We ordered 20 keets from a hatchery. Per the order info, they hatched at 5am 6/12/23 and we got the call to pick them up at post office at 7:30am 6/15/23. One keet was dead on arrival. One was very lethargic upon arrival. The rest seemed fine.
Our brooder is located inside our house using cardboard box siding duct taped together to accommodate a sweeter heater (11x40) and food/water/cool down area. Standard quart chick waterer. Food sprinkled in front of standard chick feeder for first day and only chick feeder after they learned. We are using human chux pad/bed pad with paper towels on top for bedding. We are checking every butt 2x per day and cleaning as needed to deal with pasty butt. Upon arrival we dipped all beaks in heated water per instructions and only had water out the first 2 hours. After 2 hours, we introduced Purina 30% protein non-medicated game feed crumbles. They were not eating so we blended to finer crumbles and later added some warm water which got a lot of interest.
The first afternoon and into the evening we now had 2 additional keets not moving much or attempting to eat/drink. We called the hatchery for advice and started them on warm Braggs apple cider vinegar/water mixture at 4 Tbsp per quart and one boiled egg yolk 2x per day. We used syringe to attempt to water the 3 keets not responding to dipping in waterer. One of the days we tried electrolyte water in the syringe. Sometimes they seemed to drink some but all ended up looking stressed (They start gasping and at first we thought aspirating, but they seem to do this from stress?) and eventually refusing or being too far gone to respond at all. 3 died the first evening. The keets seem relatively fine and then one by one the lethargy sets in and we repeat the above until they pass away. They are not drinking enough water. Although some seem to come and take big gulps, the quart waterer has only gone down 1/4 inch from 10pm last night until 1:30pm today. Since the 13th, we have not gone through even 1 quart of water (probably not even a half) and we started with 19 keets. We started marking a water line last night. The keets have had watery poo since arrival. Some have healthy-ish looking poo inside the water, others have a yellow or greenish water mixed with poo, and some have nothing but yellow or green water coming out. The keet who is currently not doing well had green water diarrhea with white foam in it (today). This little one is feisty enough that he/she fights if I try to dip the beak or corral them near the waterer, is standing upright, but at the same time mostly hangs under the heater with eyes closed or half open and will not come up much when the others come out to eat or drink- not even for egg which they go nuts for. The progression seems to go from disinterest to lethargy (laying with feet tucked under body hunched with beak face planted into floor, and wings ruffled and sometime wings open a bit). At this stage they are wobbly on feet and can't fully extend legs to full standing position. We try intervening here and sometimes they dring and sometimes they don't. They never will eat at this point. After this stage they tend to lay on side and curl neck forward or back. When in the final dying process, their back is extending and neck curling back. It's a truly awful experience for these poor birds.
The latest intervention:
After reading that coccidiosis in keets can present with green watery diarrhea, we started all the chicks on Corid 9.6 liquid solution in their water at 10:30pm last night. We had been holding off because we were not seeing bloody stool and they seemed too young to be presenting symptoms after incubation period (fully admit outside of the hatchery finally telling us to just give a live head count we have been getting all info from Dr. Google). We used the information that was shared on this sight for dosing of 1/2 tsp per quart of water. Last night we had a lethargic keet drinking Corid water and actually drank a good amount (last drink around 2am) and the keet was dead by 4:30am.
Concerns/questions:
--I think much of the early loss was probably because the shipping took too long and the stress/ lack of nutrition during that time. Would the keets still be dying from stress related to the trip?
--They are not drinking much so we keep going in and encouraging food/water by "pecking" near the food/water, dipping beaks for the ones showing signs of disinterest, etc. This seems to work to encourage the ones doing well at the moment but could this actually be creating too much stress and the cause of them continuing to die?
--Was the decision to do a 5-day course of Corid at this dosage an appropriate one? Should we be adding anything else to the water to help such as probiotics, vitamins, electrolytes? Should we discontinue this and do something else? We live rurally don't have vet open until tomorrow and I'm not sure if our dog vet knows anything about birds.
--We test the sweeter heater (infrared lamp) temp with an infrared laser temperature gun. The floor temp is sitting between 93-95 at the outside, most of the inside is between 100-103, but we have some hot areas toward the middle front that are 105-111. When I lift up one side they start pushing into one another, huddling, and piling a bit. Could the hot spots with weak keets be dehydrating them? If they are sleeping under a hot spot would they wake up and know to move? Worry that they are too weak to self-regulate? Using a laser gun, do you know what their body should read under the lamp? When laying under the lamp, each bird will have a temp anywhere from 95-108. I'll worry about the one at 108 and try to move him only to have him shoot out from under my hands looking put out to be disturbed.
--Are we handling them too much? Should we just make sure they have food/water and leave them be? We can't determine how much "help" is enough or too much with these tiny birds.
--We don't have any keet breeders in our state. Hard lesson learned about where we got them from as they can't guarantee a 2-day ship even with expedited. IF we find a place to get additional guinea fowl- what could we do differently next time? I'm thinking medicated feed? Should we heat them up before dipping beaks? Something else?
