Guinea Chick with Cloudy Pupil

[akostka1988]

Hi I literally just bought 4 guinea hen chicks yesterday from Tractor Supply. I only wanted a couple but the guy said US Agriculture only allowed 4 or more at a time. After he boxed them up for me he told me he gave me a couple smaller ones that probably won’t make it. One is slightly smaller but the other is MUCH smaller I would definitely consider her a runt. I noticed her right eye’s pupil is a bit cloudy compared to her left. I was wondering if there was a condition I should be watching for or if it is what it is for a runt. She eats and drinks and pecks around at the wood shavings like the others. She squawks as well though not as loudly. She does seem a bit more sleepy than the others but someone was also up pretty late last night peeping away with the song of the guinea lol. I decided to have her hang out with me for a bit and the only thing I would consider “odd” compared to the other chicks (6 chicken, 3 guinea) was the fact that she didn’t seem to relax like the others eventually did and she kept doing this “yawning” thing which none of the others did. I gave up on waiting for her to relax and put her back in the brooder with the others. The runt is the chick laying down.

 

[R2elk]

Hi I literally just bought 4 guinea hen chicks yesterday from Tractor Supply. I only wanted a couple but the guy said US Agriculture only allowed 4 or more at a time. After he boxed them up for me he told me he gave me a couple smaller ones that probably won’t make it. One is slightly smaller but the other is MUCH smaller I would definitely consider her a runt. I noticed her right eye’s pupil is a bit cloudy compared to her left. I was wondering if there was a condition I should be watching for or if it is what it is for a runt. She eats and drinks and pecks around at the wood shavings like the others. She squawks as well though not as loudly. She does seem a bit more sleepy than the others but someone was also up pretty late last night peeping away with the song of the guinea lol. I decided to have her hang out with me for a bit and the only thing I would consider “odd” compared to the other chicks (6 chicken, 3 guinea) was the fact that she didn’t seem to relax like the others eventually did and she kept doing this “yawning” thing which none of the others did. I gave up on waiting for her to relax and put her back in the brooder with the others. The runt is the chick laying down.

Guinea keets are sold straight run. You were sold Guinea Fowl keets. Guinea keets should not be kept on wood chips for the first several weeks. They will eat the wood chips and because they do not have any grit in their system they cannot digest the wood chips and will plug up and die. Anytime keets are kept on wood chips they have to have appropriate sized grit available to them.

All birds have nictitating membranes over their eyes which can be blinked just like the eyelid can be blinked. If the nictitating membrane is closed, the eye will look cloudy. If it is open, the eye will look clear.

 

[akostka1988]

Guinea keets are sold straight run. You were sold Guinea Fowl keets. Guinea keets should not be kept on wood chips for the first several weeks. They will eat the wood chips and because they do not have any grit in their system they cannot digest the wood chips and will plug up and die. Anytime keets are kept on wood chips they have to have appropriate sized grit available to them.

All birds have nictitating membranes over their eyes which can be blinked just like the eyelid can be blinked. If the nictitating membrane is closed, the eye will look cloudy. If it is open, the eye will look clear.

Good to know about the shavings the guy at the store didn’t say anything about it! I know they have a third eyelid but this is strictly it’s pupil not the entire eye and it’s only on one of the pupils on one of the keets. After I noticed it I checked the others to see if it was visible on the bigger babies.

 

[akostka1988]

I was also thinking of moving them outside once the brooder comes in. I had to order it online because none of my local stores had any in stock nor did they know when they would be getting more. It’s 60+ here now so I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about them freezing to death and they could adapt to the coop life sooner.

 

[R2elk]

I was also thinking of moving them outside once the brooder comes in. I had to order it online because none of my local stores had any in stock nor did they know when they would be getting more. It’s 60+ here now so I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about them freezing to death and they could adapt to the coop life sooner.

Most of us use homemade brooders. I do keep my brooder in my main coop. They do feather faster if their brooder is big enough to allow for a heated zone and a cooler zone. I start my keets at 90°F measured at the bedding level under the brooder heater. The part of the brooder that has the food and water is closer to 80°F measured at the bedding level.

Good luck.

 

[akostka1988]

I managed to get the chick to sit still here’s a pic of her eye