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Post by angelfish on Mar 19, 2011 19:05:20 GMT -5
We've graduated to chunks!
I ran out of commercial grind so I decided to grind up my own chicken with a little $10 food processor I picked up at Target. My husband de-boned the the chicken and chopped up the neck and back as best he could, then I processed the whole thing.
Spice had no problem with the bone bit or the chunkier bits of meat. Sugar is actually EATING the chunks she carries away! She used to carry them away chew once then leave them and come back for more. It seems her jaw is stronger because she'll eat the chunks now and even a few of the small bits of bone. So excited.
I wasn't too thrilled with the last batch of meat from HareToday. The lamb was ultra fatty (more than it was last time) and I had a hard time convincing them the quail was good to eat.
I really feel like I don't want to order from them again so I'm going to try and wean them onto meats I can get from our farmer. He does pork, beef, and chicken year round so those are easy. Game birds like quail and pheasant are in the fall and veal and lamb are in the spring.
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Post by Heather on Mar 19, 2011 22:40:56 GMT -5
Congratulations. That's wonderful. There's nothing like not having something to make one a master of invention and sometimes its a great incentive to push to the next level. Your little ones came through with flying colours. Your idea is sound. You're not the first person who has complained about haretoday's product. I've never used them as they don't ship across the border but I've had a number of switching students who have used them. I'm beginning to think that perhaps it's more of a quality control issue than anything. The product is not of consistent quality. I would personally go for your local farmer supply. At least you know exactly what you're getting. Will your little ones eat from that protein base? ciao
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Post by angelfish on Mar 19, 2011 22:43:33 GMT -5
I've tried beef before but they didn't go for that. I'm going to try different options and see what they're willing to eat.
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Post by Heather on Mar 19, 2011 22:51:45 GMT -5
Every now and then give them a try. Just because they turn it down once doesn't mean that they won't eat it. keep working with them and I'm sure that you will convince them that it's not that bad. ciao
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Post by angelfish on Mar 29, 2011 17:01:31 GMT -5
I've figured out that I can grind pork and beef in with chicken to introduce other meats. I start with about a 1 to 4 ratio and slowly increase it. They still prefer chicken but they're willing to accept the newer flavors as long as they ALSO taste chicken.
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Post by Heather on Mar 30, 2011 23:57:48 GMT -5
That is an excellent method of introduction, I've done this a few times myself and had a number of students who have used this method to introduce different meats to their fuzzes. I'm actually going to use this method to work with Yuri as he's a very stubborn fuzz who hates any change in his life especially with his foods. Good luck, keep me posted ciao
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Post by angelfish on Apr 19, 2011 12:27:37 GMT -5
I just realized that I haven't posted in a while. School has definitely been keeping me busy lately.
As far as their diet. They now get chicken, lamb, beef, and pork. I usually have to mix the lamb and beef in with chicken because they're still not too keen on it.
I'm still grinding their food but leaving chunks and big pieces of skin. They're doing much better with chewing the chunks - Spice loves chicken skin - and even Sugar is chewing some of the chunks, but little Missy still refuses to eat unless she can slurp at least some of it up first.
They don't like heart or liver yet either, so I grind 1/2-3/4 of a liver with 3-4 hearts once a week and mix in into the grind over 2-3 days. They also get a tsp of pumpkin in the grind daily. I'm still using eggshell because they're horrible about eating bone.
I give them chicken wing tips 2-3 times a week, but they mostly get stashed and not eaten. I've tried playing tug of war, putting it on top of their food bowl, breaking the bone to reveal the marrow and yet Spice won't go for it. I have gotten him to chew and eat half a wing tip exactly twice. Sugar? Forget it! And Pita eats them on occasion, but mostly she stashes them.
I'm wondering if I should throw 3-4 wing tips and and wing drum sticks and just leave them for a day without any other food. Do you think that might get them to tear into it? I'd feel awful if they went hungry for the day though.
