So, my “brooded within the flock” experiment is going poorly, which doesn’t bode well for our upcoming hatch in two weeks. All three losses have been in the coop/run too, and the guinea moms have been doing so well. I started with four, and lost two keets at a week old to a storm/snake in coop combo. I was down to two keets, one that was particularly robust, flying well, etc. I’ve been keeping them in an electric poultry net run most of the day, then letting them out in the evening when I can watch them. For the first two weeks, I turned the electric off during the day, but I’ve been nervous about predators, so resided keets were old enough to leave the electric on. I checked on them at noon and both keets were fine, but just went to let them out, and found the bigger keet with it’s foot tangled in the electric poultry net fencing and dead.
It seemed recent too. It’s 99F out with a heat index of 111F, but I’m going to head out and try to clip plastic mesh onto the inside of the electric net for the first two feet of height. I’m really wishing I had built a standard run right now. I’m so frustrated that all losses have been attributable to some design flaw in their coop and run!!!
It seemed recent too. It’s 99F out with a heat index of 111F, but I’m going to head out and try to clip plastic mesh onto the inside of the electric net for the first two feet of height. I’m really wishing I had built a standard run right now. I’m so frustrated that all losses have been attributable to some design flaw in their coop and run!!!
