Calling all experienced in raising baby keets! HELP!!!!!!!!!!

[MamaheninKY]

Purchased 6 baby keets last weekend. Everything was going good until this afternoon. Went to check on them to find one laying on it's side, not dead yet but it doesn't look good. Since it had fallen over in some poop I gave it a warm bath which seemed to perk it up quite a bit but as soon as I dried it off it went back not looking so good again. It also can't walk straight, falls to one side or the other, as if it has no strength to hold itself up. Does anyone have suggestions of what I can do for the little keet? Hate to sit here and watch it died without trying something. It's in a wash cloth on a heating pad, set on low, at the moment. Thought it might have been too cold since it perked up so much with the warm bath. Oh, almost forgot, offered it food and water but didn't want either. That could be because it doesn't have enough strength to eat or drink though. Any suggestions????

 

[wren]

I saved a baby turkey that acted like that by feeding it warmed high calorie meal replacement paste that was made for kittens. I thinned it a little with warm water because it was so sticky and fed it with a eye dropper. My chick wouldn't stand or peck. I had to teach it everything, even balance. Hopefully, yours is just weak.

Good luck!

 

[MamaheninKY]

Hi Wren,

Thanks for your quick response. I'm heading to town in a few minutes to see if I can located some kitten replacement paste. I have kitten replacement milk here but not the paste. If unable to locate the paste I'll try the milk anyway. Also realized out of all the supplies on hand for treating my animals I don't have an eyedropper. After searching the house over I give up and will stop at the drugstore to see if they can help me out.

Although I've raised chicks from 1 day old this is my first experience with keets or with an ill bird so tiny. I felt so helpless when see it laying there on it's side. I'll post on here to let you know the little keets outcome. Thanks again!!!

Hugs!
MamaheninKY

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

Hi, A little late here, but I think the paste is called Nutrical if I am correct? When I took in abandoned kittens I got that from my vet. It is loaded with vitamins and good stuff. Just thought you may want to know what the name is if we are thinking of the same paste

 

[4H kids and mom]

I have found that with raising keets the more you handle them, the worse they do.

When we got our 10, there were 3 of them that were the tiny ones and the super sweet ones, so we though "Oh like the chicks we want to hold them and love on them so they stay sweet". Nope. They ended up dieing. Same symptoms as yours. Wobbly, runny poo, no energy, laying on their sides, heavy breathing, then eventual death no matter what we did.

We bought all kinds of stuff (meds, pastes, drops) but nothing worked.

The remaining 7 are now strong and happy (almost 3 weeks old now!) but we dont handle them any more than to trasport them from one place to another. Yes, it means they wont be very friendly, but honestly you dont want your guineas to be real friendly anyway, or they wont be doing their "job" as a guard bird. Like turkeys and pheasants, they seem to do better when left pretty much alone. I know thats probably not what you want to hear, but in my situation thats been the case. They are better left kinda "wild".

 

[lacyloo]

look for nutrical at a pet store !!

 

[cgjsmith]

My vet sadi it could be worms as well (had the same problem with chicks) keets are very suseptable to them. C

 

[MamaheninKY]

Thank you to everyone for their advise and the name of the paste! I appreciate all of you taking time to write!

This little keet has been a mystery! Saturday night after working with it for hours it finally got up. It was running around, looked better and stronger. Started eating the feed and drinking water from it's waterer. You couldn't tell anything had ever been wrong with it. I put it back with the others, checked on it again before going to bed, everything still fine.

Got up Sunday morning and there it was laying on it's side again looking lifeless, same as the morning before. So everything was repeated as had been done the day before. By mid-afternoon it was active, looking great, even walking straighter than it had been on Saturday but decided not to put it back in with the others yet. Instead I pieced together a small cage and placed it there for the rest of the day to watch. When it came time to go to bed I put it back with the others but sat there and watched. I had reached the conclusion it couldn't be sick with any kind of disease since it was perking up too quickly after working with it and removing it from the cage with the others so something else was going on.

Sure enough, after a couple of minutes the others started pecking it, knocking it down, stepping all over it and pushing it aside. They kept this up until it was getting too weak to get back up so I removed it and placed it in the separate cage permanently. It's the smallest of the 6 keets, almost half the size of the biggest one, so it makes sense it would get knocked around some but the other keets were purposely abusing this one. It did great yesterday in the separate cage so I was hopeful we were on the road to recovery but this morning when checking it was on it's side AGAIN. It can stand up this morning but doesn't want to, keeps laying back down and refuses to drink a thing. Think it's just too weak and small to make it.

I don't know what else can be done for the poor little thing but leave it alone and see what happens. I'll post an update later with any changes.

Again thanks to everyone!

 

[tiffanyh]

It is probably getting a "sugar rush" from the nutrical. Their blood sugar jumps up from things like that, and of course, it crashes slightly after. That is why you see the quick improvement and then the steps back. I would try adding another suuplement that is higher in a fiber that will level outs it blood glucose levels so that it can keep the energy (maybe the mash or feed made into a slurry mixed with some nutrical), rather than the BG levels going up and down like a rollercoaster. I have never had this experience with keets, but I worked as a cert. vet tech for years, and this is very common in diabetic cats and orphaned kittens. (Im not saying its diabetic--just refering to the BG levels)

Good luck, I hope he perks up soon and stays healthy!

 

[ozark hen]

Since I just had my australorp hatch a bunch of keets for me and I brought them into the house to make sure they made it...I decided to tame these like the chicks until I read this thread. I will not be handling them now as I want them to grow up to do their job..guarding. This is my first experience with keets and will take to heart all the advice I get here. Thanks!