Thank you for any help and advice. We have read hours upon hours of internet information and so much is contradictory, so we don't have a clue at this point. I'm sorry this is so long!
Our brooder is located inside our house using cardboard box siding duct taped together to accommodate a sweeter heater (11x40) and food/water/cool down area. Standard quart chick waterer. Food sprinkled in front of standard chick feeder for first day and only chick feeder after they learned. We are using human chux pad/bed pad with paper towels on top for bedding. We are checking every butt 2x per day and cleaning as needed to deal with pasty butt. Upon arrival we dipped all beaks in heated water per instructions and only had water out the first 2 hours. After 2 hours, we introduced Purina 30% protein non-medicated game feed crumbles. They were not eating so we blended to finer crumbles and later added some warm water which got a lot of interest.
The first afternoon and into the evening we now had 2 additional keets not moving much or attempting to eat/drink. We called the hatchery for advice and started them on warm Braggs apple cider vinegar/water mixture at 4 Tbsp per quart and one boiled egg yolk 2x per day. We used syringe to attempt to water the 3 keets not responding to dipping in waterer. One of the days we tried electrolyte water in the syringe. Sometimes they seemed to drink some but all ended up looking stressed (They start gasping and at first we thought aspirating, but they seem to do this from stress?) and eventually refusing or being too far gone to respond at all. 3 died the first evening. The keets seem relatively fine and then one by one the lethargy sets in and we repeat the above until they pass away. They are not drinking enough water. Although some seem to come and take big gulps, the quart waterer has only gone down 1/4 inch from 10pm last night until 1:30pm today. Since the 13th, we have not gone through even 1 quart of water (probably not even a half) and we started with 19 keets. We started marking a water line last night. The keets have had watery poo since arrival. Some have healthy-ish looking poo inside the water, others have a yellow or greenish water mixed with poo, and some have nothing but yellow or green water coming out. The keet who is currently not doing well had green water diarrhea with white foam in it (today). This little one is feisty enough that he/she fights if I try to dip the beak or corral them near the waterer, is standing upright, but at the same time mostly hangs under the heater with eyes closed or half open and will not come up much when the others come out to eat or drink- not even for egg which they go nuts for. The progression seems to go from disinterest to lethargy (laying with feet tucked under body hunched with beak face planted into floor, and wings ruffled and sometime wings open a bit). At this stage they are wobbly on feet and can't fully extend legs to full standing position. We try intervening here and sometimes they dring and sometimes they don't. They never will eat at this point. After this stage they tend to lay on side and curl neck forward or back. When in the final dying process, their back is extending and neck curling back. It's a truly awful experience for these poor birds.
The latest intervention:
After reading that coccidiosis in keets can present with green watery diarrhea, we started all the chicks on Corid 9.6 liquid solution in their water at 10:30pm last night. We had been holding off because we were not seeing bloody stool and they seemed too young to be presenting symptoms after incubation period (fully admit outside of the hatchery finally telling us to just give a live head count we have been getting all info from Dr. Google). We used the information that was shared on this sight for dosing of 1/2 tsp per quart of water. Last night we had a lethargic keet drinking Corid water and actually drank a good amount (last drink around 2am) and the keet was dead by 4:30am.
Concerns/questions:
--I think much of the early loss was probably because the shipping took too long and the stress/ lack of nutrition during that time. Would the keets still be dying from stress related to the trip?
--They are not drinking much so we keep going in and encouraging food/water by "pecking" near the food/water, dipping beaks for the ones showing signs of disinterest, etc. This seems to work to encourage the ones doing well at the moment but could this actually be creating too much stress and the cause of them continuing to die?
--Was the decision to do a 5-day course of Corid at this dosage an appropriate one? Should we be adding anything else to the water to help such as probiotics, vitamins, electrolytes? Should we discontinue this and do something else? We live rurally don't have vet open until tomorrow and I'm not sure if our dog vet knows anything about birds.
--We test the sweeter heater (infrared lamp) temp with an infrared laser temperature gun. The floor temp is sitting between 93-95 at the outside, most of the inside is between 100-103, but we have some hot areas toward the middle front that are 105-111. When I lift up one side they start pushing into one another, huddling, and piling a bit. Could the hot spots with weak keets be dehydrating them? If they are sleeping under a hot spot would they wake up and know to move? Worry that they are too weak to self-regulate? Using a laser gun, do you know what their body should read under the lamp? When laying under the lamp, each bird will have a temp anywhere from 95-108. I'll worry about the one at 108 and try to move him only to have him shoot out from under my hands looking put out to be disturbed.
--Are we handling them too much? Should we just make sure they have food/water and leave them be? We can't determine how much "help" is enough or too much with these tiny birds.
--We don't have any keet breeders in our state. Hard lesson learned about where we got them from as they can't guarantee a 2-day ship even with expedited. IF we find a place to get additional guinea fowl- what could we do differently next time? I'm thinking medicated feed? Should we heat them up before dipping beaks? Something else?
Thank you for any help and advice. We have read hours upon hours of internet information and so much is contradictory, so we don't have a clue at this point. I'm sorry this is so long!
