Keets arrived from Guinea Farm of Iowa. Pics included.

[Bicoastal]

Looks like your freezing temps are done at least! Are you planning on using both the lamp and plate outside or only the plate? Is the area going to be drafty? Insulated?

Yes, I’m more comfortable using both plate and lamp than fearing they’ll be cold. Area is drafty and uninsulated. I increased ventilation after reading up on it here, but now I wish I had waited until after the keets were fully feathered to do that. I’ll add pics later.

So that’s a question given the draftiness: in the coop, do I cram them into the brooder with its solid wood walls or do I let them stay in the big, super airy pen? For the pen, there is cardboard around the lower half of walls. I could extend the tarp up the full height of the walls to reduce drafts.

 

[Bicoastal]

Photos of coop. I threw up whatever I could find to line the walls. The front wall with the sign is half open. I put a sign in the window that leaves a couple inches of ventilation at the top.

 

[Bicoastal]

photo of brooder. Just your basic brooder but with a floating screen floor and pull out tray underneath.

 

[Sydney65]

The issue w/AF is to keep wild birds and wb poop from them, so if even sparrows cannot get into your cage and the top is covered to prevent fly-over droppings, you'll be fairly safe.
Hubby is getting lesson on this as we put up new coop and I insist on wire over any open area, no matter what his opinion is on it's size and location.
We have another turkey farm infection about an hr away this time. They're saying no need to pull in feeders, but I didn't put mine back out,will cont monitoring.

 

[Bicoastal]

The issue w/AF is to keep wild birds and wb poop from them, so if even sparrows cannot get into your cage and the top is covered to prevent fly-over droppings, you'll be fairly safe.
Hubby is getting lesson on this as we put up new coop and I insist on wire over any open area, no matter what his opinion is on it's size and location.
We have another turkey farm infection about an hr away this time. They're saying no need to pull in feeders, but I didn't put mine back out,will cont monitoring.

Ok, then my coop will be fine. I need them to free range, but I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Hopefully AV will have burnt out by then in hotter temps.

I pulled my bird feeders, too.

Sounds like no outdoor fun time in dog crate to enjoy the sunshine and peck around in grass.

This is why I need guineas. That’s a cereal bowl full of teeny tiny ticks!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yes, I’m more comfortable using both plate and lamp than fearing they’ll be cold. Area is drafty and uninsulated. I increased ventilation after reading up on it here, but now I wish I had waited until after the keets were fully feathered to do that. I’ll add pics later.

So that’s a question given the draftiness: in the coop, do I cram them into the brooder with its solid wood walls or do I let them stay in the big, super airy pen? For the pen, there is cardboard around the lower half of walls. I could extend the tarp up the full height of the walls to reduce drafts.

The walls of your brooder will stop drafts. IMHO, if I were you I’d go ahead and put them out in the brooder. Monitor daytime temps to make sure the lamp is just providing a little heat, it shouldn’t be too hot. At dark, make sure all keets are under the plate and look comfortable. In my area, snakes are very attracted to keets so I can have no gaps bigger than 1/2 inch. Rats, mice and weasels can also fit through small gaps and be attracted so look through everything with an eye for small gaps.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ok, then my coop will be fine. I need them to free range, but I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Hopefully AV will have burnt out by then in hotter temps.

I pulled my bird feeders, too.

Sounds like no outdoor fun time in dog crate to enjoy the sunshine and peck around in grass.

This is why I need guineas. That’s a cereal bowl full of teeny tiny ticks!

Wow lots of ticks! HPAI is playing havoc with my tick management plans too. Guineas are still locked up and I get ticks constantly now when I go outside. Freeze those ticks to slow them down and try offering a few with dried mealworms. Guineas form food preferences early so great to focus on babies learning ticks as treats! Of course only do that if your sure ticks haven’t been exposed to poisons. I actually tried to catch ticks to feed to my babies last year but could hardly catch any.

 

[Bicoastal]

Freeze those ticks to slow them down and try offering a few with dried mealworms. Guineas form food preferences early so great to focus on babies learning ticks as treats! Of course only do that if your sure ticks haven’t been exposed to poisons.

This idea is intriguing. My guineas are broken and don't seem to care for dried mealworms. I really want to train them to come when I call/whistle so I tried mealworms. They played with them kinda but did not get excited or eat them. Are they too young? (hatch date 4/12)

I can catch a lot of ticks. That's easy! But the ticks I catch are crawling on my dogs. My dogs wear Seresto collars and an oral (Semparico Trio). If the ticks are fresh and crawling around, is that safe to feed or no because they were on fur that has received chemicals?

I cannot have a hoard of thawed-out ticks crawling out and all over the inside of my house.

How many minutes outside of the freezer before the vampires start to come alive? This is going to have to be a closely supervised experiment. I really can't imagine catching the ($&#%* then letting them live. This is nuts.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

This idea is intriguing. My guineas are broken and don't seem to care for dried mealworms. I really want to train them to come when I call/whistle so I tried mealworms. They played with them kinda but did not get excited or eat them. Are they too young? (hatch date 4/12)

I can catch a lot of ticks. That's easy! But the ticks I catch are crawling on my dogs. My dogs wear Seresto collars and an oral (Semparico Trio). If the ticks are fresh and crawling around, is that safe to feed or no because they were on fur that has received chemicals?

I cannot have a hoard of thawed-out ticks crawling out and all over the inside of my house.

How many minutes outside of the freezer before the vampires start to come alive? This is going to have to be a closely supervised experiment. I really can't imagine catching the ($&#%* then letting them live. This is nuts.

Your ticks will be contaminated with intoxicants then so I wouldn’t try to feed them to the keets.

 

[Sydney65]

Ok, then my coop will be fine. I need them to free range, but I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Hopefully AV will have burnt out by then in hotter temps.

I pulled my bird feeders, too.

Sounds like no outdoor fun time in dog crate to enjoy the sunshine and peck around in grass.

This is why I need guineas. That’s a cereal bowl full of teeny tiny ticks!

H5N1 is expected to fade out as it warms up and theis migration cycle ends.