Keet feed

[HoldensLandingChickGirl]

What are you feeding your keets? ours will be coming in a couple of weeks. i am just about to start the chicks on new feed and have some starter feed left over - woudl this be good for the keets or should i be looking for something else?

 

[robin416]

Keets really should be on a higher protein feed like turkey starter. They go through a tremendous growth period from keet to juvenile Guinea and need that extra.

 

[HoldensLandingChickGirl]

Thanks for the info. I am looking for the turkey starter now ... hopefully I will be bale to find someone with it locally (so far no luck!)

 

[robin416]

Look for anything that is 25% or higher. This time of year most feed stores have it for all of the Game birds that are hatching. If you have a cocci problem and can't find medicated you can add Amprol to their waterers to help protect them if they are outside. Inside its not as much of an issue as long as you're careful.

 

[HoldensLandingChickGirl]

They'll be inside for the first month or so. I also just read to mix the medicated chick starter with the unmedicated turkey starter and that would be good too. I have a couple of emails out to feed stores now to ask if they carry the turkey or similar starter. thanks!

 

[PeepsCA]

Game Bird Starter, Turkey Starter, Pheasant Starter... different companies call their starter feeds by different names. Any of these types of feeds medicated with Amprolium and containing between 25-30% protein are fine for keets (28% is recommended by a lot of breeders). A lot of Turkey Starters contain Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate and it is not recommended for feeding to keets, so be sure to read your label and know exactly what you are buying. Mixing an un-medicated feed with a medicated feed won't provide enough medication to protect the keet from coccidiosis and you can also be lowering the protein level at the same time. Be VERY careful if you add Amprolium to the water, you can very easily over medicate. It's best to buy the correct medicated starter feed and keep the keets on that for at least 6 weeks.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I've used gamebird starter (28%), chick starter (20%), and flock raiser (also 20%) and haven't noticed any differences. If anything it just takes the ones on 20% feed a little longer to grow to size but they get just as big as the rest.

 

[ranit]

I'm curious why BMD (Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate) is not recommended for guineas. The gamebird starter I have always used for keets, pheasants and quail contains this and I have never had any problems.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
Just like kids raised on twinkies take a little longer to grow up as big as everybody else too, or puppies raised on adult dog food. They can survive on it, but it's not what they need to grow and develop properly.

Guinea Fowl are game birds not chickens, their nutritional needs are closer to turkeys and pheasants... I don't know of any professional breeders that advocate feeding keets, turkey poults or pheasant chicks a lower protein starter feed for the first 6 weeks of life. The nutritional requirements for game birds have been established for a reason... so their muscles, bones, organs, feathers etc all grow/develop at the proper rates.

I breed/raise/sell hundreds of keets each year, I only recommend high protein game bird, turkey or pheasant starter feeds, never chick starter or flock raiser until they are 6 weeks old.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
Keets do not need BMD, and the BMD does nothing to help prevent and build immunities to Coccidiosis, which is why game bird starters medicated with Amprolium are suggested for keets.

I used to feed Turkey Starter with BMD, every so often I'd have a dead keet in the brooder (that was fine the day before and didn't show any signs of illness) and there were no other apparent causes of death. I switched to a different starter feed with Amprolium years ago and have not had ANY brooder deaths since