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The seller told me, that the keets are 5 days old...........but shouldn't they have some feathern then? I 'm so confused about the age of them.
I always mixed a little grit under the starter for my chicks, and they did very good with it. Can I do it with the keets too? It's like a teaspoon of grit on one cup of starter.
Yes they should have very noticeable primaries by now, even little scruffy tail feathers, that's why I was guessing they were only a few days old from looking at your pics. If they are on chick starter, I'd switch them over to a high protein game bird, turkey or pheasant starter feed between 28-30% protein so they are growing at the proper rate. They look bright eyed in the pics, so maybe the seller was mistaken on their hatch date? Are they active and busy in the brooder now, or still sleepy and mellow? Be sure to provide them heat around 90 degrees at just one end of their brooder, if they are cold they will huddle in a ball for warmth.
IMO, that small amount of grit in the feed you mix in would be ok for the keets too, but if/when you feed them other foods/treats I'd provide a dish of grit too for a while after they have their treats, then take it away just to be sure they get what they need and not too much (leaving the grit you added to the feed is fine).
Good luck with them, post new pics when you get a chance !
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Here some pic taken this morning before I went to work..................
They are doing fine
think that they were realy stressed when I first got them. Now they are realy activ and very interessted what's going on
My hubby goes this morning: They are so much cuter then peeps.
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Thank you...........I love the keets pic on your BCY-siite, spec. the first one. How you call the colour?
Hope I can get some better pic today with my good cam. The pic I posted yesterday are from my phone
If they were started on chick starter then it would explain why no feathering at day 6. You and I feed higher protien starter so we get feathers by then. Also, you really don't need grit for babies on a good starter butnit won't really hurt. I don't give mine grit ever but they are free ranging by 2 months old.
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Yah, I am very adamant about my keets being raised on a high protein starter feed. They are game birds that out in the wild survive on a high protein diet of insects, seeds and greens as they grow, and they have completely different nutritional needs than baby chicks have.
The reason Balefire asked about the grit is because she wants to give them some dried worms... so in this case (IMO) she should definitely give them some so they can grind those worms up after they gobble them down.