First time Guinea Mom and Dad raising keets!

[BennieAnTheJets]

Yes, poor Blue! What did he have? Beats me. I spent tons of cash at the vets for visits, diagnostics, blood work, treatments, etc. In the end they "found" on necropsy (with tissue analysis, extra expensive again) that he had "the worst black lung disease the pathologist had ever seen". Huh?!? They asked me if we were burning tires. Huh?!? No way. I asked them if there was a chance that they had switched the organ tissues with another patient. No, they were sure. Well, I had other necropsies done on our birds and none had any findings in the lungs and they all live in the same coop/yard.

That is when I pretty much stopped spending money on this vet (and vets in general, at least as much as I had done for the birds) and when they charged me 25 dollars for being 15 minutes late and gave me an impertinent lecture on why they have emergencies and I do not when I asked for my 25 dollars back next time (since they always made us wait way longer than 15 min past our appointment time when we were on time) and when they told me to spray a really toxic chemical in the coop when I asked their advice on how to get rid of mites. This was supposed to be the best, a bird specialist, that even our local vets had trained with on bird issues and I drove hours to get to them. The gold standard for bird vets in the area (with matching prices). Well.

Never did Blue any good. We did injections of antibiotics, fluids, etc. etc. And the info I got did not make any sense. Wished it would have been otherwise, but this forum (and guineas.com when it existed) has helped me more on many occasions.

In the end I do not know what went wrong with Blue. He must have caught something, some virus or bacteria because he was so strong when he was younger I thought we'll have him for the longest of all the birds. It was a real surprise when he started going downhill.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yes, poor Blue! What did he have? Beats me. I spent tons of cash at the vets for visits, diagnostics, blood work, treatments, etc. In the end they "found" on necropsy (with tissue analysis, extra expensive again) that he had "the worst black lung disease the pathologist had ever seen". Huh?!? They asked me if we were burning tires. Huh?!? No way. I asked them if there was a chance that they had switched the organ tissues with another patient. No, they were sure. Well, I had other necropsies done on our birds and none had any findings in the lungs and they all live in the same coop/yard.

That is when I pretty much stopped spending money on this vet (and vets in general, at least as much as I had done for the birds) and when they charged me 25 dollars for being 15 minutes late and gave me an impertinent lecture on why they have emergencies and I do not when I asked for my 25 dollars back next time (since they always made us wait way longer than 15 min past our appointment time when we were on time) and when they told me to spray a really toxic chemical in the coop when I asked their advice on how to get rid of mites. This was supposed to be the best, a bird specialist, that even our local vets had trained with on bird issues and I drove hours to get to them. The gold standard for bird vets in the area (with matching prices). Well.

Never did Blue any good. We did injections of antibiotics, fluids, etc. etc. And the info I got did not make any sense. Wished it would have been otherwise, but this forum (and guineas.com when it existed) has helped me more on many occasions.

In the end I do not know what went wrong with Blue. He must have caught something, some virus or bacteria because he was so strong when he was younger I thought we'll have him for the longest of all the birds. It was a real surprise when he started going downhill.

Wow! You went through a lot with the poor guy! Sorry that you lost a bird that you worked so hard for. Just trying to stay abreast of guinea diseases... I recently had a guinea hen, then a duck die of mysterious diseases. I had them necropsied at our state diagnostic lab as I was worried about something that would affect the eggs/keets we are selling. However, they both seem to have had “one off” problems; something odd that affected only them.

 

[My2butterflies]

Mom and dad are gorgeous I’ve never really seen coral blue guineas before. They are so beautiful!
Im so sorry to hear about your boy blue How heartbreaking.

 

[Sydney65]

Ah, poor Blue! What disease did he have to waste away like that? Yes, I love lavender and coral blue too. I also ended up with a slate keet I purchased last year, along with a “Violet” keet, that I’m not sure is really violet... At any rate, I really love the slate and violet colors as well. Here’s a pic of Slate and Violet together. Wish I had a lavender in that pic too. It would be great to have lavender, coral blue, and slate guineas - goals!

Lol..mb someday we'll have guinea swaps.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Lol..mb someday we'll have guinea swaps.

About that - with COVID we have fewer folks reading bulletin boards at the feed store and I saved the rest of the eggs from ScoobyDoo and Baby Blue and they are hatching now. Does anyone know someone who wants Guineas in the Fredericksburg, VA area? Is there a bulleting board on backyardchickens somewhere?

Also, has anyone tried to sneek a bator baby in with a mom and keets? I am tempted to try one in the morning. The one that hatched tonight.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

About that - with COVID we have fewer folks reading bulletin boards at the feed store and I saved the rest of the eggs from ScoobyDoo and Baby Blue and they are hatching now. Does anyone know someone who wants Guineas in the Fredericksburg, VA area? Is there a bulleting board on backyardchickens somewhere?

Also, has anyone tried to sneek a bator baby in with a mom and keets? I am tempted to try one in the morning. The one that hatched tonight.

We sell our keets on Craigslist. There is a classified ads section of BYCs but I haven’t used it... I have not been brave enough to try slipping a keet under a guinea hen. They don’t seem to sleep soundly enough! I have thought about putting a keet in a cage next to the hen to see if she thinks she lost a keet... GL if you try it!

