all their wooden nest boxes. They're too small for our rabbits and I was wondering if one or two'd be okay to put in my cage for them?I would love to see a photo of them~ I'm sure as long as they're clean then it could be a possibility for sure. Ferrets love hiding and sleeping in dark places, so it would be a great idea. I had two separate FN 182's and now i have a 3 high (I gotta stand on a chair to get to them haha) and an emergency cage in my room. But now they are kind of empty (I've only ever had to furnish 2 or 3 cages at a time)It's huge! Is it hard to clean up? Even my cage isn't that big. I would love to get a bigger cage for my guys. hehe. I'll be posting on the pork after they eat tonight This is a late post (quarter to 12am here), fell asleep after dinner! So pork- after adding a bit of soup the boys ate it no problem, girls were a bit more hesitant but ended up eating it. They didn't eat as much as if it were chicken, but they had a bit later snack than normal. So over all, good! In the morning I'll give them pork again and maybe in the evening try the goatIt's great to hear that they're eating quite well. The title hesitation is alright, its still a huge step when it comes to progress. Are they all on the small or larger chunks now? I have to run for now~ I have to go clean my little stinkies cage. Give yourself a good pat on the back, you're doing amazing!! Bye~~ |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 15:41:44 GMT -5
Some other good options for organs are Lamb, Beef, Possibly even Turkey and Duck.
I think duck would be do-able. We breed ducks, but this time of year they aren't having babies so we don't have new stock at all times (so I may run out of butcher-able ducks at some time, in which case I'd need to switch organs)
Oh wow! Do you plan on breeding quail?Yup! I've had quail before but they seemed rather useless at the time. If it doesn't have a use on the farm, it doesn't stay. But now I can feed them to my carpet sharks! I would love to see a photo of themAs soon as I get a pic of the nest boxes I'll post it! It's huge! Is it hard to clean up?It's not real hard to clean but it seems I'm gonna need to put a litter box on the top level. Just gotta scoop the boxes every day, empty litter 3x a week, throw all their fabric stuff in the laundry once a week, and wipe down trays with vinegar (which is probably the only challenging part) Are they all on the small or larger chunks now?
Everyone is eating large chunks, the only reason I ever cut it up now is because it's easier to portion out, but they just go for it despite the size. I seem to have misplaced the goat (we have 2 freezers, a deep freeze, and a fridge with a freezer part) so they haven't tried that yet, but they seem totally dandy with eating the pork sirloin cuts! Can I give ferrets mice that are sold to reptile breeders (as long, of course, nothing is added to them)? I remember when we had snakes we fed them "mice-icles" (one of our guys would ONLY eat frozen mousies). I have a list from another post of examples of bone-in, but what are some things that I could try giving them now that wouldn't be too hard? I already give them rabbit kits with bones which they eat, but obviously that isn't a meal. I'd like to spend this week getting them onto a bit more proper menu and get rid of soupie entirely (if I can. No one needs soupie anymore to eat the meat, so at this point it's just being used as their source of organs and calcium from powdered eggshell). I also read on hereabout using something (I think it was a mallet? Can't remember) to break some tougher bones up while still in the meat, to make it easier for them to chew and work on those jaw muscles. I'll post questionnaire today as soon as I get the wee ones to hold still long enough to weigh! 
