New guinea owner...

[PeepsCA]

I would get rid of the hay ASAP...i have (had) 12 guinea keets, now I have 8.... they are 4 weeks old and were doing just fine until I put hay in the brooder.... there could be fungi in the hay... im not certain that's what made mine sick, but pretty sure... i lost 3 in a week and a half, and have a very sick one now... am treating with corid.

That's a goods heads up on the hay, but if the hay smells sweet/fresh and is not dusty or moldy it should be fine. It is possible that you got a batch of hay that someone's Coccidiosis diseased poultry had pooped on and infected, and in turn made your keets sick... but not all that likely. I've used coarse straw and seedless grass hay for years as bedding with no issues... as long as it's not alfalfa or any type of hay that has small grains that the keets could choke on or fill up on it should be fine. The uneven surface, with good traction is really good for their developing feet and legs.

 

[georgia531]

i agree with the bad hay vs good hay part.. and im not sure it was the hay...mine were about 2 weeks old when i put hay in their brooder, feelling it would be more natural.. problems started not long after.. could have been a coincidence... one of them was emaciated before i noticed it.. could have been bullied away from food... i separated it but was too late to help it much.. when i put them out in a large, off the ground brooder with wire run, with heat light for night.. (days were in 90's).. i noticed several of them with long pieces of hay hanging from their mouth.. at this point, i noticed another one fluffed up, i caught it and it too was really skinny... i tried hand feeding it and vitamins, electolytes, sugar water, it died in 3-4 days... it had been the largest so i was shocked when I noticed it wasting away...I thought it might be impacted or something from the hay.. i treated it with olive oil, vitamins, electrolytes, sugar water, i tried everything to keep it from dying but couldnt save that one either... several days later i saw one laying down when the rest werent.. i grabbed it and brought it in, it too very skinny and fluffed up.. it died within hours. there was one more in the brooder that looked "raggedy" so i caught it and brought it in.. it still had meat on it but was sick, i noticed it right away as I had been watching them very closely. That was yesterday morning.. After spending a week searching and reading this forum, i started Corid. There was no blood in the poop, but they had all the other syptoms of cocci.... at this point, it is not as sick as the others were, but I do not expect it to live.I will be really surprised if it does.. it is standing, which the others werent, at this stage, and it has picked at food today but not much. It did poop which the others who were not treated didnt... so there is a shred of hope... the other 8 all have meat on them at this point and there are no signs of them being sick..they are also being treated with the corid which is kinda scary, since they dont look sick... this hits fast whatever it is...if it wasnt from the hay, i dont know what it could have been... they were such beautiful, healthy babies, just like the ones pictured... before I got them, I read as much as I could about raising guineas, I wanted them so bad, and wanted the best possible for them.. alot of what I read said not to give them medicated food... I feel that was the first mistake I made... I read somewhere that it was bad for them, so I didnt use it... I feel if I would have used medicated chick starter this might not have happened. The other thing I did wrong was to not clean behind the waterer... today when I ripped the outside brooder apart, I found food stuck down under the wire mesh that had gotten wet from the water fountain. The water fountain was sitting on a board so it didnt spill as much, but behind the board, against the wall, there was wet food.. i never saw it. I was so careful to make sure they were all getting enough to eat, I was putting water and food out in the run, and in the box too. so when they went in at night, apparantly they knocked over the dish and the food got lodged down behind the board. So after all I've read, I do believe they have cocci, and I believe it was from the hay or from the damp feed. (im not sure they ate any, but they might have...).. sorry for all the rambling, it has been a heartbreaking lesson... 1. feed medicated feed 2. make sure nothing is damp. It was very hot and humid when this started... hopefully the corid fixes things, Im not sure what to do if any more get sick, that would mean it is something else.

sorry for the long post, but if I can save anyone elses babies with this advice :: feed the medicated food... the first sign I had was raggedy looking feathers, like they are puffed up.

 

[Dutchgirl]

We do not have Cocci on our property, nor on our birds. They have not shown signs of it and we have been careful to keep them healthy. It IS possible that the keets themselves have it, but not very likely at all since they too have been acting healthy.

They love bugs!

The hay should not be a problem. It was very recently given to us by a couple who have cows (and maybe horses too, I'm not sure). They do not own poultry. It looked good and doesn't smell bad or anything, and as far as I know it's fresh.

 

[Dutchgirl]

georgia531, I'm sorry for your loss!

 

[georgia531]

Thank you.. im sure yours will be fine.. i was blindsided by this strange illness, as i have been raising chickens for years, with never any problems.. also ducks, turkeys, and geese...i started out this year raising chicks and had wonderful luck with leghorns, barred rocks, and EE... i have always wanted guineas though, and was completely in love with these babies..It was such a shock and so unexpected when they started getting sick. all the other babies I had here all started out with medicated chick feed but not the guineas, as i read a post from someone who said theirs got sick from medicated food and they were having all kinds of problems until she got them off the medicated feed. stupid me... didnt read anything else about it, until I started searching when mine got sick. so i learned alot since then... i never gave using the hay a second thought.. i have horses and we buy round bales... these are cut and stored outdoors... not to mention what people use for fertilizer, insecticide and stuff like that.. it never dawned on me.. i have always used it for my chickens to keep them warm in winter, and on the floors of the coops ect.. never a problem. its a mistake i wont make again...anyway, thank you for the condolence, it stinks.. i envy you your beautiful, healthy babies.. hopefully the 8 I have left that are not showing signs of being sick will do good and I can put this behind me.. i have my fingers crossed... in the meantime, I have given my whole flock corid, maybe Im jumping the gun, but I have more than 50 young beautiful chickens at stake.