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Post by Sherry on Jan 29, 2016 12:14:50 GMT -5
@emalendur a bit lighter on the bone than we normally see here, but I imagine if it were going to cause long term issues you'd have seen it already  Otherwise looks good. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2016 12:29:04 GMT -5
@emalendur a bit lighter on the bone than we normally see here, but I imagine if it were going to cause long term issues you'd have seen it already Otherwise looks good. So I coul´d add more bones in menu. I think I can do that  |
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Post by Sherry on Jan 29, 2016 12:31:51 GMT -5
definitely you could You have(including eggshell) the equivalent of 6 bone in meals. I am not counting the chicks or rabbit kits as they don't have much calcium. You can feed up to 8-9 bone meals a week on average. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2016 1:18:24 GMT -5
Raw feeder in training.
Currently on soupie with slivers
No more kibble!!
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Post by Aftershock on Jul 3, 2016 13:01:15 GMT -5
So my menu isn't always the same, I try to alternate depending on what they have been eating the most of/ what I have access to. The pm feeding is double the ounces of the morning and is left in all night (I don't like cranky morning ferrets, and they finally started eating well together) and I recently made the choice to start supplementing with cuttle bones for birds just to make sure they are getting enough calcium. I alternate between beef and chicken hearts and livers.
This is for two male Gibs.
Gator weighed 2 lbs 8 oz at the vet visit
Croc weighed 3 lbs at the vet visit
Monday 9 am: Boneless pork, beef (6 oz + (they have decided they want to eat less in the mornings))
Monday 7-9 pm: 2 Chicken wings + pork or beef/ 1/2 Cornish (I'm more likely to do the game hen)
Tuesday 9 am: beef chunks 6 oz +
Tuesday 7-9 pm: 1 cut chicken thigh + beef + egg yolk and crumbled shell
Wednesday 9 am: 2 hearts + 1 chicken thigh
Wednesday 7-9 pm: 2 Chicken wings + muscle meats/ 1/2 Cornish game hen
Thursday 9 am: 1 chicken thigh
Thursday 7-9 pm: t bone pork 8 oz + + cuttle bone ground
Friday 9 am: 2 hearts, 1 liver, 1 egg yolk and crumbled shell
Friday 7-9 pm: 1/2 Cornish game hen
Saturday 9 am: Pork/beef/chicken thigh 6 oz +
Saturday 7-9 pm: 2 chicken wings + type of muscle meat that was served am/ 1/2 Cornish game hen
Sunday 9 am: 2 livers, 4 hearts, 6 gizzards, 1 egg yolk and crumbled shell
Sunday 7-9 pm: pork/ beef + ground cuttle bone
I'm looking for a little input on my menu. I'm scouring for turkey necks and I'm planning to breed mice for them when we move (the beginning of August! YAY!). I got a better deal on games hens this time shopping for food for them, and they eat almost all of the bones from them vs the chicken wings. I've noticed that serving more game hen is getting them into the habit of actually trying to eat the chicken bones. Not to mention they really don't eat as much in the mornings/ during the day, which is why my bone in meals are through out the night.
Any advice, or am I good to have raw feeder status?
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Post by raynebc on Jul 3, 2016 16:45:10 GMT -5
There seem to be 6 meals that are bone in or supplemented with cuttle bone. I don't know if the amount of egg shell that comes with egg is enough to supplement. Until the ferrets are fully willing to eat the bones in their bone in meals, it may be harder to get the recommended 7-8 bone in meals per week. Hearts and livers vary quite a bit in size, the safest option may be to weigh those meals to make sure they get their needed weekly amount.
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Post by Aftershock on Jul 3, 2016 17:25:45 GMT -5
See and my guys are still kits, so I've been doing one morning feeding, one pm feeding, and all night. I've been counting it as three meals a day. They are eating about 8-9 ounces each a day and I'm trying to give them more (portion wise) of the bone in vs muscle meats. Them not eating the bones is literally only the chicken wing bones, so I've been feeding more game hen but I'm trying to switch it up. That's why I started adding the egg shell. The cuttle bone is more of a stand in once I can get something like turkey necks or start breeding mice.
