How do you feed your guineas when they are part of a mixed flock?

[makingshift]

We just received two ducklings, 4 guinea keets, and 10 baby chicks in the mail today. I gave them all a 20% protein starter feed today but I know the guineas should probably be getting more like 24%. I had hoped to keep all the babies together but I'm wondering if I should separate them so I can give them different feed. How do you all handle this matter?

Thanks! We are new to guineas and ducks and this is really exciting for us!

 

[BunkyB]

I would treat the guineas the same as the rest of the flock when it comes to feed. I find my guineas prefer the bugs and insects more than the hens. They are excellent forragers for their feed. My guineas never have a problem withthe regular feed. I do mix my feed as well, my own blend.
I do the grower pellets, lay ration mash and cracked corn and my sweet oats as a filler. What they don't want they don't eat. They can be fussy eaters but they are always at the dishes first thing in the morning. As the snow clears more they will scratch around for their own feed anyways. Less time at the feeding stations and more time on the acreage... Have fun.... Steve

 

[PeepsCA]

There's a lot of argument about what the correct feed for mixed broods is. Some say to go ahead and feed them all a high protein starter and that the chicks can pass the extra protein without issues, others argue too much protein is harmful to the chicks. Scrambled or crumbled boiled eggs plus meal worms can help give the keets more protein but if you want healthy/hearty keets (and productive adult Guineas) then the keets really should be fed high protein (27-28%) until they are 6-8wks old. When raised on chick starter they are prone to developing fat deposits, especially in and around the organs which leads to health and reproduction problems later on, as well as a shortened lifespan. One other major concern if they are not getting enough protein during the brooder stage would be that they may start cannibalizing your other babies. And you do not want that.

They can eat the 20% protein after 6-8wks of age up until they are 12 wks old, then they can be switched to a layer feed or all purpose poultry food with at least 16% protein in it.

 

[makingshift]

Thank you guys! PeepsCA, 93 guineas is an impressive flock! I think I'm going to separate the birds and feed them differently.

 

[Kilsharion]

Thanks to PeepsCA, I learned quite a bit about my little keets that I've had in a mixed brooder... Right now, I'm feeding a fermented starter feed - fermentation increases the amount of available protein. In addition, I add kefir and meal worms. It's probably more protein than my chicks need; but, it's not quite as much as the keets would generally get. I'd say (I'm guesstimating) that I'm running roughly 25-26% protein. It could be more; but, I'd only be guessing.

There are 4 week old keets, 2 week old chicks, and five day old keets in the brooder together. PeepsCA, don't pass out...remember, I've a decent sized brooder. Plenty of temperature variation if they need to move around. **grins**

Here's a video of them all, if you want a moment of cheep happiness.


It's a 3:1:1:.5 ratio that I use on my feed for them. Three parts fermented starter feed (a mash that is 20% protein dry - increases to about 23% when fermented). One part dry feed (so that I can put it on that lid and not have it pour out everywhere). One part kefir and half part meal worms. There's been no cannibalism attempted and the bigger ones actually play care takers to the smaller ones, so I'm guessing the protein ratios are working out ok.

That's 20 chicks and 10 keets in a 10'x2.5' brooder, if you were wondering

 

[PeepsCA]

Thanks to PeepsCA, I learned quite a bit about my little keets that I've had in a mixed brooder... Right now, I'm feeding a fermented starter feed - fermentation increases the amount of available protein. In addition, I add kefir and meal worms. It's probably more protein than my chicks need; but, it's not quite as much as the keets would generally get. I'd say (I'm guesstimating) that I'm running roughly 25-26% protein. It could be more; but, I'd only be guessing.

There are 4 week old keets, 2 week old chicks, and five day old keets in the brooder together. PeepsCA, don't pass out...remember, I've a decent sized brooder. Plenty of temperature variation if they need to move around. **grins**

It's a 3:1:1:.5 ratio that I use on my feed for them. Three parts fermented starter feed (a mash that is 20% protein dry - increases to about 23% when fermented). One part dry feed (so that I can put it on that lid and not have it pour out everywhere). One part kefir and half part meal worms. There's been no cannibalism attempted and the bigger ones actually play care takers to the smaller ones, so I'm guessing the protein ratios are working out ok.

That's 20 chicks and 10 keets in a 10'x2.5' brooder, if you were wondering

LOL I'm not passing out, just cringing at the thought of how often those youngest keets may get stepped on

I'm glad a brooder full if mixed babies and ages works so well for you tho.

