Guinea Advice

[DufferChick]

Excuse the grammar and typo's

Hope your keets are doing fine. Any pictures?

 

[KAZROB]

Hi Dufferchick

I am so sorry I have not responded sooner, I have been under the weather with a some kind of bug! I will write again soon, this is the first day I have been on BYC for a bit.

My Keets are doing absolutely fab, I fall in love with them more and more each day....and yes they are flying a couple of metres off the ground! Mine are actually 4 weeks today and they love their dry food, they lave lettuce and cheese...I give it to them grated and then chopped and yes they are with their foster mum whom is a hen and just a fantastic mum, they just don't leave her side and she still sits on all seven, which is lovely to see, she is keeping them lovely and warm. we have come out of an extremely hot hot summer and now are in autumn, which I think you call fall and our mornings are brisk to say the least, so I am really fortunate to have a mother hen looking after them so beautifully!

we are in the midst of making a bigger coop for them as well, as they are in a smallish one at the moment, which is still fine for them and mum for yet another few weeks...I know they are not going to be happy with the move as they are settled where they are and have a whole area to roam freely with mum and no concerns of any others, but so as they integrate better, I plan to have their new home in the paddock with all the others, but they will have their own yard until they can eventually free roam with all the others. I figure for the time being if my chooks, ducks, ducklings and guineas can see the newbies then they will accept them to be part of the paddock in time....

What is fermented feed? I feed my game starter 4 cups of this to 1 cup of chick starter, which someone kindly told me on BYC maybe txcarl1258 who is a great resource. but anyway the reason I mix it as here in Aus we can not get medicated game starter feed, the chick starter is medicated but that does not have adequate protein for keets,, so I was told to mix 1 cup of chick starter to 4 cups of game starter and this reduces the protein slightly to approx. 26% but that is great for the keets so I do this so they get some coverage with medicated product.. All in all though they are going great and they scratch and dirt bath, their mum is a great teacher.....I am hoping that because they are being fostered by her that they will learn to roost at night and I will have no issues training them for bed! I have to say that when I go out now they all run towards me, which is a nice thing to see, they are very cautious with trusting, and I handle them very limited as I do not want them to become to dependant on me and loose to much of their natural instinct to be cautious and alarm bells lol ,lol. At times though I just cant resist picking the odd one up at bed time and having a cuddle lol

How are your darlings going and do they have a mum?

 

[KAZROB]

Hi, I will stand corrected the great advice re food was from R2elk....all the advice I get is great, but I should acknowledge correctly.. also I have posted photo's earlier on this thread, I shall update in the next day or so, as they are so much bigger now! Take care and I will be in touch again soon

 

[R2elk]

New babies!

Buff Dundotte guinea keets

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Hello:

AAAWWW !

 

[KAZROB]

They are FANTABULOUS! How beautiful they are, I have fallen in love with my Keets which are almost 5 weeks old...each one has their own personality and I noticed also which I think is hilarious, that each and every morning when I open up their hut so they can go out with their foster mum, they line up in the same manner and same order and come down the ladder, then when they go back at night to roost, they all line up in the same manner and the same order and off to bed they go.....First born to last born and I am not joking lol lol

Good Luck and enjoy your newbies...they are just sooooooooo cute

 

[DufferChick]

Hi Dufferchick

I am so sorry I have not responded sooner, I have been under the weather with a some kind of bug! I will write again soon, this is the first day I have been on BYC for a bit.

My Keets are doing absolutely fab, I fall in love with them more and more each day....and yes they are flying a couple of metres off the ground! Mine are actually 4 weeks today and they love their dry food, they lave lettuce and cheese...I give it to them grated and then chopped and yes they are with their foster mum whom is a hen and just a fantastic mum, they just don't leave her side and she still sits on all seven, which is lovely to see, she is keeping them lovely and warm. we have come out of an extremely hot hot summer and now are in autumn, which I think you call fall and our mornings are brisk to say the least, so I am really fortunate to have a mother hen looking after them so beautifully!

How are your darlings going and do they have a mum?