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 16:54:22 GMT -5
Everyone, including Mycroft, is on the same weekly menu so I left #6 off, and wrote it below the other answers. 1. Cheshire 2. 1 lb 3.9 oz (1lb 1oz) 3. ~1.5 oz per meal 4. normal on pork rabbit and chicken, less solid after eating egg snack. Less uniform after eating baby bunnies 5. higher than normal 1. Spinner 2. 1 lb 12.1oz (1lb 9.8 oz) 3. ~2 oz. per meal 4. after first time eating pork it was a bit runny but after that it was normal 5. always wants out of the cage, wardances all the time, way more energy 1. Loki 2. 2 lbs 10.6 oz (2lbs 6.8 oz) 3. ~2.5-3 oz per meal 4. Less uniform after eating baby bunnies but other than that, normal 5. way up 1. Mycroft 2. 2 lbs 10.6 oz (2lbs 6.4oz) Same as Loki! 3. ~3 oz per meal (sometimes a bit less) 4. dry poo at beginning of last week had to cut down on powdered eggshell in his soup but now that he’s eating like the other guys it’s fine, even when switching to pork. 5. Way up from kibble, it’s like he’s a new (younger) ferret. has now figured out he’s capable of getting into cupboards. 1. Courage 2. 3 lbs .3 oz (2 lbs 13.9 oz)  3. ~2.73 oz per meal 4. darker when switching to pork(?) but has now turned a normal color and consistency. Chicken and rabbit are fine 5. way up, always moving. 6. Meal days are now alternating between pork (sirloin cuts), rabbit (the belly flaps because they are the fattiest cuts), and chicken thighs. Large chunks, still being served with a bit of soupie. They also get snacks of 2 or 3 rabbit kits cut into ⅓ ( split open head, then in half at the bottom of ribcage). On Mondays I’m now giving them some raw scrambled egg instead of rabbit kits. They also get salmon oil on the baby bunnies and on their tummies when they get weighed/nails cut. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 17:09:14 GMT -5
Everyone is putting on weight really fast this week and it's so amazing seeing the little fuffy butts. I'll post pics in a bit of them all. Their menu is really boring right now but with the arrangements I've made they'll soon be able to try goat, duck, mice, beef, salmon (can they have salmon for a meal? My brother caught one and actually gave it to me just for my ferrets) and possibly venison, quail, and/or pigeon. Sooo excited for this week! They're all eating so much now! Our rabbitry is also taking on a breed of rabbit that is only 2.5-3lbs full grown. Anything that does not better the breed to be bred, or have good enough temperament to be a house bunny can go to the ferrets whole without being overwhelmingly huge. Will be awhile until we can butcher though as we are just starting this breed, but will be something to look forward to once we're established. Can they eat ground meat? Like ground turkey? I am so thankful I'm doing this, their coats remind me of seeing the mustelids on TV that are wild and are so beautiful. Before, the girls seemed underweight and now (yes I know it's winter but even during the winter before they never gained too much weight) they're so much better filled out and beautiful and I cant stop touching them! Spinner has less of a yellow tint to her fur also. I'm hoping this helps more with the texture of Loki's coat, it's been really coarse as long as I've had him but this has made it a bit less so. Everyone has grape tail except Mycroft now and every time I stick my head in the cage I can smell it.  Everyone is looking so much better. Courage is massive and looks like something you'd see mucking about in the snow. It's so wonderful. Speaking of snow, we have a pen outside covered in chicken wire and I was wondering if ferrets can play outside (supervised, as there isn't too much to prevent them from digging)even when its chillier out? I know they prefer cold over hot but Washington is known for its rain and cold this time of year. They love running their faces through grass and pouncing on one another through the little "jungle" (9" grass haha). They also seem to like the new sounds and the SMELLS. I just don't want them to get cold and decide they hate outside. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 17:27:39 GMT -5
And to clarify, I didn't plan on dumping all the random meats on them. Each protein is going to get maybe two days or so (if I can change 2 "days" to 2 "meals" please let me know.) To see how they (and their tummies) feel about it. I don't wanna rush anything and make them sick (or if they do get sick I want to know EXACTLY what protein didn't agree with them. I actually had a dream last night that I went to the store with some friends and the first thing I did was check out the different meats they had and snapped photos of the prices for comparison haha Just wanted to make sure I was more specific. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2015 1:04:52 GMT -5
(I know I've posted a lot today)
Good news, I found the goat and have two real good chunks thawing in the fridge for tomorrow. It was bought intending to be dog food (way too fatty to be people grade) but is raw and not treated with anything, just fatty. Which hey! Is good for ferrets and good for the budget haha.
This isn't food related, and if it's too off topic please lemme know. Do either of you know how to keep ferrets out of plants? I recently received a succulent (cactus kind of family) which the neighbors dog got ahold of before I could bring in the house. It was broken up and all that was left were the little leave things. I found out online that I can propagate a new plant from the leaves and long story short, I'm growing 22 new baby succulent plants in my window sill and my ferrets love playing in the dirt. Plus my window is right next to my bed so if they dig it gets all over my duvet (double whammy!) Is there a way to deter this, or do I just keep ferrets out until the plants are old enough to move?
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I maybe lacking in fatty meats 