All of my hearts and livers get bagged into similar sized portions, I remember weighing those a few times but off the top of my head I can't remember. I will weigh when I get back home.
I'm trying to give them 6-8 ounces of bone in per day/while we sleep.
My schedule is kind of confusing.....
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Post by Sherry on Jul 3, 2016 17:27:35 GMT -5
The changes I would like to see here is a bit more bone(chicken or turkey necks). MUCH less chicken/cornish hen- 4 meals maximum if possible. Far too many seem to develop sensitivities to foods fed too often.
Another organ(kidney, brain, reproductive organs, etc). Organs need to be approx 5% liver/5% other organ weekly(or 1.5 meals), heart needs to be about 10% weekly(or 1.5 meals).
Other good proteins to add in are rabbit(great bone as well), turkey/duck/quail for birds, lamb/goat. Whole prey if you can do it.
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Post by Aftershock on Jul 4, 2016 1:39:23 GMT -5
Sherry, much appreciated! I hope I'm not sounding defensive in my posts. Turkey necks are something I have been searching town for, and I honestly think it's silly I haven't been able to find them. I've been on a hunt for kidney too. I had someone try to sell me beef rib meat as kidney. X.x
So I can cut down on the hearts?
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Post by katt on Jul 4, 2016 2:46:03 GMT -5
Sherry, much appreciated! I hope I'm not sounding defensive in my posts. Turkey necks are something I have been searching town for, and I honestly think it's silly I haven't been able to find them. I've been on a hunt for kidney too. I had someone try to sell me beef rib meat as kidney. X.x So I can cut down on the hearts? No, I only count 8 hearts - I assume chicken hearts. That's not enough - not for 2 kits. My 2 boys can pack down half to a full pack of hearts in one meal (a meal being 12-hours of food). That's well more than 8 hearts EACH for just one meal, and they need 10% of their entire diet 1.5 meals) to be heart. And my boys are adults in summer mode - kits on the other hands are furry little garbage disposals and typically eat far more than an adult. You really need to split your feelings up by food-type. It's not advisable to feed mixed meals like you are (e.g. Heart plus chicken thigh) when you have more than one ferret, as it can quickly become unbalanced and you wouldn't even know. If one ferret LOVES liver for example, they may gobble all the liver before the other ferret even has a chance - now one ferret is deficient in liver, and one has way too much. Each meal should be a single food type - muscle+/- bone, heart, organs. Read this if you haven't already: holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/basic-frankenprey-menu/Also, just to clarify, when you say feeding X meals, you are leaving that food out so they have access to food at all times right? Not having limited "meal times" and then taking the food away? I only ask bc you mentioned something about 2, then counting as 3 meals a day and I wasn't quite following what you meant. Typically what people do, and what our menu outline is based off of, is feed a dish of food in the morning, which is left available all day (the "am meal") and then offer a new dish of food at night that is left available overnight (the "pm meal"). Especially for young growing fuzz, they need to have access to food at all times. You may already be doing this but I wanted to clarify just in case. So when we say 1.5 meals of heart, that means they get a meal of JUST hearts in the morning and all day long that's what they eat, and another they they get a meal that's 1/2 hearts, 1/2 organs. With that in mind, each meal should be enough food that they have just a few bites leftover by the next meal. Then there's little waste but you also know they go their fill each time. It can be hard to figure out what they eat and the amount will change as they grow and by seasons. I would weigh their food before you feed it, and then at the next meal, weigh the leftovers. Do that a while and you will start to see a trend in about how much they average each meal and can prep meals accordingly. And RE finding other meats and organs, find some Asian markets - they are a gold mine. Google map search "Asian Market, town, city" and then go check out each one in your area. Also do the same for Halal markets - they often carry goat (yum) and other meats. Asian markets are your BEST friend as a raw feeder. That's where you will find the more unusual meats. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 17:59:51 GMT -5
Hullo, So I have one weezy. I've been using the Frankenprey menu for over a year or so.