KAZROB: Very glad to hear that your keets are doing good. I wondered if they would scatter and fly away from their foster hen as they got older. They sound like they are adorable.
My keets are doing great. They are 3 weeks old, but have no foster mother hen but me. I am raising them in a brooder with heat lamp since we are having freezing temperatures here every day. The weather is finally warming up this weekend. When the keets are a few weeks old, I will move them out to a small enclosed raised coop. Fermented feed is what I use for my chickens., It is a fairly common way to feed livestock and chickens. For more information, there are good threads and forums on BYC about fermented feed. I soak the feed crumbles in water overnight or longer at room temperature. It ferments and smells a little like yeast. Fermented feed increases the absorption of the nutrients during digestion. I have noticed that the droppings are more solid and have less odor.

When the guineas are a bit older, I will use dry feed and occasional treats of millet. They will get most of their nutrients by foraging.

Keep up the good work!

 

[KAZROB]

So glad to hear that your keets are going well too. I went to my grain store man, this business is amazing it has been family owned for over 100 years and they are such a great resource and into herbal as well as regular feeds, products etc...I just love going in there for a chat on some days...they even help with gardening etc.....anyway I went in to the store and I was given a range of different feeds in which I can soak over night, I got them for FREE and was told to try them out and if I like the idea and the chooks, guineas and ducks think they are good then I can buy what I want I am so happy and looking forward to this!

So far my keets which are about 6 weeks old, I do know their birth dates but not just off the top of my head, but around 6 weeks and so far so good and they are sticking like glue to their foster mum Their foster mum is such a treasure I am about to move my keets and mum into a bigger hut in the next couple of weeks or so when it is finished being built. They love the hut that they are in but it is not big enough for all of them to be housed. My chicken mum is still trying to sit on all seven keets, when I went out in the yard today to see what they were up too, mum was just sitting on the lawn with the keets under her The keets all run to me thinking I have food for them, they love thinly sliced lettuce and grated cheeses, along with sour cream and cream! They even like cat food! Funny little things they are..

I have been busy today getting another hut prepared, I had a hen ( Chicken) that went missing and I found her under some tin, I am surprised that she fitted in the spot, anyway she is on seven eggs, so with such a difficult spot I climbed in and got her and the eggs and now have placed her in a safe, mouse proof, snake proof hut. She has accepted her eggs and seems happy to have a nice place and has food and water readily available, so looks like we will have more babies soon! I am soooooo excited. Life is really busy at the moment with ducklings, keets etc.

speak soon and take care and glad to hear it is starting to warm up for you...we are in autumn and it has been chilly on some days, soon to be winter brrrrrrrrr

 

[KAZROB]

Well Hi Everyone, I know it has been awhile, but my baby Keets are now about 10 weeks old and they are doing just FANTABULOUS. As I mentioned their mum died around the time they were to hatch, I quickly out some eggs under a chicken that loves to play mum and she took to them like a duck does to water Well she is still playing mum, still sits on as many as she can of a night in their hut and still hangs with them most of the day! She takes them to roost each and every night, they also hang out with a rooster and 2 other chickens and are very happy little creatures.

I love the fact that as soon as they see me they all run up to me and talk to me, I can also just call them by yelling out 'Guinea's' and they just all charge from no where, they are addicted to lettuce and grated cheese, as well as sour cream! They are not that noisy, in fact they are very quiet only when they see me or one of them has done something new that they are a little vocal. One of them climbed onto the garage roof and the others were either being vocal with words of encouragement or were protesting! Otherwise they are clam and quiet and happy wandering around. my two adult guineas that live in a paddock with all the other ducks, chickens drake etc, have had some mingling time and seem to be quite accepting of them, but for now I am leaving them in my yard as they are happy there and so am I.....

I have a couple of updated pictures for you...





See they are still with their foster mum and she is doing a great job, they very rarely leave her side which is nice, except when they want to have a fly and perch on the fences for a short time!

 

[haleyringley]

Help!!..... my guinea keets are dying right after they hatch out of the egg.... please help I have already lost three babys