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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 2:38:51 GMT -5
are there any videos to divy up the partially thawed rabbit when it comes tomorrow? Do ferrets have an issue eating things like the gall bladder or the bowel? I planned on using my cleaver , but i want to know ( fur or no fur) and which is correct way to divy up? What areas will be best. How do you do it? I think I can do the pheasant, but just in case, I assume pluck feathers out? Can it be done thawed and refrozen or is that not good? I can do partially thawed, I just want to make sure I am doing it right? thanks!
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 15, 2012 9:50:38 GMT -5
You know I thought about taking pics when I got my rabbits in but didn't. Basically I gut it, chop off each leg, take off the head and chop the rest into 3-4 sections depending on how big it is. If you search youtube I'm sure there's a vid. This is from hare today right? Their pheasant doesn't have feathers, it's a plucked bird so just chop like you would a chicken, it's fine to thaw it and refreeze, the whole quail are feathered, I usually pluck as much as I can off and chop in half or however much you will need.
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 11:01:29 GMT -5
yep! ok pretty sure I saw vids of I would assume non-frozen. In this case it would work to gently dethaw and not spoil it and put it in bags as you described portions, right? Then refreeze. I can do it! With gloves I'd do it outside if the neighbors wouldn't think I hit the coo-coo nest yet. Maybe they have considering I have ferrets and that is all my little one talks about. That was a good question I had. It came on me all of a sudden that a rabbit isn't a chicken. Yep from Hare today! I will take a vid of the box opening it for others that may be interested to see what exactly came. I know there was a question bout the rabbit chunks and maybe there is a difference in size each time, I imagine you can't always get the same, so I'll try and show it and maybe measure as best I can. If weight is best, I can do that too. Whatever helps someone else because you helped me and I'd have either done as you posted, or perhaps, messed it up; which is not the goal! I gave treats last night ( chicks) and I think they all went to town on it. I will search cages for hoarding it, but pretty sure they did. I think its a good step that they will eat whole-prey when I start the soup to the rest. I can only hope they take to it as easy as possible. Less stress on them and me! That is awesome goingpostal! I saw you found a rabbit farm with good pricing. Do they have a website or contact? I am surely not in your area that far north but perhaps others do group pickups and would transport my way? Lots of the surrounding states in the Midwest do that as I have seen on the boards and it would be great if you'd post. If not, I understand, but that is a fantastic deal! I was looking at one from the Wisconsin area that delivers all the way to the Michigan area are and other states including east and south of Wisconsin as well and although it said not for humans but pets, had good prices and drop off sites too. You helped answered great questions I had. I think I'll be butchering all day! Going to need a good cup of coffee to keep me going. Spouse is a chicken. Complaining to high heaven that there will be raw meat in the freezer. Did my spouse not notice the gender of self and that we have raw meat in there already? You'd think it'd be me complaining. Not a word about feeding it, although I did throw in a comment that this will be in my health directive and will. To feed raw and no throwing it out. bahhahahaha ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 11:08:55 GMT -5
Not sure about the cutlery you already use, but I'm partial to using a good pair of Poultry/ kitchen shears. Recently picked up a set with fat ergo handles and spring loaded blades. Which are O.K. But whichever kind you get, make sure the blades have a full tang. Half tangs will only break. The tang has to go through both handles to give you the bet leverage. I prefer the shears to a cleaver mainly because they are quieter (I have upstairs neighbors with a yap dog that carries on if it hears me )and I can be more accurate with my cuts, sectioning at bone joints is clean and there is no splatter. You can encourage ferrets to eat bone if you cut through some soft bones, like the back bone, split it in half to expose the marrow. Almost all rabbit bones will get devoured, except usually the larger femurs. These get gnawed at both ends and the harder middles get left behind. I don't smash or crush these leftovers, instead I feed them to the mouse colony. Cheers, Kim
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 11:36:38 GMT -5
Kim, i'll pick some up. OK so would it be a risk to dog seeing as all are vaccinated and have had tests for normal things you'd be concerned about to let dog have leftover femur bones you think? I can throw out, but sounds like a waste. P.s. are those shears just anywhere? I know a spendy store and have the normal Targets and Kmarts around too. OT: but would LOVE to have my own chicken coop. not co-op, yes want that too, but coop (small just a few that I raise up) and so mad that city has so many regulations on land size. I happened to look it up. Yet I could have a llama! What the heck is up with that!? I certainly am not going to mail off letters to each neighbor within 1 mile for their knowledge of a public hearing to have one. Sounds like a pain and in the end, its costly with the hearing being paid per hr to the committee members ( believe there are at least 12) Because we are just under 3 acres, we can't! It'd be nice to have them, seeing as I have the feed on hand and actual coop before the other homes got built closer. I could do rabbits but looks like a lot of work. I am guessing any raising of feed is work. I thought about mice, then thought about how to reduce cost and get the quality still and not be broke more than I am. Thats a bad joke, but since I spoil the ferts and will do anything for them, it has dug very deep. I want to add a few rescues someday when I am more equipped to quarantine. (space) I can not wait till the housing market is better as we can move one mile and have 5 acres for less than we do now. My only fear is we'd buy home and house wouldn't sell as quickly due to market. Got to love how this economy has tied us all down no matter where you live.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 15, 2012 12:02:54 GMT -5
It probably won't be that bad chopping all your order up, usually my hare today stuff I spend maybe 2 hours separating and bagging into portions, my rabbit order had 4+ skinned and 3 whole rabbits, plus heads and pinkies and they are large rabbits, that took a couple hours as well but I only chopped up one whole rabbit so far, they keep better intact.
