Surprise Guinea Keets!

[Msfur08]

A few weeks ago, our only female guinea hen and sometimes one of the males didn’t roost in the coop like they normally did. I didn’t think much of it because guineas sometimes like to sleep in trees anyway and we still saw them around during the day so I knew they were fine.

Then yesterday the female showed up with 7 keets following her!

With keets around, the adult guineas have become highly aggressive. They usually never chase us, but now they do if we get too close.

However, last night we noticed they had bedded the keets in the grass just outside the coop and walked away from them. Knowing keets are prone to dying when they get wet, we scooped them up and put them in our indoor brooder with a heat plate so the morning dew wouldn’t kill them off.

They slept fine inside, but they were able to slip out of the brooder. So we thought we might put them in the outdoor transition brooder with their mother in the coop, but they slip right through the hexagonal chicken wire holes! They are SO tiny! So, they are running around with the three adult guineas now and we can’t get close to them without being attacked.

I’m really worried about them getting wet though. We are in western PA and get a lot of rain. So, I want to keep making sure we bring them inside at nighttime. Maybe we can also handle them this way and make them more tame?

At what age is the wetness no longer a concern for them?

Also, the parents lead them all over the place, eating bugs and stuff. Will this be sufficient for them? When bringing them in, we are giving them gamebird crumbles, but that is only in the evening and morning.

I think we could use hardware cloth the reinforce either the indoor or outdoor brooder. If outdoor, we would keep mom in with them and keep them in until wetness isn’t a risk. But her aggression might make cleaning the brooder impossible.

If inside, we are ripping them away from their parents, but will put them in the transitional brooder in the coop in a few weeks. And this would allow us to socialize them.

I’m conflicted on what to do here and what is best for the keets.

 

[R2elk]

A few weeks ago, our only female guinea hen and sometimes one of the males didn’t roost in the coop like they normally did. I didn’t think much of it because guineas sometimes like to sleep in trees anyway and we still saw them around during the day so I knew they were fine.

Then yesterday the female showed up with 7 keets following her!

With keets around, the adult guineas have become highly aggressive. They usually never chase us, but now they do if we get too close.

However, last night we noticed they had bedded the keets in the grass just outside the coop and walked away from them. Knowing keets are prone to dying when they get wet, we scooped them up and put them in our indoor brooder with a heat plate so the morning dew wouldn’t kill them off.

They slept fine inside, but they were able to slip out of the brooder. So we thought we might put them in the outdoor transition brooder with their mother in the coop, but they slip right through the hexagonal chicken wire holes! They are SO tiny! So, they are running around with the three adult guineas now and we can’t get close to them without being attacked.

I’m really worried about them getting wet though. We are in western PA and get a lot of rain. So, I want to keep making sure we bring them inside at nighttime. Maybe we can also handle them this way and make them more tame?

At what age is the wetness no longer a concern for them?

Also, the parents lead them all over the place, eating bugs and stuff. Will this be sufficient for them? When bringing them in, we are giving them gamebird crumbles, but that is only in the evening and morning.

I think we could use hardware cloth the reinforce either the indoor or outdoor brooder. If outdoor, we would keep mom in with them and keep them in until wetness isn’t a risk. But her aggression might make cleaning the brooder impossible.

If inside, we are ripping them away from their parents, but will put them in the transitional brooder in the coop in a few weeks. And this would allow us to socialize them.

I’m conflicted on what to do here and what is best for the keets.

Once they are fully feathered they will be okay with getting wet.

If you can get the hen to brood them, you will not need to supply supplemental heat. They will also be easy to integrate into the flock.Feed for the keets should be high protein game bird or turkey starter. If they are getting bugs they need appropriately sized grit available to them. It is good for the hen to have the same feed which will help her recover from the strain of brooding.

If you have a place that you can put her and the keets, it would be the best solution. It needs to be a fairly good sized area so she can keep the keets in one part of it far enough away from you to not see you as a danger. Put the feed and water on the other side so you can attend to it without making her feel threatened.

Yes, keets can walk right through poultry wire.

 

[Msfur08]

Thanks for the advice! After lots of drama and hissing, we were able to get the mom and keets moved into our transitional brooder. We reinforced the bottom with hardware cloth. Hopefully between that and their mom in there with them the keets will stay in there. We are expecting a lot of rain today.

The plan is to refresh the food and water at night after she has settled down on them.

She did actually bring them into the coop on her own last night, so that was an improvement.