Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[duluthralphie]

Well I didn't even buy the pheasant I was. Driving home and it was in the road just standing there so I breaked and stopped and it didn't move so I opened my door to get out and it came and jumped in so I just continued with this pheasant (ring neck) no got home and it followed me to the Guinea pen so I just put it in theree for now

I want to re-state this just to make sure I understand this. With the language barrier and all I may have misunderstood this:


So tell me where I am wrong.


You are driving along the road, I assume driving on the wrong side of the road as is your custom over there.....

You see a pheasant smoking a fag along the edge of the road...(notice how I go that British Lingo down pat)....

The pheasant looked like he needed a lift, so you open the door and said " put the cig out and hop on in"...



The pheasant looked you over and decided you would be a safe ride. I assume you and the pheasant had pleasant conversation during the ride.

When you got home you offered the Pheasant at the Guinea bar and grill. You held the door and said ' After you my good man".. and the pheasant walked into the guinea pen, where you trapped him for the rest of his natural born life...




Did I miss anything?

 

[harley587]

I want to re-state this just to make sure I understand this. With the language barrier and all I may have misunderstood this:


So tell me where I am wrong.


You are driving along the road,  I assume driving on the wrong side of the road as is your custom over there.....

You see a pheasant smoking a fag along the edge of the road...(notice how I go that British Lingo down pat)....

The pheasant looked like he needed a lift, so you open the door and said " put the cig out and hop on in"...



The pheasant looked you over and decided you would be a safe ride.   I assume you and the pheasant had pleasant conversation during the ride.

When you got home you offered the Pheasant at the Guinea bar and grill. You held the door and said ' After you my good man".. and the pheasant walked into the guinea pen, where you trapped him for the rest of his natural born life...




Did I miss anything?

Now now DR, quite possible the pheasant escaped from some tyrannical pheasant farmer who may be threatening the chopping block for a tasty pheasant meal. In that case, he was gratefully rescued to be kept in the safe confines of the guinea castle...

 

[charid]

@PeepsCA
is the guinea expert.  She recommends using a medicated high protein (28 - 30% protein) turkey gamebird feed.  The medicated part is Amprolium.  Amprolium is good for preventing deaths by coccidiosis.  I do not know where she was buying her feed but medicated high protein feed is available just is not commonly carried in most places.  I assume that she had a coccidiosis problem thus the need for a medicated feed.

Most high protein feed is not medicated.  I use a quality non-medicated 28% protein turkey gamebird starter for my poults and keets and yes even chicks if they are in with the poults or keets.  On a rare occasion I will lose a little one to coccidiosis but it is less than 1% of the poultry that I start.  I don't feel the need to use a medicated feed for that low of a coccidiosis problem.

Good luck.

Thank you. At first I did not realize she was a breeder. That makes sense with that many birds as to why the amprolium would be necessary. I got 50 pounds but returned it.

Do you know a good age to supplement the keets diet with boiled eggs (read on here) or mealworm?

My batch 1 keets are 6 weeks and batch 2 5 days old. I gave the older ones mealworm a few days ago. They are on grit already so I figured it would be safe. They went ape. The grit though is too large for the young ones. Because I have no grit for them, this evening at the first signs of 1 keet having pasty butt, I took away the young ones feed for the evening to force them to drink only water for the next few meals. Without grit I am worried about pasty butt in the others.

The one I noticed was trying to push his poop out. He was clogged. I snatched him up and flipped him over. Sure enough he had a tiny bit of pasty butt. I used warm slightly saline solution and a cotton tip to soften it up. Now they are all on restriction. Water for the next 6 hours. I read DE grade sand would work. Can I put that in their water instead of their feed?? Are their any other options besides sand? I am going to try to grind the large grit down into smaller pieces until then.

 

[harley587]

Thank you. At first I did not realize she was a breeder. That makes sense with that many birds as to why the amprolium would be necessary. I got 50 pounds but returned it.

Do you know a good age to supplement the keets diet with boiled eggs (read on here) or mealworm?

My batch 1 keets are 6 weeks and batch 2 5 days old. I gave the older ones mealworm a few days ago. They are on grit already so I figured it would be safe. They went ape. The grit though is too large for the young ones. Because I have no grit for them, this evening at the first signs of 1 keet having pasty butt, I took away the young ones feed for the evening to force them to drink only water for the next few meals. Without grit I am worried about pasty butt in the others.

The one I noticed was trying to push his poop out. He was clogged. I snatched him up and flipped him over. Sure enough he had a tiny bit of pasty butt. I used warm slightly saline solution and a cotton tip to soften it up. Now they are all on restriction. Water for the next 6 hours. I read DE grade sand would work. Can I put that in their water instead of their feed?? Are their any other options besides sand? I am going to try to grind the large grit down into smaller pieces until then.

I believe you can feed some yogurt or put some apple cider vinegar in their water. I feed mine yogurt on a regular basis. DR or r2elk may have some answers to this one.

