[daisy]

after a rather brisk ride today (i say brisk, we were chased by some cows) :lol: i finally remembered to have a look at the ingredients to the alen and page 'old faithful's special blend' here it is:

where there are stars is where the text was too bad to read
by descending weight:
25%-40% Barley
**-10% molasses#Maize
alfalfa
beans
calcium carbonate
expelled linseed
oat straw
sodium chloride
Di-calcium phosphate
expelled soya oil
mint
FOS/MOS prebiotic
garlic
protexin?
herbs
herbs (they wrote herbs twice) :roll:

and it says:

Protein 10.0%
Fibre 7.0%
Moisture 13.3%
Vit A 10,000 iu/kg
Vit D 1,500 iu/kg
Vit E 80 iu/kg
OIL 3.0%
Ash 7.5%

what do we think then?

 

[Cait]

The only thing I would say is that mice are supposed to hate mint... I'll have to find out why as I think I know where I read it... I'll get back to you :lol:

 

[daisy]

actually i think my sister told me that too... she said she had trouble getting the acacia rats to eat a mix that had mint in it as she got a huge discount bag of rabbit mix with mint...

apart from the mint, it looks ok? but i'd still need to add wild bird mix, oats? and a protein then?

 

[Dragonfly-Stud]

Chuck in some chicken pellets mine love them 16% protein I would only use the small holder range as it contains no grit or other dodgy ingredients, plus they don't use any dodgy methods to extract the good bits and it's cheap (pardon the pun) too.
Lentils are great for protein as well.

 

[Cait]

Other than the mint I don't see anything mice would object to, though as you say you'd need to add a few other things to it. I found the place I read about mice and mint and all it said is that it's a natural deterrant and they really hate it! I think perhaps that might mean they won't really eat that food...

 

[daisy]

blimey! i'll give it a go, otherwise i might be able to find a different type at my feed store without the mint, but lets face it horses love the mint!!

do you think apart from the protein and seed i'd still need to add oats or could the barley in there be enough, either way i guess the feed would be an alternative to a sack of rabbit food which they seem to leave loads of,

the research goes on!!

 

[Cait]

Did you ever try the mice with anything new Daisy? The price of my food is constantly rising at the moment and I've altered my mix slightly with no ill effects but I don't use horse foods as such, only straights plus some others things.

 

[ian]

I'm having the same issue, I didnt mind buying expensive rat food as a base when I only had a few mice because it lasted for ages but now I'm going through loads each week. Luckily I still find oats and seed fairly cheap. Ive been looking for the big bags of greyhound food that you use Cait, but I cant seem to find any, is yours from a specialist shop?

Rabbit food doesn't seem too effective, they pick bits out and leave quite a lot, I think Dog kibble may be the way to go.
Any suggestions on other makes?

 

[Cait]

I'm currently using Bailey's Best British Oats, mixed flake (barley, maize and pea), barley (they eat more of this so I add more than is in the mixed flake), mixed wild bird seed, Wafcol Greyhound Maintenance dog food and Breederpack broken dog biscuits (like Bonios etc). The Wafcol is not from a special shop, just a farm shop. You can use any brand you like really as long as you get good results and the mice eat it! It might be worth bearing in mind though that working dog food has no VAT on it.

 

[daisy]

cait, i think you were right about the mint thing, although i thougt the horse feed smelt delicious the mice clearly didnt think so and were pressing their faces against the tubs the next day with "i'm soooo hungry" writen all over them, i'm still using my same mixture which is getting more expensive and they dont eat it all. need to do some more research i think and i am due a trip to the feed store soon for the horses anyway.....

ian, can prob get the dog food at 'the barn shop' near royston where i go, or maybe 'frenches mill' on huntingdon road, we'll go one weekend

 

[Sdaji]

The stuff I use is about 20% protein, 4.5% fat. I can't remember the fibre content off the top of my head. It's made specifically for rodents and is very similar to the type used by laboratories (which I also use sometimes).

I was looking at horse food yesterday and considering using it, but the pellet size was too small to work with my system.