Besides the 25-26% protein your babies are getting from the fermented feed and extras you add in they are also getting a lot more vitamins, minerals, beneficial bacteria, enzymes etc than they would not get from just getting a dry Game Bird or Turkey starter feed that's traditionally used to raise keets. Plus feeding fermented feeds (or wet/soaked feeds) increases their digestive system's ability to utilize and absorb all that good stuff... so in your case the little lower protein % probably won't be a problem due to the overall increased nutrition.

 

[Kilsharion]

LOL I'm not passing out, just cringing at the thought of how often those youngest keets may get stepped on

I'm glad a brooder full if mixed babies and ages works so well for you tho.

Besides the 25-26% protein your babies are getting from the fermented feed and extras you add in they are also getting a lot more vitamins, minerals, beneficial bacteria, enzymes etc than they would not get from just getting a dry Game Bird or Turkey starter feed that's traditionally used to raise keets. Plus feeding fermented feeds (or wet/soaked feeds) increases their digestive system's ability to utilize and absorb all that good stuff... so in your case the little lower protein % probably won't be a problem due to the overall increased nutrition.

I was terribly worried about the stomping - but, one of the larger keets has actually taken to playing mama to all the chicks and the baby keets. Not a very good mama, since she pushes 'em right out of the way to get where she wants to go...but, she's pretty careful with them. Even tolerates them trying to hide under her wings. The first few days, I was in a panic. Sat there and was glued to the brooder making sure they could get to the food, get to the water, weren't getting smothered, weren't getting stomped on (too much), etc. After day two, I breathed easier and let it go. I still have panic moments, though, when I wake up in the middle of the night and go check

My husband made me a divider so that if I wind up with problems, I can separate them. But, I'm wanting to try to keep them all together during brooder time so they identify without me having to do slow integration after the fact. Considering how the older keets seem to be watching out for the chicks and the little keets, I think it's working ok. Certainly not my idea of an ideal situation, though! I wish they were all the same age like MakingShift's are.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on the mix they are getting. I've been trying to be certain of the protein content since you mentioned potential cannibalism a while back. You have wonderful information to share....thank you so much for doing so.

 

[makingshift]

Kilsharion, you're worse than I am if you're checking on your keets in the middle of the night! My husband teases me for checking on them all through the day. I really like the idea of the soaked/fermented grains. I've been using soaked grains for our human food so it makes sense that soaking poultry feed would be similarly beneficial. I had never heard of that for poultry before- I'll have to do some more reading.

I bought a 50lb bag of wild game starter at the feed store today. It is 30% protein so I plan to mix it with the 20% chick starter I already have to make a 25-27% protein mix for the guineas.

So we're only on day 2 with the keets and they are so adorable and SO active. They are smaller than the chicks and ducklings, of course, but more active and "wild". They are French guineas so I would imagine they are slightly bigger than the normal keets. They remind me quite a bit of some Japanese banty chicks we had last spring.

 

[JLeigh]

30% protein is fine for keets, or so I thought. I feed mine 30% until they're about 8 weeks old, then I start bringing the protein down. Am I wrong to do that?

 

[Kilsharion]

30% protein is fine for keets, or so I thought. I feed mine 30% until they're about 8 weeks old, then I start bringing the protein down. Am I wrong to do that?

 


It's not the keets that have an issue with 30% protein, hon. She has a mixed brooder, like I do. The 30% is about 10% higher than chicks need. So, you can sometimes split the difference and have it ok - depending on how you go about doing it. That's all we're talking about. 30% should be fine in a non-mixed brooder. Peeps is the one in the know if anyone is - I'm sure she'll say for certain. :yiipchick

Kilsharion, you're worse than I am if you're checking on your keets in the middle of the night! My husband teases me for checking on them all through the day.  I really like the idea of the soaked/fermented grains. I've been using soaked grains for our human food so it makes sense that soaking poultry feed would be similarly beneficial. I had never heard of that for poultry before- I'll have to do some more reading.

I bought a 50lb bag of wild game starter at the feed store today. It is 30% protein so I plan to mix it with the 20% chick starter I already have to make a 25-27% protein mix for the guineas.

So we're only on day 2 with the keets and they are so adorable and SO active. They are smaller than the chicks and ducklings, of course, but more active and "wild". They are French guineas so I would imagine they are slightly bigger than the normal keets. They remind me quite a bit of some Japanese banty chicks we had last spring.

 


The ones in that video are French Guineas, also. They grow fast. I couldn't believe how fast they feathered out. In no time at all (much quicker than my chicks) I had to put a lid on the brooder to keep them in. We were slow about the lid on the new brooder....fun times chasing keets around the room trying to catch them!!

Edit: Makingshift, I just now noticed you are right down the road from me. How funny is that. You should come join us on the Texas thread.