 

[southwind00]

Hey Bennie,I too have a young threesome of guineas raising some keets, 6 in total and because they quit sitting on the eggs I now have four keets in the garage. Lets us all know how the sneaking the keet in works?

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Yeah, I used to sell on Craigslist but it slowed down a lot - maybe people are on Facebook now - I am not.

Ok, so I took the one keet that hatched 2 days ago to the parents and they accepted it - called it "Chance" - but I had some dropped heart moments - it is not that far behind and although a little younger and smaller (within 3 days), the other keets have slight size differences, too - seem to have hatched on different days, within 3 days as well.

The parents stepped on it a few times that made my heart stop - at first I thought, oh well, the others got stepped on on the first day as well, give it a chance - then it got stepped on so hard, it started squeaking and would not stop, even when it got under mom and they all went to sleep - I thought 'oh sh#$%, it got hurt internally and may die now' - then mom pecked at it and I did not like that - maybe they kill injured ones? - anyway, I watched and watched and it stopped squeaking and I thought it may still be dead in the morning - but it is fine so far!!

The stepping on may have nothing to do with adding it in late - it may have happened to any of them, I think, even though I am not sure.

All's well from what I can see this morning. I think the parents are super-excellent except for one thing: they step on the keets and kick them around sometimes - maybe in nature they just go forward and the keets follow? In our enclosure they go back and forth and round and round and that may have something to do with it. I think the keets learned, by the second day, where to stand to be out of harm's way (at the edge and under the roosting bar stairs) - I put their food and water there, too. Chance seemed to have caught on, too, since I did not see her/him being stepped on anymore this morning.

We have two more hatchlings in the bator now but I will put those in the brooder box and they will be re-homed. No more room in our coop and the new guys have each other now.

Chance helped me make up my mind about going to the parents since s/he was such a strong keet and so eager to go. Seldom seen one run about the bator and talk as much as this one, so I thought I'd take the chance and get her/him to the parents.

I would not try it with keets more than 3 days apart and I honestly don't know if the parents can tell the voices of their keets. Maybe if a new one is added within a few days of the hatch they still are willing to learn and accept a new voice since their keets do not hatch on the same day anyway and new ones can come in within a certain time window?

By the way, I did not literally sneak the keet in - I just brought it out and put it in the enclosure with the others while they were out and about, observing the parents and ready to rescue the keet if they attack it in any way.

Other than being stepped on, there was no bad reaction and I think they have accepted it now. Hope there are no internal injuries from yesterday's step-on-hard accident. It seems fine.

Here is Chance with mom and dad and syblings:

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yeah, I used to sell on Craigslist but it slowed down a lot - maybe people are on Facebook now - I am not.

Ok, so I took the one keet that hatched 2 days ago to the parents and they accepted it - called it "Chance" - but I had some dropped heart moments - it is not that far behind and although a little younger and smaller (within 3 days), the other keets have slight size differences, too - seem to have hatched on different days, within 3 days as well.

The parents stepped on it a few times that made my heart stop - at first I thought, oh well, the others got stepped on on the first day as well, give it a chance - then it got stepped on so hard, it started squeaking and would not stop, even when it got under mom and they all went to sleep - I thought 'oh sh#$%, it got hurt internally and may die now' - then mom pecked at it and I did not like that - maybe they kill injured ones? - anyway, I watched and watched and it stopped squeaking and I thought it may still be dead in the morning - but it is fine so far!!

The stepping on may have nothing to do with adding it in late - it may have happened to any of them, I think, even though I am not sure.

All's well from what I can see this morning. I think the parents are super-excellent except for one thing: they step on the keets and kick them around sometimes - maybe in nature they just go forward and the keets follow? In our enclosure they go back and forth and round and round and that may have something to do with it. I think the keets learned, by the second day, where to stand to be out of harm's way (at the edge and under the roosting bar stairs) - I put their food and water there, too. Chance seemed to have caught on, too, since I did not see her/him being stepped on anymore this morning.

We have two more hatchlings in the bator now but I will put those in the brooder box and they will be re-homed. No more room in our coop and the new guys have each other now.

Chance helped me make up my mind about going to the parents since s/he was such a strong keet and so eager to go. Seldom seen one run about the bator and talk as much as this one, so I thought I'd take the chance and get her/him to the parents.

I would not try it with keets more than 3 days apart and I honestly don't know if the parents can tell the voices of their keets. Maybe if a new one is added within a few days of the hatch they still are willing to learn and accept a new voice since their keets do not hatch on the same day anyway and new ones can come in within a certain time window?

By the way, I did not literally sneak the keet in - I just brought it out and put it in the enclosure with the others while they were out and about, observing the parents and ready to rescue the keet if they attack it in any way.

Other than being stepped on, there was no bad reaction and I think they have accepted it now. Hope there are no internal injuries from yesterday's step-on-hard accident. It seems fine.

Here is Chance with mom and dad and syblings:


View attachment 2248101View attachment 2248102View attachment 2248103View attachment 2248104View attachment 2248110View attachment 2248112View attachment 2248113View attachment 2248114View attachment 2248115View attachment 2248116View attachment 2248117

Facebook marketplace allows hatching eggs but not animals. I do think that Craigslist is slow, but I’m not sure where else to advertise birds...

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Day three - everyone still doing great!