Raising keets & chicks with no electric, need advice

[Gill-b]

@Gill-b how does one determine the sex of a keet? The neighbor asked and I have no idea.

As far as I know it cannot be done by sight or by the sounds it makes, as it can only be done by sending samples to a laboratory?

In short... I don't know either.

 

[Sydney65]

@Gill-b how does one determine the sex of a keet? The neighbor asked and I have no idea.

Beginning around 4-6 wks(+/-) they start making noises other than cheep cheeps. The sound is THE ONLY WAY to determine the sex. The female begins making 2 syllable sounds; what we hear is personalized- I hear "come back come back!" Some hear "buck wheat!" "Kerpluff," - whatever you perceivem it's 2 syllables.
Young boys often don't have much to say unless using the alarm call. As they get older it's a single syllable, like "chi", so mainly you'll be identifying who your hens are.
If you separate one in a cage, you'll quickly know if it's a female.

 

[R2elk]

@Gill-b how does one determine the sex of a keet? The neighbor asked and I have no idea.

You don't. You wait until they are adults and sex them from their calls or from the hens laying eggs.

 

[R2elk]

Here is the keet and chick, who are 5 weeks old in this picture. I'm not sure if the comb on the young chick means cockerel.

The chicken chick is definitely a cockerel.

 

[C Siena]

You don't. You wait until they are adults and sex them from their calls or from the hens laying eggs.

I read that keets (are they called this under 1 year?), do not mate nor lay eggs until the spring after they hatch. I'll try to tell our neighbor about the sounds.

 

[R2elk]

I read that keets (are they called this under 1 year?), do not mate nor lay eggs until the spring after they hatch. I'll try to tell our neighbor about the sounds.

Depends on where a person lives. From what I have been able to determine they are sexually mature by the time they are 5 to 6 months old.

Where I am, they start laying in the spring of the year after they were hatched.

In more southern states they may start laying in the fall of the year they hatched.

If they are supplied with supplemental lighting it can throw off their diurnal clock and cause them to lay earlier than normal. Supplemental lighting will not change the fact that they are seasonal layers, it just throws them off of their timeline for starting and stopping laying.

 

[C Siena]

Depends on where a person lives. From what I have been able to determine they are sexually mature by the time they are 5 to 6 months old.

Where I am, they start laying in the spring of the year after they were hatched.

In more southern states they may start laying in the fall of the year they hatched.

If they are supplied with supplemental lighting it can throw off their diurnal clock and cause them to lay earlier than normal. Supplemental lighting will not change the fact that they are seasonal layers, it just throws them off of their timeline for starting and stopping laying.

The family does not have electric, so no supplemental lighting.

Thank you for the information and I will pass it along. The keet will be 5 months 10/21, possibly too late in the season.