starving before working

[cawleada04 4]

has any body ever heard of not feeding ferrets the morning they hunt. i always thorght if you were to do this the ferret is more likely to kill.

[nothernlite 18,089]

nope i always give them a we bite before or a good fed the night before

[socks 32,253]

This was common practice many years ago which thankfully now has all but died out .... Ferrets should have access to food and water 24/7 .... Would you like to do a full days work on an empty stomach ? Ferrets have a very small digestive track which means they need to eat little and often ... Having a fast metabolism means they burn energy very quickly .... If I am working my ferrets hard on a day I will give them a few water stops and a light feed half way through the day to keep their energy levels up ..........

[rabbitcatcher 1 287]

IMO there's a difference between starving your ferrets and keeping them sharp for a days work, but everybody's got there own ways, atb Adam

[pie-eater 377]

I give my ferrets a light feed before working.

[Guest cookiemonsterandmerlin]

Ever thought of going out ferretting without breakie yourself

[chrismdd 787]

My ferrets hunt for the thrill of it. They have a good feed the night before and then have some dry feed and water (maybe a bit of goats milk) in the morning. They will hunt all day like this and rarely kill and lie-up although they will stick with the live rabbits in stop-ends until they push them out or we have dug to them. One ferret in particular will get into hunt mode and blast through warrens all day pushing out everything she finds and she eats more than her fair share of feed at home. Last year towards the end of the season we had difficulty keeping up with her as she rushed up and down the warrens bolting the adults and grabbing and killing the youngsters and moving on.

 

Also give them access to water and food (dry or rabbit pieces during the day). Used to take a bit of lactose free milk to give them but just today I've fitted two small water drinking bottles to their carry box that they will access to all day.

 

Chris

[fitchet 788]

I feed mine the night before and give them an egg or abit of flesh in the morning. They still stick to rabbits and if they kill i allways think that they will kill and move on but if there hungry they will eat a rabbit then sleep. ATB

[Carraghs Gem 1,675]

I feed mine late the night before... I wouldnt like mine to be hungry as they'd take the hand of me

As for not having breakfast myself before going ferreting.. I often forget to eat breakfast lol

[Brimmer 220]

Starving any animal is not right at all,

lessening there food up to the day out to make them hunt as nature intended, hunt when they are hungry i feel is not a bad thing.

You need to know what you are doing to get them on point, starving could see them going backwards.

I'd suggest just feeding them as normal unless you pay a lot of attention to the daily physical state of you animals.

[terryd 8,525]

Mine have nearly zero interest in a rabbit once it is dead as they get fed mostly dry food so that would make no sense in my case

[The one 8,488]

Mine have food 24/7 i would liken them to a cat hunting for fun not because there hungry and they kill enough and i do enough digging with out asking for more , and i think it would zap there energy for a full days hunting being hungry

[leec 132]

no animal works properly if starved food is fuel,

mine have rabbs/hare/pigeon in there boxs 24/7 none of refuse to work or fade off halfway through the day,

i no a certain well nown pest controller that keeps his ferrets in starve boxs the night before,

they are boxs about 1ft by 1ft sqre completly dark with 3 or 4 breathing holes drilled in one side,wonder how hed feel left in one all night,,

[kenny14 656]

As socks says, years ago it used to be fairly common practice to work them hungry, and many people thought they wouldn't work properly if they'd been fed recently. In my experience a ferret works just as keenly if it's had a feed as not, and is likely to spend less time with a kill.

[Sirius 1,391]

I always starve them of bread and milk slops and work them with muzzles it works for me...... Never feed rabbit either as it makes them kill.

 

I am amazed this sort of old twaddle still comes up, there is no need to starve a ferret before working maybe a great big feast on the morning before a big day is not the best idea, just feed as normal .

Edited October 30, 2012 by Sirius