If this is your first guniea keets, be ready for the experience of a lifetime!
We have hatched a lot of keets and a few things we have learned after hatching. Disregard obviously if you know what you are doing. (But most people I know aren't crazy enough - like us- to hatch keets for a second time)
- we found keets are far more prone to dehydration and vitamin deficiencies. I strongly recommend sugar water every other watering and feeding scrambled egg occasionally. Make sure to have vitamin D and E supps on hand for emergency administration.
- Guinea fowl are really not intelligent - I am still not certain how they aren't extinct as a result of their stupidity. And keets even more so. We have had hens run into things full speed, one dying after running into a pole. Cocks roosting 10 feet from an owls nest and we have had keets run into the side of the brooder (galvanized tub) and kill themselves. We now use a towel around the outside of the brooder to cushion their blow). In general, they are very fast and flighty. So sticking your hand in there to change food/water can send them into a frenzy.
- Lastly - we strongly discourage feeding medicated feed - or atleast doing a bit of research before doing so. It has been found to have an adverse affect on them often as their digestive systems are a but more sensitive initially. We feed an organic turkey/pheasant starter, wetted to a mash.
But in the end, we will absolutely never not have Guinea fowl on our property. Their ability to walk the garden and eat only weeds, control the fly population at the coop entirely, and drive our jerk of a neighbor mad with their continuous screaming - has made them priceless.
Great choice on the hatch!
. No I did not mess with her, she is very protective (I do not have experience with a hen actually doing her job lol)… I had one opportunity and was able to take some of her eggs, 10 I believe and add them to the incubator…. She had more than she can lay on…. And some of those are hatching or close to…. One, do I set up some sort of plank for them to be able to get down from the horse feeder safely? Or do I move the hen (cautiously) to a brooder with her remaining clutch not fully hatched so I can also add the little keets just hatched with them?? I’m at a loss at what to do at this point….
