Food for the girls

[Kalico]

My 3 girls are 8w old - they were on a muesli mix but i have bought the complete pelleted food for them - should i mix the muesli mix with the pellets to begin with to get them used to the new pellet only mix?

Also food wise - i know that everything in moderation is probably the best way, here's what i have for them, could you let me know that's its all ok.

Readi-grass, Timothy hay - pelleted P@H with added Vit C.

I've read the list of safe veggies/fruit but wondered what veggies/fruit are best fed daily and what should only be given once/twice weekly?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bailey]

Hi
The way I usually do it is to add a little bit each day until the old food is phased out, normally over 7-10 days

Alfalfa hay is best while they are younger as it is higher in calcium and helps their growth.

This lists the veg/fruit in order of nutrition etc..
http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html

 

[Kalico]

Hi
The way I usually do it is to add a little bit each day until the old food is phased out, normally over 7-10 days

Alfalfa hay is best while they are younger as it is higher in calcium and helps their growth.

This lists the veg/fruit in order of nutrition etc..
http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html

Thank you for that - so, a balanced diet would be a small amount of a good mix of foods?

 

[mikulinek]

Hi Kalico,

A few things that I can recommend are as follows

The meusli is not my favourite food - I know a lot of people have great success with it but our two boars used to pick their favourite bits and leave the rest. We give them a small-ish portion of pellets every day.

In regard to the pellets - tbh it doesn't really matter if they are vitamin C rich or not because vitamin C breaks down very quickly and, after a couple of day when you open it, a bag of pellets with have very little vitamin C. Pellets are a good source of food but are perhaps the least important part of a piggy's diet.

I try to mix things up as often as possible because piggies do get bored of food - even their favourite things - from time to time and will have phases when they don't eat certain things. I vary between just timothy hay (usually from P@h) to Burgess Excel Fresh Herbage with timothy hay, to high quality meadow hay. The boys have unlimited hay and they never have an empty feeder. Hay or herbage etc. should make up 80% or so of a piggy's diet.

With youung piggies, you may want to make sure they have quite a good amount of pellets to help their growth.

In regard to veggies, again try to vary it as much as possible. A few things which are really good and very popular are carrots (almost all piggies love carrots and if you can get them with tops - they can eat the leaves too!), flat leaf parsley - which is good in the winter when there is no fresh grass. Green beans (maybe one a day) or peas.

You should make sure that a good 10 - 15% of the piggies' daily diet is made up of fresh veg. In the summer, you can supplement this with a good handfull fo grass each every day - every two days.

Our boars also get occasional treats like grapes, parsnip (although they very rarely eat this - it's not a favourite...), water melon, basil, banana (including the skin).

I hope that's helpful

 

[mikulinek]

Hi
The way I usually do it is to add a little bit each day until the old food is phased out, normally over 7-10 days

Alfalfa hay is best while they are younger as it is higher in calcium and helps their growth.

This lists the veg/fruit in order of nutrition etc..
http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html

Oh yes - there are some great alfalfa biscuits available at P@H which are great for younger piggies. They're by "woodlands" and they're quite big chunky biscuit things. The boys get one each and we just replace it when it goes - takes at least a week or so to eat.

 

[Bailey]

Thank you for that - so, a balanced diet would be a small amount of a good mix of foods?

I think so, certains things which are higher in calcium I would only feed once or twice a week as a treat to prevent stones forming.

While still in the growth stage I would feed unlimited pellets, now mine are fully grown I have cut back to feeding them morning & evening - however some people choose to carry on feed unlimited, it's all down to personal choice really.

 

[Wiebke]

I use a mixture of hays and also mix one staple variety of pellets (currently p@h after they went off Burgess excel) with something else, sometimes even a muesli as a very occasional treat.

Cucumber, celery, pepper, carrot (a small chunk per piggy), some lettuce (Cos, gem, etc. that is green) and one variety of cabbage are my daily staples, if possible some fresh herbs like coriander, dill, basil or parsley. Green beans, broccoli, tomato, apple, sweet corn are on the menu every few days; I try to rotate between them. Kale and spinach are rare treats (very high calcium content), as are melon and grapes or a segment of tangerine. You can also feed salad mixes and sweet potatoes if you wish.

I must admit that it is much easer to feed a greater variety with more piggies. I am sure that you will find a balance that works for you and your purse!

Grass counts mainly as hay, but great amounts of it will go towards the veg count, especially when the grass is very lush and rich. Start slowly with grass - too much all at once can cause diarrhea if a piggy tummy is not used to it. The same goes for veg - introduce only one new variety at any time and repeat serving it up from time to time of it is not a success first time round; a bit like getting children to eat healthy food!

 

[mikulinek]

I use a mixture of hays and also mix one staple variety of pellets (currently p@h after they went off Burgess excel) with something else, sometimes even a muesli as a very occasional treat.

Cucumber, celery, pepper, carrot (a small chunk per piggy), some lettuce (Cos, gem, etc. that is green) and one variety of cabbage are my daily staples, if possible some fresh herbs like coriander, dill, basil or parsley. Green beans, broccoli, tomato, apple, sweet corn are on the menu every few days; I try to rotate between them. Kale and spinach are rare treats (very high calcium content), as are melon and grapes or a segment of tangerine. You can also feed salad mixes and sweet potatoes if you wish.

I must admit that it is much easer to feed a greater variety with more piggies. I am sure that you will find a balance that works for you and your purse!

Grass counts mainly as hay, but great amounts of it will go towards the veg count, especially when the grass is very lush and rich. Start slowly with grass - too much all at once can cause diarrhea if a piggy tummy is not used to it. The same goes for veg - introduce only one new variety at any time and repeat serving it up from time to time of it is not a success first time round; a bit like getting children to eat healthy food!

When there's fresh grass, our boys also get some occasional dandelion and clover as a treat too. In this case, we would take this off their fresh veg allowance if you like - but as Wiebke says, any grass you give them at the moment in particular would be part of their hay diet

They love dandelion by the way. Something to watch out for - if they eat a lot of carrot and/or dandelion, it will change the colour of their pee. It's nothing to be worried about, it's just the colour in the carrot and dandelion coming out but be just so you're prepared

 

[Kalico]

Just read your posts and nipped down to Sainsbury - got a few different things as well as a Savoy cabbage which if the girls dont like, the hens will! I will print off these posts and keep them in my bag for when i go to the shops.

Thanks all.