Keet ?

[HSMOM]

I brought home 15 keets last week and was told by breeder not to put on pine shavings.....they were around 5-7 days old. So I put them on textured paper towels on top of pine shavings. They were able to pull the shavings out around the edges and eat small bits, so I fixed that, then they scratched holes in the paper towels to get to the shavings and ate more, so I fixed that, then they started eating shreds of paper towels. So we put them on shelf liner on top of pine shavings. I replace shelf liner once a day and they still developed caked on poop on their feet. The breeder told me to use pine straw.....so we changed it all out...keets are now around 11days old.....they immediately went crazy eating the pine straw and I was having to pull long pieces out of their throats. So they are back on the shelf liner......this is getting ridiculous. I am at a loss......what should I do?

Keets are in a very large brooder, temp is around 80, they are eating a mix of medicated chick starter and 24% game bird starter.

 

[R2elk]

I brought home 15 keets last week and was told by breeder not to put on pine shavings.....they were around 5-7 days old. So I put them on textured paper towels on top of pine shavings. They were able to pull the shavings out around the edges and eat small bits, so I fixed that, then they scratched holes in the paper towels to get to the shavings and ate more, so I fixed that, then they started eating shreds of paper towels. So we put them on shelf liner on top of pine shavings. I replace shelf liner once a day and they still developed caked on poop on their feet. The breeder told me to use pine straw.....so we changed it all out...keets are now around 11days old.....they immediately went crazy eating the pine straw and I was having to pull long pieces out of their throats. So they are back on the shelf liner......this is getting ridiculous. I am at a loss......what should I do?

Keets are in a very large brooder, temp is around 80, they are eating a mix of medicated chick starter and 24% game bird starter.

You need to give them grit so that they can digest the things that they shouldn't be eating. I just use sand for bedding for all of my little ones. The sand acts as a very fine grit in case they eat anything that they need help digesting.

Keets should be started at 95°F measured at the bedding level. The temperature should be lowered by 5°F once a week. At 11 days old they should be at a temperature of 85° - 90°F.

I keep food and fresh water in front of them all the time. I also feed a non-medicated turkey gamebird starter that is 28% protein.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I wouldn't feed them the mix; for one thing you are cutting the dosage which at best means you are not doing any good and at worst is helping build up resistance in the very things you are trying to avoid.

Secondly, I'm wondering why you put them on pine shavings after told not to. It just seems silly! lol I use puppy pads or paper towels for the first week or two then switch to newspaper covered in pine shavings. I buy the course shavings. At that point I expect they will eat a bit out of curiosity or while searching for stray crumble, so I put some grit in the food tray for them. I don't use straw except in nest boxes so no advice there. Pine shavings seem to work and should be okay for your keets at this point.

My advice: return to straw shavings (hopefully course), feed only the game bird starter, and make sure you have heat available for them somewhere in the brooder. Either a lamp or a heating pad.