HatchAHolics Advice Needed - My first hatch

[JLeigh]

Okay all you experienced hatch-a-holics, I have a few specific questions about my first hatching and the brooding of keets. Should have it all set up and ready to go soon.

In your opinion, what's the best "flooring" to use in a brooder for keets? I've read shavings are not the best since keets can ingest them, and all slick surfaces are bad. I've read recommendations for paper towels, cotton terry towels, "No-Skid" floor sheets (whatever those are?)... I'd love a consensus from those of you who have experience. Cost is somewhat of an issue...

I've also read keets can go to the coop earlier than chickens - as early as two weeks. That seems awfully young to me, but then my experience is only with chicks. How old do you feel the keets need to be to go into the coop?

When hatching in the incubator, I've read the term "lockdown". What does that mean? Sounds like prison. .

When the keets hatch, do you really leave them in the incubator? How long? Any suggestions on what they should walk on while in the incubator?

I'm seeing that keets are not difficult to bring up, but there can be a few pitfalls, some are easy to avoid like keeping keets dry, feeding game-starter, and of course the right temp while brooding. Other problems seem pretty tough to deal with, like failure to thrive.

Lastly, any good internet references for me to do my own homework so I'm not bugging you guys too much?

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, so thank you in advance for your time. I'm sure I'll have a few more, but not for at least a few days.

I just want to do the best for the wee keets.

Gracias!

 

[jcatblum]

My keets start on paper towel & then I have kept them on large shavings & also on hay. No tiny shavings that they might eat. I raise chicks in wire floor brooders but keets manage to get their legs hung in the wire sometimes.
I have some old t-shirts I am too going to cut up to start my next hatch on. This hatch has been pecking at the paper towel but normally I don't have issues with them eating paper towel.
I would not put keets out @ 2 wks no matter what the temperature is. Keets are still tiny at 2 wks, close to the size of my LF chicks that are day olds. Keets are more fragile than chicks. Last June it stayed between 90-100 here. Had a bad storm & lost about 10 keets that got chilled from the rain. They were over a month old. Also this fall I lost keets that were at least 6 wks old but didn't loose any chicks from the same grow out pen. Once they are grown I think guineas are much hardier than chickens. I have only lost 1 guinea to a health related cause (passing an egg). The others I lost due to their own suicidal nature. Having them inside in the brooder may test your patients with the noise & the mess, but it is worth it to get a healthy bunch of birds.

Eta - lockdown is when you up the humidity & stop turning the eggs. I shoot for 60-65% humidity. My keets hatch in wire floor hatching trays, sometimes I have had keets get their legs stuck in the wire. However, I use a cabinet style hatcher & wire is the only option to allow air flow to all the trays.

 

[JLeigh]

I'm glad to hear that two weeks is too early. Seemed that way to me. I had chicks in a brooder for 5 weeks, and then put a heat lamp in the coop for a couple of weeks. It was a mess, but I didn't mind them until time to clean the dust! Even then it wasn't so bad. I can do that. How many weeks do you recommend before putting in the coop?

Thanks for your help. "Lockdown' makes sense now.

LOL @ "their own suicidal nature". Yep, I've seen that behavior!

 

[jcatblum]

I would go off your local weather more than their age. When you are not having cool nights they are fine to be on the ground once they are fully feathered. Not sure what your local weather is like. I have my brooders in the barn & last yr when it was 100+ they were too hot to be in the brooders & I moved mine out @ 4 wks (but then I lost some once it rained). This yr I will still move mine out about 4 wks but it will be in a cool where they will not have any way to get wet.
Just an FYI keets can fly early. I have had 4 wk old keets fly on top of our storage building & refuse to come back down. Make sure you have something to cover your brooder!
Last season I used wardrobe moving boxes they are the perfect size that the metal piece that holds a baby bed mattress covers them perfect & the light goes on top of the metal frame. Those metal parts are easy to find around here since baby beds break so easy people are always tossing them out. I will pick up anyone I find!

 

[JLeigh]

I think I'm going to acclimate them, in small increments, to the chickens and put them in the coop when they're feathered. I know that will take patience, but I can do it. I'll keep a close eye out.

I was lucky - I just sort of plopped my chicks into the same run with the guineas, and they did fine. Won't try that again though. I'm not sure I've seen the kind of wardrobe shipping boxes you're talking about....

