How long to boil marrow bones?

[lizharrell1]

I was able to get the butcher's at Publix to cut me a VERY SMALL marrow bone for Jack. I just don't know how long I need to boil the bone for? Also, whenever I have bought the marrow bones from Chris's they are always "cleaned out" in the middle and very smooth. Do I need to do the same? Or is it okay for Jack to get the stuff in the middle. Will be ordering antlers, but wanted to try doing my own marrow bones. Thanks guys!

[Jackie in Tampa]

:thinking I am thinking I would bake that baby...
but heck I am not sure..I have never bought a bone for the sqs, they just get whatever bones...
I have a big ham bone on the deck and antlers in the trees...they last a long time...
the antlers I get are never big, but I replace about three times a year...they widdle them down to only the skull cap and eat that too and they have never been treated or cooked...:dono
the ham bone has been!...

the cowhead bone{ as I couldn't remember the word SKULL, do you remember that...:rotfl :sanp3 }
was just natural, but had been out to pasture for some time it seemed, as it had been bleached white by the sun and picked clean by the ants...

[lizharrell1]

Hmmmm.....maybe I should just stick to buying the stuff:shakehead It is currently boiling away though. Never thought to bake it. I was more interested in the bone part for Jack to gnaw on and maybe get a little extra calcium in the process. Don't see myself traipsing through peoples pastures looking for cow skulls.....:D Do you buy the antler pieces or just the whole darned set of antlers?
And I have read where flyers love chicken bones, but my entire life I have learned to keep chicken bones away from cats/dogs. Do I just take the bone from a drummette (cooked) and strip the meat off of it?

[muffinsquirrel]

Hmmmm.....maybe I should just stick to buying the stuff:shakehead It is currently boiling away though. Never thought to bake it. I was more interested in the bone part for Jack to gnaw on and maybe get a little extra calcium in the process. Don't see myself traipsing through peoples pastures looking for cow skulls.....:D Do you buy the antler pieces or just the whole darned set of antlers?
And I have read where flyers love chicken bones, but my entire life I have learned to keep chicken bones away from cats/dogs. Do I just take the bone from a drummette (cooked) and strip the meat off of it?


Liz, I know exactly how you feel. The first time someone told me to give my flyers a chicken bone, I thought "Wow! she must really hate me to try to get me to kill my squirrels!!!" And I hovered over them like a momma chicken the first time I gave them one - expecting at any moment to see them start bleeding from the mouth and see little bone splinters sticking out of their sides!! :D But nobody has 'sprung a leak' from chicken bones yet! :rotfl And they sure do love them. I will use all the bones that are a decent size - the main leg bone, the thigh bone, just whatever looks sturdy enough. And I don't strip the meat off - mine get 'leftover' bones when we have chicken, and they will clean the meat off too.

muffinsquirrel

[lizharrell1]

That is good to know. Okay, maybe it sounds a little odd, but what the heck......it's for the SQUIRRELS right?:D

[astra]

Don't see myself traipsing through peoples pastures looking for cow skulls.....:D
:jump :jump

[pappy1264]

I usually boil for about an hour, run under cold water for a while (about 3 mins to help it cool faster, then let it sit for about an hour then let em' have it!)

Oh, you HAVE to get flyers chicken wings....I remember the first time I gave Luna one....she was so funny, running around trying to find a place to hide to eat it (but it wouldn't fit in all the places she would normally go....thing was almost as big as she was!! lol) Yeah, they love chicken straight off the bone (course, I try to just hand a piece of chicken w/no bone, she won't touch it....lol)

And you can buy antler pieces online or in some pet stores.

[wildlife ma]

My 80 lb dog gets a marrow bone most every night so I had a friend saw thru her bones to a size of about 3 inches. They are all cleaned out but I sterilize them in the microwave in water 2 or 3 times of 5 minutes each (with fresh water). I don't need a lot of bones because I reuse them for next season after sterilizing them again. It's interesting to see the squirrels dragging them into the nest boxes. :)