My boyfriend was the grossed out one, he wore gloves and was not too thrilled because I bought a hatchet and made him use to get through the hard parts. You can give the bones to your dog, my dog is raw fed as well so she gets all the bones the ferrets and cat can't really handle. I will add my rabbit supplier to the list on here, I forgot to do that, not sure where you are but if it's within Speedee's area of service they would ship to you.
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 12:05:03 GMT -5
I found them, stupid question there. Hunting section! we have them here. Yep, one of those moments!
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 12:10:58 GMT -5
It probably won't be that bad chopping all your order up, usually my hare today stuff I spend maybe 2 hours separating and bagging into portions, my rabbit order had 4+ skinned and 3 whole rabbits, plus heads and pinkies and they are large rabbits, that took a couple hours as well but I only chopped up one whole rabbit so far, they keep better intact. My boyfriend was the grossed out one, he wore gloves and was not too thrilled because I bought a hatchet and made him use to get through the hard parts. You can give the bones to your dog, my dog is raw fed as well so she gets all the bones the ferrets and cat can't really handle. I will add my rabbit supplier to the list on here, I forgot to do that, not sure where you are but if it's within Speedee's area of service they would ship to you. LOL!!! Mine is my spouse and my spouse is having the issue of the frozen! You would think it'd be the other way around seeing as I do not eat red meat. Yep I have gotten things from speedee, that would be great of you! Thank you! I can save there then a bit. Let me know how you like your new rabbit order!
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 15:16:19 GMT -5
Guess what arrived! off to take a video!!! pics atleast and start! Got my meat shears ready, all that. we shall see how long this takes me. LOL!!!
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 18:55:50 GMT -5
112 lbs of meat is more than you think! Well more than I thought Heavy boxes, arrived perfect, Have video opening, sound like a complete idiot so do not laugh. It will take me a bit to get it uploaded, It isn't the best as far as holding in one hand while showing in the other. yep I used gloves, Got my first rabbit done too. Wasn't too bad. did take e a couple hrs to get them done. Think raw is easier by far lol but it was definitely an experience. Still have to portion a lot of things. That much meat might take me a good day and I truly want to get started on the soup here so I can see how it goes and if all goes as I would only dream, then the portion part will be much easier for me to figure out. Did I say, "Holy smokes!" You think its not that much until it comes. No way they can eat through that too soon? right? C'mon, looking for reassurance here guys. ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 19:15:20 GMT -5
Oh yea that will last a looong time. A ferret eats their body weight in food a month.
They do not eat the gallbladder or bowels.
Sent from my SCH-M828C using ProBoards
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 20:07:24 GMT -5
sure hope so! no gallbladder or bowels allowed here. for some reason I thought it was half as much. Perhaps I didn't clear out my cart afterall. LOL! uploading now to u-tube as my video is long and boring
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Post by Sherry on Mar 15, 2012 20:22:59 GMT -5
Word of caution- when they first go onto full raw, they'll eat like there's no tomorrow ;D Mr. Frodo at 5-6 oz PER MEAL for the first couple of months ;D Granted, Frodo came to us weighing 3 1/2 pounds. Wasn't long before he weighed 4 1/2 ;D Now, he eats maybe 5 oz in a day. My girls eat between 2-4 oz per day, my boys 3-5.
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Post by ferretlove67 on Mar 15, 2012 21:03:56 GMT -5
well maybe I'll go thro it faster lol
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 21:20:50 GMT -5
Mine eat like little piggies (I am only a few months into the switch). Is it really supposed to be their weight per month??? No wonder Marley turned into a porker..I go through at least 5 - 7 lb of meat per week...x4 is 20-28 lb/month...3 Ferrets all together weigh 8.2 lb
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