The first necessity in ferret-keeping is that they shall be kept in
hutches or "cotes," as they are commonly called. Care must always be
taken to have their places well swilled with carbolic water, and then
allowed to thoroughly dry before whitewashing the inside, which is also
essential to keep them healthy. This should be done at least four times
a year. Always have your hutches leaning from the wall, so that wet or
refuse will not lodge, for when the bottom of a hutch is always wet it is
liable to give the ferrets a disease called foot rot, which is very
frequent where ferrets are neglected. Always keep the feeding part of
the hutch well covered with sawdust.
In feeding ferrets for the purpose of Rat-catching, never do so before
going out with them; I think it is quite sufficient to feed them every 24
hours. If you feed them oftener they are liable to get too fat, and also
lazy and unwilling to work as they should. The best food you can give
them is bread and milk, and occasionally a little raw liver. Mix the
bread and milk with a little hot water, stir well with a spoon or squeeze
through your fingers, so that the ferrets will have to eat it where you
feed them; if not they will carry the large pieces of bread that are wet
into the corners of the sleeping place, which would soon cause that part
of the hutch to smell very sour and become injurious to the health of the
ferret, especially where four or five are kept together, as they are of a
very perspiring nature. Always give them plenty of room to run about
when you can; if you don't they are likely to take cramp.
Ferrets are usually subject to distemper. The first symptom is the
ferret's neglect of its food. When you see this you will observe a
little matter at the corner of the eyes, and the ferret will have a
slight running at the nostrils. Immediately you see these symptoms
separate that ferret from the others, as this is, I think, the worst
disease one has to contend with.
In the whole of my ferret-keeping experience I have found distemper, if
caught in time, can be cured; but if it gets too far I know of no cure
for it. I have known a gamekeeper to have dogs with the distemper, and
he has not touched his ferrets or handled them at all during the time his
dogs were bad, yet a week afterwards his ferrets caught the disease. He
tried all the remedies he knew of, but in 14 days 12 hitherto good,
strong, healthy ferrets died: all he had. This will show at once that
the disease is very contagious. The moment you see signs of distemper
coming on feed the ferret as little as possible. Give it as little to
eat as will just keep life in it, for in feeding the ferret you also feed
the disease. When you have kept the food from it is the time to start
curing if possible. Now, from experience the first thing I recommend is
to sweat the disease out of it, and I find the best way to do this is as
follows:--Get an old bucket with a few one-inch holes bored in the
bottom, and almost fill it with good new straw horse-droppings; put a
little hay on the top of the droppings, and then put the ferret on the
hay. Place or hang the bucket over a boiler or on the mantelpiece, and
let the kettle steam under the bucket, say for 30 minutes, and you will
find the steam and the ammonia from the droppings will together sweat the
disease out of the ferret; then you can start feeding it again. Feed it
with something substantial, such as the jelly from stewed cowheels; give
them the jelly only, not the meat; and you will have a good result. Also
give them a teaspoonful of cream. This is the one and only cure for
distemper.
Another disease in ferrets, especially young ones, is what I call "red
mange." This starts always under the belly, and you will find that the
skin becomes very red and speckled. This is easily remedied by the
simple process of washing in lukewarm water and rubbing with sweet oil
and black sulphur. The same mixture will answer for "foot rot" if rubbed
well into the paws. The general cause of this latter disease is neglect
of the ferrets and the hutches not being cleaned out regularly.
I think the best bedding for ferrets is good oat straw, fresh every
fortnight. Throw the straw in carelessly, and the ferrets will make
their own beds. When breeding ferrets, never go near them more than you
can help, as they are of a wild nature and liable to destroy their young.
When you know a Jill or bitch ferret has young, give her a little extra
good food, but don't interfere with the young ones on any account, and if
you want to give her a little extra bedding put the straw in the same
place as the food, and she will take it into the sleeping place herself.
It is advisable not to touch the young ones for five weeks, or better
still leave them until they come out to feed themselves; and when running
about, if there be a good number, say nine or ten, in the lot, it is a
good plan to remove them into a larger place for sleeping, as young
ferrets are very liable to catch the red mange, which arises from too
many being together and sweating very much.
WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR RAT-CATCHING
always work them unmuzzled. Make as little noise as possible, as Rats
are very bad to bolt sometimes. Never grab at the ferret as it leaves
the hole, nor tempt it out of the hole with a dead Rat. The best way is
to let the ferret come out of its own choice, and then pick it up very
quietly, for if you grab at it, it is likely to become what we call a
"stopper;" and never on any account force a ferret to go into a hole.
