6 day old McMurray keets having trouble with temp or feed?

[michelem]

I hope smeone will be able to answer my issue
to day 4 of the gineas that were great were laying on their side paddling, walking sideways & bumping into the rubermaid side of pen like blind? we have lost 5 now in 12 hrs??? I thought it might be the chick starter which was just 16 percent protien, got the Dumor 24 percent made for turkeys but some are paddling amlessly & 1 bit my finger hanging on for 20 seconds feeblily like it was in pain??? I want to say it appears neurologic or poisoning if it were a sheep or goat which we have 400+ of. No , no CU feed just the southerstates feed we got for them & a chick vit & min water electrolite granuale we have added to their water which tinges the water a light yellow.
Help i dont want anymore to die. the room is 83 degrees & the heat lamp in one side of water trough under heat bulb is 100 other side is 84 . temp & feed & water are panicing me. we got 30 McMurrays keets last last year & have 24 of them still bedded in our trees & barn easves. Our 2 great Pryenees eat their eggs so we never get keets
please call me if you have fast answers my cell 434 -882-2222 michele
thank ewe in advance if you have suggestions as it is an abrupt death rate since first day when 1 die shortly after pick up & none since until today

 

[hillbillyfarmer]

It could be a protein deficiency 16 % is low for a starter especially guineas. I use a 24% dumor chick starter. Guineas are considered a game bird and they do make a game bird starter. Purina has one that is 30% that they recommend feeding to them til they are 6 weeks old but I have always used the 24% without any problems. Hope this helps.

 

[PeepsCA]

If you have them on any kind of shavings for bedding then they may be ingesting the shavings. Young keets don't always know what's food and what's bedding and will eat whatever they see another keet pecking at. Feel their crops, you should be able to tell if they are full of starter feed or something else like shavings. If you think you feel shavings then get all of the shavings out of the brooder immediately. Put down a few layers of thick well textured paper towels or rubberized shelf liner, and offer them some finely grated carrot with some molasses mixed in. 24% protein is still a little on the low side for keets, you might try offering them some crumbled up hard boiled or scrambled eggs too.

Sorry you lost some so quickly, hope you don't lose any more.

 

[hillbillyfarmer]

I just noticed you said the water is under the heatlamp. Is the water getting hot? If the water gets too warm or hot they may not be drinking it. You could try giving them fresh cool water and move it away from the heatlamp. I always put the food and water on the side of the brooder box away from the heatlamp.;

 

[JLeigh]

I bought Nutrena Game Bird Starter. It's 30% protein, and I usually had to get my feed store to order it for me. It was a great feed, and they flourished and grew like weeds. It might be inconvenient to get, but it's worth the extra effort.

RE: PeepsCA advice about eggs? I used it on a "bicycler" keet who couldn't eat by itself, and that little keet nearly took my fingers off trying to get the egg. I scrambled them (no butter, no oil) and cooled them off to room temperature, chopped them up VERY FINE and offered it by hand. Like I said, it was a BIG hit.

I hope everything turns out okay for you and your keets.

 

[leonphelps]

I would go for 105 directly under the lamp. the keets will figure out how to get out of the heat and go back and forth (at least mine did).

I would also handle them and put their beaks in the food and water. Do the water first, this is supposed to help cut down on pasty butt.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I hope smeone will be able to answer my issue
to day 4 of the gineas that were great were laying on their side paddling, walking sideways & bumping into the rubermaid side of pen like blind? we have lost 5 now in 12 hrs??? I thought it might be the chick starter which was just 16 percent protien, got the Dumor 24 percent made for turkeys but some are paddling amlessly & 1 bit my finger hanging on for 20 seconds feeblily like it was in pain??? I want to say it appears neurologic or poisoning if it were a sheep or goat which we have 400+ of. No , no CU feed just the southerstates feed we got for them & a chick vit & min water electrolite granuale we have added to their water which tinges the water a light yellow.
Help i dont want anymore to die. the room is 83 degrees & the heat lamp in one side of water trough under heat bulb is 100 other side is 84 . temp & feed & water are panicing me. we got 30 McMurrays keets last last year & have 24 of them still bedded in our trees & barn easves. Our 2 great Pryenees eat their eggs so we never get keets
please call me if you have fast answers my cell 000000000000000000000
thank ewe in advance if you have suggestions as it is an abrupt death rate since first day when 1 die shortly after pick up & none since until today

Hopefully, that's the end of your losses ... be sure 'n let all the good folks know how things turn out for ya.
And, edit your original post (don't want your # picked up by the spam/UCEr's robots ~'-)