 

[charid]

I believe you can feed some yogurt or put some apple cider vinegar in their water. I feed mine yogurt on a regular basis. DR or r2elk may have some answers to this one.

Good to know. I keep ACV on hand. I actually crushed the heck out of my grit, made sparks, started a fire, etc etc but got some good sand size grit out of it. These guys are pigs I tell ya. They gobbled it up like it was feed. Took all of 2 minutes. I will now sleep better knowing they got some grit in them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thank you. At first I did not realize she was a breeder. That makes sense with that many birds as to why the amprolium would be necessary. I got 50 pounds but returned it.

Do you know a good age to supplement the keets diet with boiled eggs (read on here) or mealworm?

My batch 1 keets are 6 weeks and batch 2 5 days old. I gave the older ones mealworm a few days ago. They are on grit already so I figured it would be safe. They went ape. The grit though is too large for the young ones. Because I have no grit for them, this evening at the first signs of 1 keet having pasty butt, I took away the young ones feed for the evening to force them to drink only water for the next few meals. Without grit I am worried about pasty butt in the others.

The one I noticed was trying to push his poop out. He was clogged. I snatched him up and flipped him over. Sure enough he had a tiny bit of pasty butt. I used warm slightly saline solution and a cotton tip to soften it up. Now they are all on restriction. Water for the next 6 hours. I read DE grade sand would work. Can I put that in their water instead of their feed?? Are their any other options besides sand? I am going to try to grind the large grit down into smaller pieces until then.

Pasty butt seems to occur more when the keets are too warm. I just use a scoop of sand from outside for them or a bag of gravel used for weight in pick up trucks in the winter. They can eat a bigger rock than you might think.

When I get pasty butt I clean the butt, Use a little olive oil to soften it and make it harder to stick too and back the heat down a tad. I would rather they be slightly cold than too warm. They can cuddle ( within reason, of course).


I have some pictures to show you tomorrow I am too tired tonight, It has been an interesting Guinea day....

 

[perchie.girl]

also a bit of sod in the brooder for them to explore and get beneficial microbes from... but too hot is what I have heard.

deb

 

[R2elk]

Thank you. At first I did not realize she was a breeder. That makes sense with that many birds as to why the amprolium would be necessary. I got 50 pounds but returned it.

Do you know a good age to supplement the keets diet with boiled eggs (read on here) or mealworm?

My batch 1 keets are 6 weeks and batch 2 5 days old. I gave the older ones mealworm a few days ago. They are on grit already so I figured it would be safe. They went ape. The grit though is too large for the young ones. Because I have no grit for them, this evening at the first signs of 1 keet having pasty butt, I took away the young ones feed for the evening to force them to drink only water for the next few meals. Without grit I am worried about pasty butt in the others.

The one I noticed was trying to push his poop out. He was clogged. I snatched him up and flipped him over. Sure enough he had a tiny bit of pasty butt. I used warm slightly saline solution and a cotton tip to soften it up. Now they are all on restriction. Water for the next 6 hours. I read DE grade sand would work. Can I put that in their water instead of their feed?? Are their any other options besides sand? I am going to try to grind the large grit down into smaller pieces until then.

Keets can be supplemented with chopped up hard boiled eggs right from the start. Of course it is best to provide supplemental grit when feeding other than the turkey gamebird starter. The reason that starter does not require added grit is because it is part of the starter formula.

Chick grit is available or check at your local pet store for a fine grit that is being sold for the caged birds. I live on a sand dune so I just go out and dig up sand and use it for the bedding in the brooder. The sand acts as a very fine grit for the little ones. I don't wash it or do anything other than dry it in the brooder before I add keets, poults or chicks to the brooder. You can grind down large grit using a mortar and pestle.

I never withhold food from the little ones. While pasty butt is a rarity for me, I just pick it off their little butts and let them go back to doing whatever it is they are doing. Putting sand in their water is not going to do them any good. Just sprinkle it on their bedding and they will find it.

Good luck.

 

[R2elk]

I believe you can feed some yogurt or put some apple cider vinegar in their water. I feed mine yogurt on a regular basis. DR or r2elk may have some answers to this one.

Because of all the good credited to ACV, I tried using it with my hatchlings. When using ACV, the percentage of the little ones having pasty butt increased dramatically. I stopped using ACV and the number of pasty butt cases went back down to the few to none that I was used to seeing. The one thing that seems to help eliminate pasty butt for mine is having grit readily available.

 

[MeepBeep]

You can grind down large grit using a mortar and pestle.

If you can't find chick grit locally you can buy a bag of 'tube sand' at most hardware stores and use that, the sand in the tube sand bags is generally not screened fine, so it will have sand to small pea gravel in the mix... Not ideal for grit as it's not as hard nor does it have the sharp edges found in granite or flint grits but it will work for young birds... On the 'not so good' grit thing even a lot of 'chick' grits sold are not that good as they are soluble limestone or oyster shell based and excess calcium is detrimental to growing birds, so that is something to consider if you are getting a commercial chick grit, check the label..