 

[jcatblum]

We are military so they are VERY common here. It is a tall box they put a bar in so all your clothes go from your closet into the box. I am not sure if they are common else where. They are the same size as a hotwater heater box (we used one of those last yr too).
Good luck. It will for sure be a memorable time hatching your first keets.

 

[PeepsCA]

The best brooder bedding I've used is the rubberized shelf liner that you can pick up at the dollar stores, with paper towels underneath. I usually put a towel with no loose strings down for them directly under the heat lamp glow, where they all sleep. I change the bedding out twice a day. I shake it out well, soak it all in a bucket of bleach water, then after a few days I have enough to do a load of "keet laundry" in my washing machine, or I sometimes hand wash it too. After 3-4 days of this, and I see everybody is eating drinking and running around well I change them over to coarse straw or grass hay... but nothing with leaves (like alfalfa) or any seeds/grains the keets can eat and get impacted on.

My hatches do best when I raise the humidity to at least 70% for lock down, and the humidity needs to stay constant, so try not to open your incubator while the hatch is still in progress if at all avoidable because it lets warm moist air out and cool dry air in... and that can and usually does cause the egg's internal membrane to shrink wrap down over the keets and kill them by either suffocation or exhaustion from struggling to hatch. The membrane can also dry and stick to the keets and they can die from struggling with that as well.

I leave my keets in the incubator (hatcher) until they are fully fluffed, dried, up on their feet and moving around well. Sometimes they will stay in over night. They need the extra humidity to get those legs and toes working right, and can go without feed or water for 48 hours easily, so it's always better to leave them in a little too long than to take them out too soon.

When to move them out to the coop depends on weather/night time temps, how well sheltered/weather proof the coop is, wether or not you can provide a heat source for them out there or not, etc. They are not fully feathered and able to regulate their body temp until they are at least 6 weeks old tho and will need a heat source to use as they want/need it, (at least at night) up to that point no matter where you raise them.

 

[JLeigh]

When do you lockdown? Tell me if my incubator instructions will cover this - but to tell you the truth, I trust those of you who have hatched guineas a lot more than I do a manufacturer's general instructions. This is a chicken incubator, and from what I understand guinea needs are somewhat different from chickens'. For example, Peeps, I've been reading other threads, so I understand the temp differences between an air-circulated v still air hatcher. 99.5 F, right? I have the 1588 super duper updated for 2012 model, air circulated, with handy-dandy digital reads for temp and humidity. "Plug N Play" with auto turner.

"Shrink wrap..." Ouch. That sounds like a really gruesome way to go. I won't open the incubator AT ALL if I don't have to.

I did just fine keeping my chicks indoors for 5 weeks, I can manage guineas for that long. Or, if they get too big, I can easily run a heat lamp to the coop. It's a solid construction - predator and weather proof. They'll be just fine now.

I like the idea of rubber shelving liner, and being able to throw dirty towels in the washer. Convenient, simple and cheap.

Okay. I'm starting to feel ready for this. Thanks everyone - you've helped so much.

 

[PeepsCA]

Typically lock-down for Guinea eggs is day 25, but the eggs I incubate in my 1588s (older models than your new one) are always hatch early, and I have ended up with keets hatching in the incubator/in the egg turner (still on) on day 24 quite frequently, (ACK!!! lol) so I candle my eggs one last time on day 23 and then decide if lock-down will be on day 23 or 24, depending on how slanted the majority of the air cells are in the eggs.

Besides the dollar stores for the shelf liner, thrift stores and garage/yard sales are great places to pick up cheap used towels to use for bedding. I like to keep my "equipment investments" as low as possible, especially the stuff getting pooped on lol.

 

[JLeigh]

Peeps, that makes sense. So, I can mark this down on my calendar and safely open the hatcher on day 23, candle, and decide? And you're saying that they need about 2 days or 1 day at 70% humidity? Is it better to lockdown a day early or a day late? I've still got that shrinkwrap image in my head, lol.

Oy, I haven't even gotten to candling yet. I think I know what you mean by "slanted" though. I've been looking at pictures. I'm sure I'll have some panic over THAT the closer it gets to lockdown. I'll bug you about it then.

But if there is a question I don't know to ask, everyone please feel free to tell me. I love advice.