Will chicken feed kill guineas

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acw13

acw13

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jan 19, 2015
19
0
32
I've had guineas before and ended up losing them to predators. I try to raise young guineas and chicks together to encourage them to roost in the coop. I had a friend tell me that feeding guineas chicken food will kill them because of the antibiotics in the chicken food and Guinea's bodies do not tolerate them. I didn't know regular chicken food has antibiotics. Is this true? All of my birds are free ranged and have access to 80 acres so there's plenty of insects.
 
acw13 said:
I've had guineas before and ended up losing them to predators. I try to raise young guineas and chicks together to encourage them to roost in the coop. I had a friend tell me that feeding guineas chicken food will kill them because of the antibiotics in the chicken food and Guinea's bodies do not tolerate them. I didn't know regular chicken food has antibiotics. Is this true? All of my birds are free ranged and have access to 80 acres so there's plenty of insects.
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The medication in chick feed will not kill guinea keets. The protein level in chick feed is not high enough for the keets to develop properly. Keets need the higher protein levels available in turkey or game bird starter which typically is 28% to 30% protein.

I brood keets and chicks together regularly. When I have mixed poultry in the brooder I feed the highest protein level that is required by the keets or poults. I have never seen any problems for chicks raised on the higher protein but I have seen keets have stunted growth by being raised on the lower protein levels contained in chick starter.

The way I get my guineas to roost in their coop is by chasing them in every night and closing the door. If I don't put my guineas in the coop at night I will end up without any guineas. I lost my whole first flock to great horned owls who easily picked them off at night. I don't house my guineas with my chickens because I don't want to deal with the conflicts that it caused.

Good luck.
 
You can buy unmedicated chick food, but medicated won't kill them. Like R2elk said, though, they need higher protein than what chick feed provides.

I house chickens and guineas together. The guineas wander further but come back to coop on their own, so I'm pretty sure it's not because they are housed with the chickens.
 

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