FERRET FOOD

[Frank]

Iv been feeding a few jackdaws, rooks, pigeons to my ferrets and they seem to love them.

Magpies on the manue this evening, do you think its ok to feed them magpies, as they are scavangers, i was going to feed then some Grey crows ( carrion crow), but changed my mind. But the magpies seems a better choice.

The birds seem healthy.

What do you think?

Frank.

[Ferretboy111]

I dont rate feeding crows, rooks and magpies to ferrets, i never personally do, or if i do its just the breasts ive cut off them. I find that there isnt hardly any meat on them especially once paunched.

 

Just a preference, unsure whether they can get hurt by feeding them, spose the only killer would be small bones getting stuck in their mouths. Pigeons out of the lot would be the best choice i reckon, much more meat on them, instead of just bone.

 

Alex

[Frank]

I dont rate feeding crows, rooks and magpies to ferrets, i never personally do, or if i do its just the breasts ive cut off them. I find that there isnt hardly any meat on them especially once paunched.

 

Just a preference, unsure whether they can get hurt by feeding them, spose the only killer would be small bones getting stuck in their mouths. Pigeons out of the lot would be the best choice i reckon, much more meat on them, instead of just bone.

 

Alex

Thanks Alex.

You say you gut them, i did not bother to do that with mine ,, just throw them whole in and they are gone by the morning, but prehaps i should start?

Frank.

[Stealth Stalker]

I was just going to ask the same questions Frank

 

I noticed in 1 of your posts that you seemed to be throwing the whole birds in. I was going to ask if they needed to be gutted or not.

 

I've just aquired my first 2 ferrets courtesy of Pelt man today & intend to be feeding them a mix of dried food, pigeon & rabbit. Would I have to gut & skin them first?

 

Sorry if I'm hijaking your thread.

 

Cheers SS

[Deer Man]

Be carefull when feeding Ferrets or Hawks with anything you have shot with a shotgun! There is a real risk over time of lead poisonong. A friend of mine imported a Gos Hawk from Germany which had been fed pheasant. It died several weeks after leaving Germany when my mate had only fed bunnies which I had shot with a .22RF.

The vet said the pheasants must have been fed whole and contained lead!

[Cranfield]

I have never fed my ferrets rabbit.

It may be an old superstition on my part, but I think it could encourage them to "lay up".

 

I also don't like feeding them corvids, apart from the dark (bitter?) meat, carrion risks and small bones, I don't think there is sufficient meat on the bird.

 

Chicken giblets, chicken thighs, woodies (with the crop taken out, wings cut off and the tail feathers removed), lights and melts, bread and milk, tinned cat food, raw meat offcuts mixed with liver (small amounts) and a variety of other things.

All with plenty of fresh, cool water (in hot weather it wants changing twice a day and keeping in the shade).

[Frank]

Be carefull when feeding Ferrets or Hawks with anything you have shot with a shotgun! There is a real risk over time of lead poisonong. A friend of mine imported a Gos Hawk from Germany which had been fed pheasant. It died several weeks after leaving Germany when my mate had only fed bunnies which I had shot with a .22RF.

The vet said the pheasants must have been fed whole and contained lead!

 

Thanks for the warning Deer Man. All my food for the ferrets are shot with the .22rf.

I have also been told of another fella, going threw the same thing with his hawks after he fed them shotgun shot crows and pigeons.

Frank.

 

 

I have never fed my ferrets rabbit.

It may be an old superstition on my part, but I think it could encourage them to "lay up".

 

I also don't like feeding them corvids, apart from the dark (bitter?) meat, carrion risks and small bones, I don't think there is sufficient meat on the bird.

 

Chicken giblets, chicken thighs, woodies (with the crop taken out, wings cut off and the tail feathers removed), lights and melts, bread and milk, tinned cat food, raw meat offcuts mixed with liver (small amounts) and a variety of other things.

All with plenty of fresh, cool water (in hot weather it wants changing twice a day and keeping in the shade).

 

I had this coversation with a freind of mine this morning, about feeding rabbit to ferrets. He thinks like you Cranfeild and says they are more prone to lie up, if fed rabbit. But i know of several folks, who feed rabbit to their ferrets and have great bolters, never lying up. Im confused.

Frank.

[Cranfield]

A long ago friend of mine always fed his ferrets rabbit heads and his ferrets never seemed to lay up too often.

 

Its like a lot of "country sports" things, there is rarely any rational explanaation, nor scientific evidence either way, but everyone has their little ways.

 

Another one of my little "ways", is that I always vary the ferrets food.

I may feed pigeon, or chicken (their main food) two days running, but I will feed different foods for the next five days.

I think they appreciate the variety.

[Frank]

I agree Cranfeild, a change in diet every now and then, does them good.

Frank.

[Ferretboy111]

Best thing is to paunch any meat before hand, no point in skinning them as they eat it quicker as its less work to get the meat off, i feed my rabbits as i try and encourage them to know what one is and how to tackle it from a young age, ive never had lay ups with them! they kill them and move on, but then i dont make my ferrets hungry when i work them as they are more prone to lay up. Lead poisoning for ferrets would be very rare, my meat fed are all shot with rimfire or shotty and the ferrets remove the lead themselves and put it to one side, they dont eat it.

 

Alex

[Frank]

Cheers Alex.

Frank.

[Cranfield]

Alex, I may be misunderstanding this part of your post,

 

"i feed my rabbits as i try and encourage them to know what one is and how to tackle it from a young age, ive never had lay ups with them!"

 

Do you feed your ferrets live rabbits ?

 

I also never work hungry or tired ferrets, a discipline best remembered towards the end of the day and you get the, "just one more earth" syndrome, that is definitely asking for trouble.

 

When rabbits won't bolt, I'm not sure that my ferrets always kill them.

Most of the time they will return (after a delay) with some fur in their claws, but no sign of blood.

In my experience, if a ferret kills underground, its face and front is covered in blood.

[Ferretboy111]

You are indeed misunderstanding my friend, i use a dead paunched rabbit and simulate to the ferrets that its alive, ie: moving it about, shaking it etc.

 

Yes if one of my ferrets kills underground it returns with blood under its chin usually, and when they return with fur in their claws, i put it back down and then locate where its staying and dig to a rabbit in a stop end, ive had 5 in one before.

 

I actually love digging down to a stop end cos you never know how many are going to appear!

 

Oh how i miss ferreting already, think i may do abit of summer ferreting in a couple of weeks, as i miss it so much.

 

Alex