New to Guineas. Would like Advice. *Pics*

[Colourful]

Hmm, it's kind of hot here today. My Guinea's have plenty of shade and water, but they still seem to be panting or thirsty. Will they be fine, or is there something more I can do for them?

 

[Colourful]

Yay!

My guineas are 6 weeks old or so, and I already have one shouting out "Buck-Wheat'!!!
I have another that just peeps real loud and two that haven't decided to voice their opinions on the matter.

So happy!

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Hmm, it's kind of hot here today. My Guinea's have plenty of shade and water, but they still seem to be panting or thirsty. Will they be fine, or is there something more I can do for them?

Shade and water is the most you can do for them. Panting is natural when it gets really hot.

 

[PeepsCA]

They are from Africa... they can tolerate the heat. As long as you have shade and water for them, they should be fine. If they are . cooped/penned up then running a fan just to keep the air moving for them can offer them some relief, but it's not totally necessary. Panting helps cool them, just like with a dog. They will also lift their wings up a little, away from their body to allow for the extra airflow to help them stay cooler as well. My Summer high temps are 110-115 degrees F here on average, and stay that way for weeks. My birds do fine. I have never lost a bird to heat stress.

I can be a softy tho, and seeing my birds hot makes me feel guilty when I am inside in a comfortable 70-75 degree house...
So on the hottest days I will sometimes add ice and electrolytes to their water, but mostly I just hose down their favorite dust-bathing areas, or the top layer of the deep litter bedding in my breeding flocks' pens. They enjoy churning/scratching up the damp soil or bedding and dust-bathing in it to cool off. I also have mister systems I can turn on, but the birds usually avoid the mist and prefer the damp dirt the mist makes after I turn off the misters, lol.

If/when I have it, I'll freeze 1" slices of watermelon (any melon works but mine prefer watermelon) for a nice cool treat for them to peck at, and even grated up pumpkin, squash and cucumbers frozen are a big hit too (I just grate it onto a paper plate or pie tin, freeze it and serve it as is). You can get creative with freezing up different mixtures of frozen treats for them, but I do some trial runs of smaller portions to make sure they will eat them.

 

[JLeigh]

I never thought of watering down their pen bedding to help them cool themselves. Great idea! Thank you, m'am.

 

[Colourful]

We recently had a nasty heat wave across Australia, and my mother wet down all the dog runs several times a day. It really did make them cooler. I tried that with my chook and Guinea run, but the guineas just slunk off, not touching the wet soil. But I love the idea of feeding them frozen food, I'll definitey try that in future

 

[Colourful]

One of my Guineas died...

It was one of the pearls. They were fine yesterday, then this morning I went into the run and found 3 in my veggie garden. I was immediately worried because they don't like to split up, ever, and he was in the sun, panting. He kept going head over tail as he walked so I brought him inside and put him in a cool place. His crop was originally full of pellets, but they softened when I have him water with a dropper. He pooped on me, and it was fine, no discolouration or blood. It wasn't runny. But he just kept going down hill and finally just died.

Can anyone tell me what happened to him? The guy I got them from said he medicated against Coccidiosis, but I'm going to as well, because that would be my guess as to how he died.

 

[lillydaisy]

One of my Guineas died...

It was one of the pearls. They were fine yesterday, then this morning I went into the run and found 3 in my veggie garden. I was immediately worried because they don't like to split up, ever, and he was in the sun, panting. He kept going head over tail as he walked so I brought him inside and put him in a cool place. His crop was originally full of pellets, but they softened when I have him water with a dropper. He pooped on me, and it was fine, no discolouration or blood. It wasn't runny. But he just kept going down hill and finally just died.

Can anyone tell me what happened to him? The guy I got them from said he medicated against Coccidiosis, but I'm going to as well, because that would be my guess as to how he died.

I'm sooooooo sorry

 

[TarheelBirdy]

I'm sorry about your Guinea. What you do you mean he was going "head over tail?"

 

[Colourful]

Thank you for all the love.

He kept tripping over and seemed to do a somersault a few times, when I went to pick him up to see if he was okay. He had awful balance, and it got worse real quick.