Handfeeding Recipes

[Sef]

Thought it might be interesting and useful to share our own handfeeding "recipes" here, for those who (like me) might be looking for lower calcium/lower sodium alternatives to commercial handfeeding products.


This is a very simple "recipe" using Kleenmama pellets and a few ingredients that are readily available at most grocery or health food stores (if these items are available in my po-dunk town, they're available almost anywhere). My guys LOVE this stuff.

NOTE: Please be sure to read this information on handfeeding before using this or any other handfeeding recipe.

------------------------------

1/8 cup of Kleenmama timothy pellets
3 tsp of anise seeds (available in the spice aisle)
4 tsp of plain, untoasted wheat germ (available in the cereal aisle)
1 plain acidophilus, 100mg capsule

1. Grind the pellets and anise seeds to a smooth, relatively uniform dry mix (I use a small, inexpensive Proctor Silex coffee grinder).

2. Add the untoasted wheat germ and the contents of one 100mg acidophilus capsule to the ground mix (use a separate mixing bowl if you have a small capacity grinder).

3. Run this mix back through the grinder to grind to a finer powder. It also helps distribute the ingredients a little more evenly.

4. When finished, dump into a small zip-lock storage bag and refrigerate until needed.

That's it! Makes approx. 35 grams of dry hand-feeding mix. Double or triple the recipe for a larger batch.

[codyNpatches]

I'm glad you started this thread sef! How long will the mixture last in the fridge? Can you freeze it?

[Sef]

Hmmm. Good question. Both acidophilus and wheat germ need to be refrigerated in order to stay viable, but I don't know how well either of them freezes. I'll do a little more digging and see what I can come up with on that.

[Kat]

This is a great thread!

Do you use acidophilus even when pigs aren't taking antibiotics?

Also, is there a way to grid the ingredients without a coffee grinder?

I usually let my oxbow pellets soak in water for awhile (a few hours is enough), and then mix with a little pumpkin baby food for taste.

[GuineaPiggin]

Excellent thread, thanks for starting it. I'll have to bookmark this for (hopefully not for a while, if ever) future use.

[Lynx]

I think I'll sticky your thread for a while during discussions and maybe I can add some recommendations to the hand feeding page later.

[cavyslave8]

Awesome thread! I'm so glad you posted about this. Fiona requires a lot of CC and this sounds like a good alternative. I will certainly be trying it out.

Kat: The only thing I can imagine using instead of a coffee grinder is perhaps one of those "magic bullet" blender things. But I'm not sure if those are really meant to grind solids.

[Sef]

Letting the pellets soak in water would break up the pellets, but wouldn't grind down the anise and wheat germ.

I bought this small electric grinder at the local grocery store for around $9 last year:



Really like it...it's easy to clean, doesn't take up a lot of room, and does a good job with grinding.

[Sef]

Also...it looks like the "Kleenmama" mix could stay viable for about a week with refrigeration. This is due to the use of raw wheat germ, which can turn rancid rather quickly.

Not sure if toasted wheat germ would have the same nutritional benefits-?

[tiggyswift]

I have that exact coffee grinder. I used it to grind pellets for Elmo when I was handfeeding him. Works great, and it was not expensive at all. I will have to try this recipe next time I have to hand feed.

[eschimpf]

Great thread, I'm going to write this out and stick it into my guinea pig binder. Thanks so much.

[cutemomomi]

Thank you very much for posting this recipe.
I just have a couple of quick questions.
Can the kleenmama pellets be subtitled? We usually have Oxbow here at the house.
And anise seeds? Is star anise the same?
I couldn't anise seeds today, but I came home with a sachet of STAR anise ones.