I make a month's worth of food at a time. For BIM I chop up all the meat into smaller pieces, mix them up in a bowl then distribute them into their respective baggies. Same with MM.
So there's a mix of different meats, in roughly the similar proportions, so they aren't getting too much of one verses the other. *shrugs* don't know how good of an idea it is or not. I used to feed a lot more chicken, but yeah I've started using more variety, and left most the chicken out. I have a cleaver I use to chop up the larger bones into smaller pieces.
Monday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Monday pm: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Tuesday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Tuesday pm: muscle meat (either: Pork, turkey, chicken)
Wednesday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Wednesday pm: heart (chicken/cow)
Thursday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Thursday pm: edible bone in meat (either: Pork, turkey, chicken)
Friday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Friday pm: ½ heart + ¼ liver + ¼ other organ (cow/chicken heart, pig/cow liver, sheep spleen)
Saturday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Saturday pm: muscle meat (either: Pork, turkey, chicken)
Sunday am: edible bone in meat (either: rabbit, quail, turkey, chicken,)
Sunday pm: ½ liver + ½ other organ (pig/cow liver, sheep spleen)
It's been difficult to gage how much he eats since I recently lost a ferret. I've been feeding him 3oz. a meal. But a third or so is leftover. So I think I need to go down to 2oz. When he has some leftovers I wait till he finishes his previous meal before giving him the next one, which can throw the week off. Is this okay for a little while, till I start next months regime?
I'm also interested in including some whole prey meals in the near future.
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Post by katt on Sept 25, 2016 1:27:22 GMT -5
More variety is always good! Once Heather approves your menu I can update your status. |
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Post by LindaM on Feb 14, 2017 14:14:05 GMT -5
Both of my ferrets are eating fully raw and now happily avoid kibble like it's the plague, they get Frankenprey, rehydrated FDR, and Frozen Raw. Their menu was set up using the Balancing chart from here on the forum to balance their Frankenprey with their FDR and Grinds, so I hope that's fine. I'm just going to post the link to my current menu as it's all set out neatly in a Google Document, with current notes about the meals, like how we are currently trying to replace the CGH in the menu by introducing quail instead since I had finally discovered an Asian market that sells quail only last week. So far, Athena's response had been to put the whole quail next to my side of the bed in our bedroom, though she did eat a little of it, so there is hope at the end of the tunnel. And Loki is still just my fussy boy when it comes to new proteins at first. My ferrets are also free-fed, I put out food in the morning for their AM meal that they will eat until their PM meal, and then I put out the PM to last them again until the next AM meal. They don't like sharing bowls with each other so they each have their own. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10NIw6Lp7xNH8_hTxGnFnrj-88HgLgv5V4dlrakqYYNw/ |
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Post by Sherry on Feb 15, 2017 11:34:26 GMT -5
What proteins are you using with the FDR and frozen commercial raw Linda?
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Post by LindaM on Feb 15, 2017 12:48:07 GMT -5
Sherry Main proteins for the FDR and Frozen Raw are Duck, Rabbit, Turkey, Beef, Salmon & Cod, Pheasant, Lamb, and Beef & Salmon mostly. Those are all Stella & Chewys varieties as listed on the bottom of the document, I use both their FDR and their Raw. The NV Instinct Rawbites are Rabbit or Chicken, though currently with the chicken heavy bone meals currently, we don't do the chicken raw anymore really. We'll usually rotate the proteins throughout the week, as they don't get all of them in a single week. The fish varieties never gets offered more than one meal a week. EDIT: And just to add, little madam Athena has happily eaten some quail. She really didn't eat a lot of it Monday, so she had some leftovers yesterday morning, which I kept left out for her to see what she'll do, and she ate the whole back half of the quail. So I think it's pretty safe to say, she'll eat the quail when I replace the CGH with it entirely. Loki... well, he's still being a bit snotty about it, he's okay with quail FDR treats, but apparently "reaw quaiw is not the same mommy". I'll be working on getting him to accept it.
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