Need some advice on feeding

[10timesacharm]

Hey all   
i have 10 ferrets, they are fed whole prey and good quality kibble,the kibble is down 24/7 as an in case, but they are fed whole prey once each day, either 1 chick or 1 jumbo mouse each. Never on the same day as eachother, they also get a pigeon or rabbit every two weeks mainly due to mess (still forever finding feathers) but I alternate between the two. 

Ive been looking at the Frankenprey diet and it’s something I would like to implement into their diet, as despite in one month they have a 4 Animal variety, I feel weekly it isn’t enough, and being able to break up the daily chick and mouse feeding.
so my current questions are 

1: do I have to base whole prey around frankenprey or can I pick and choose the days, but making sure the next frankenprey meal they have follows the same rule of thumb as the guide? 
For example if Monday and Friday are Frankenprey days, Monday is Meaty bones, and Friday is organs and so on.

2: Can I feed just one meal a day or does it HAVE to be an AM and PM feed? 

3: How much to feed? I’ve always fed 1 whole prey item mainly due to the kibble and it being a complete package, but 10 ferrets, 7 Adult Hobs, 2 Hob kits and 1 female kit? In terms of frankenprey how much is a good general amount to feed them?


ive read the posts with anything frankenprey related but there are some questions still left unanswered, as for the mentoring I don’t think I’ll need it purely as that’s more to get kibble fed ferrets onto a straight raw diet, and mine are good raw eaters, but as said before I provide kibble if they get hungry seeing as I feed once a day. 

[Heather]

Generally speaking one feeds 10% of desired body weight, which is a good starting point. Kits get that about 3 to 4 x a day or basically as much as they can stuff into themselves.
I would suggest reading through this. It offers menus, suggested foods.
The other thing I thought I would point out is that chicks do not have a great nutritional value and should be fed as a treat rather than an actual portion of their diet. The large mice on the other hand are a great whole meal
ciao

[10timesacharm]

Aug 26, 2018 19:30:17 GMT -5 Heather said:

Generally speaking one feeds 10% of desired body weight, which is a good starting point. Kits get that about 3 to 4 x a day or basically as much as they can stuff into themselves.
I would suggest reading through this. It offers menus, suggested foods.
The other thing I thought I would point out is that chicks do not have a great nutritional value and should be fed as a treat rather than an actual portion of their diet. The large mice on the other hand are a great whole meal
ciao

Thank you for your reply, what would you suggest as a replacement for the chicks, i can’t feed rats or guinea as for my wife they are held dear to her heart, or would it be better to replace it with Frankenprey? The site I buy the whole prey from do a lot of good cuts of meat, chicken necks, backs, feet,etc same with ducks, so availbitily isn’t an issue.  

[Sherry]

How about quail instead of chicks? It's also a good idea to have them used to every day meats as suppliers can change what the prey animal is fed, meaning the ferret could suddenly refuse to eat an item they'd had no issue with previously.

[10timesacharm]

Aug 27, 2018 9:57:08 GMT -5 Sherry said:

How about quail instead of chicks? It's also a good idea to have them used to every day meats as suppliers can change what the prey animal is fed, meaning the ferret could suddenly refuse to eat an item they'd had no issue with previously.

They are used to regular supermarket meat, all be it not very often, but enough to wet their appetite for it. and they have tried Quail before and wasnt a fan so I may just replace the chick days with frankenprey, but keeping the mice, pigeon and rabbit, how often would you feed chicks as a treat?? (Have 2 4KG bags) as for the preys diet changing hopefully it won’t disturb them as my lot have never been fussy, but I am planning to change them over to my own F/T mice, as buying a bulk box can get pricey, and least I know what theyll be getting in terms of nutrition from the mice. 

[Sherry]

I fed chicks once a week when I could get them. Others give once every couple of weeks. Whole small fish are another idea(raw only). Smelts and herring are well accepted here. Again, those are once every couple of weeks.

[crazylady]

Hi normally I never feed the same meal two days running with regard to chicks an adult male I give 3 chicks ( thats one day meal so if you have 7 hob 24 chicks ) your 2 kits hobs would again receive 3 chicks each plus another meal usually morning depending on age ) kit jill gets 2 chicks plus one extra meal ) the reason for the extra meals is simply kits and mouths on legs and growth spurts give them the urge to eat for example monday rabbit on bone ( adult hobs approx 3-4 oz meat on bone) jills 2-3 oz meat on bone kits adult portion plus extra meal tuesday heart , wed chicks , thursday diced stewing beef, friday ground chicken or chicken wings/necks saturday my kids get a hardboiled egg chopped with 2oz liver sunday ground beef on all ground days I add in bonemeal powder to be honest I add it to any meats lol simply shop around and see what you can find reduced in markets portion and freeze its amazing what you can find check out chinese markets etc my guys also like goat and venison ( mom likes venison too ) the list is endless quail duck pigeon if they are getting out of hand with the feather cut off wings and bear the breast after cleaning out the crop hope this helps
Bev