They've been on raw for a little over 4 months now, so I suppose I should be happy that they're eating chunks at least.
Oh, they shedding has mostly stopped and their coats are gorgeous and shiny. ;D
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Post by Heather on Apr 19, 2011 12:51:46 GMT -5
Have you tried pounding the daylights out of the chicken wing with a hammer? If you pound it down, then cut them into smaller chunks and put it in the mush? I put Minion's mice in his mush and now he's eating mushy mice , so it might work. I don't like leaving them hungry either. Perhaps on a day that you're at home you could take their food away and offer them a chicken wing tip...have you tried the chicken wing itself. My guys won't eat the wing tip unless it becomes ferret jerky...brats, but then they're spoiled. I know guilty as charged ciao
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Post by angelfish on Apr 30, 2011 21:31:34 GMT -5
Semester is over on Wednesday. I can't wait.
Tonight, we picked up a big goose and some cornish game hens in addition to their usual chicken, lamb, and beef. Who knew our grocery store carried free range goose?
I've stopped grinding all their food except hearts and liver. Now they get small pieces of meat about the size of a US dime. All of them seem to be doing fine with that. We're going to keep doing that for a few more weeks and gradually increase the size of the chunks.
Their diet will look like this for the next month or so (11 lb goose and all):
Sunday: Chicken + heart/liver grind Monday: Chicken + beef + heart/liver grind Tuesday: Goose + heart/liver grind Wednesday: Chicken wing tips + chicken Thursday: Chicken wings + cornish hen Friday: Lamb Saturday: Chicken wings + chicken
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Post by Heather on May 1, 2011 0:02:09 GMT -5
Diets a good starter. You may find that you're going to get rather sloppy poops with that much organ meat . The chicken that you're serving the first couple of days, does that have bone. Are they eating bone yet? Basically you need about 3 or 4 days of boned meats (that they're eating the bone), 2 or 3 days of whole meats and 1 day of organs. What you can do is feed whole meats in the am and boned meats in the pm or you can feed boned meats on the am of the day you feed organ meat to counter the loose stools that you will probably get from the organ meats. Does that make sense? ciao
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Post by angelfish on May 1, 2011 10:01:56 GMT -5
I should clarify that I spread their weekly dose of organ meats over 2-3 days rather than all in one day. The chicken on Sunday and Monday doesn't have bone, but I do put egg shell in it. The chicken is to disguise the organ meat since none of them like it on it's own. They're getting better at eating boned meats but not awesome so I'm still supplementing with egg shell.
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Post by Heather on May 1, 2011 22:01:39 GMT -5
Ok that makes sense. We do minor adjustments to accomodate fuzzes eating habits. My guys get their organ meats spread out throughout the week. They just don't like it on its own, so I really do understand about spreading it out over the week. Your guys don't mind the lamb? It's a good menu, it's a bit chicken heavy but you are feeding a mixture of 3 proteins which is good. Are you comfortable with graduating? I'm not forcing the issue, you don't have to if you want to achieve a few more goals first. ciao
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Post by angelfish on May 23, 2011 16:05:38 GMT -5
My guys love lamb, especially in the form of jerky . I fell perfectly comfortable graduating. The protein in their plan is readily accessible and they're all readily eating chunks, which was my main goal. I'm hoping to eventually get Sugar to eat bone, but I will continue supplementing with egg shell until that day.
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Post by Heather on May 23, 2011 16:17:35 GMT -5
You need to get bone into your little one. Egg shell is only a temporary fix, not a satisfactory solution of maybe whenever. If she's eating chunked meats then you need to move on the bone situation. Even if it's crushed. That's not an optimum solution but it does work and I've had a couple who've lived comfortably on commercial grinds. Even if you cut the bones into 1/2 inch chunks to see if they will eat that. ciao
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Post by angelfish on May 23, 2011 16:46:02 GMT -5
I already crush wings and such into the chunks. I'm working on getting her to do more than carry them off into a corner and leave them there.
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