WHEN WORKING FERRETS FOR RABBIT-SHOOTING
always muzzle them. The old-fashioned style of muzzle is, I think, the
best, that is, made with string. I don't approve of wire muzzles, as
they are liable to catch against tree roots and bits of sharp stones, and
from experience I find the ferret works much better with the string
muzzle.
There is one way of working ferrets when rabbit-shooting which, if
followed, I think would lead to a better day's shooting. You will often
see the ferrets stick up with the rabbits. Now, in most cases the
gamekeeper or his man working the ferrets will often cut open a dead
rabbit and put the paunch to the burrow. I quite agree as to the
desirability of this to get the ferrets out, but I say that the man using
the ferrets ought never to touch the paunch, as the ferrets will not work
half so well after he has the smell of the paunch on his hands.
Another bad plan is that of throwing a dead rabbit into the burrow so
that the ferret will follow it out. The best plan is to let the ferret
get clear of the hole, and then pick it up quietly. If you will break
your ferrets in in this manner you will never have any trouble with them
afterwards.
When ferrets are conveyed about for the purpose of rabbiting, boxes are
much better to use than bags, as the ferrets then get a better chance of
resting. If bags be used you disturb the ferrets' rest and position each
time you remove one. Take care to observe this and it will result in a
good day's sport.
Always take your ferrets home as quickly as possible after a day's work.
Ferrets kept only for rabbit-shooting should always be fed as soon as the
day's work is over, but they must not have more food till the same time
the following day. If fed in this way regularly you will find that they
will work very well. It is also advisable to let them drink at a stream
when they have worked about three hours.
When ferrets have been fast in a rabbit burrow, their paws may be full of
down with scratching at the rabbits. Always remove this before placing
them to another burrow. Each time you handle the ferret see that the
muzzle is alright, and in muzzling with string great care should be taken
to remove the long hair on the snout from under the string; otherwise the
ferret may experience a tickling sensation, and not work so well as it
should; see also that the string is tied tightly around the ferret's
neck; if not it can easily pull off the muzzle with its paws.
Whenever a ferret is severely bitten by a Rat the best course to take
immediately you get it home is to bathe the wound in clean luke-warm
water. See that all the dirt is removed, and then apply a few drops of
sweet oil to the wound. Repeat this every four hours, until the wound is
healed, but until then do not work the ferret lest more dirt gets into
the wound. My experience proves this to be the best way to cure a ferret
when it has received a severe Rat-bite.
It is also a good plan occasionally (say once a fortnight) to skin a nice
young Rat and give it to the ferret.
SUITABLE DOGS.
And now a word or two as to what is a good dog for waterside hunting, or
working with the ferrets. I recommend a cross-bred dog, but I find that
it is always better to have the pointer breed in it, whatever other breed
you get, because the pointer always has the nose or scent. Pointer and
Airedale would be very good, or pointer and Irish terrier. I have often
noticed that pure-bred dogs are not much good for hunting in buildings or
rivers. I have frequently seen a cross-bred dog stand at one side of the
river, and if the wind has been in his favour he has winded his nose
across the river, and I have sent him over and he has turned a Rat out,
bolted it into the water, and killed it.
The best precaution to take in breaking a dog to Rat-catching and
waterside hunting (especially if it be a puppy) is to never allow anybody
but yourself to have anything to do with it, it being the worst thing
possible to let a working dog have too many masters. Break it in to the
ferrets first, and then it is a good plan to go up the river banks, with
either a dead Rat or rabbit skin, letting the dog play with it for a
while, and then burying it about 18 inches in the river bank; or you may
pull up a clod and put it under, only you must not let the dog see where
you place it. Then take the dog with you near to where the rat or skin
is buried, and you will soon see that the dog knows its work. Do this a
few times, and you will see that once the dog finds the dead Rat or the
skin it will never forget. The younger the dog the better, the right age
to break a puppy this way being about four or five months. Break it in
for taking to the water at the same time. If you want a good working dog
always keep it on the chain when at home, and feed it at the same time as
the ferrets, but do not over-feed it; also give it one dose of castor oil
or syrup of buckthorn every 14 days. I recommend this because you never
know the nasty poisonous stuff that the dog gets on its stomach from the
dirty brook and river sides.
Let me add that all I have written about ferrets and dogs are not given
merely from hearsay, but are the facts derived from study and experience
during 25 years of dog and ferret-keeping.