Runt keet?!

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Went looking for sav-a-chick, nutridrench, or a similar thing, but everywhere I went had an empty spot on the shelf...

Got home and a couple of the bigger keets had made it over the brick divider. I'm assuming they climbed over each other, since one got left behind. But no one was picking on the little guys, and the littles are better coordinated now so I just have them all together. The size disparity is noticeable, but it doesn't seem so bad now that they're not completely helpless.

Guineas just like to be together, I guess. I have adults and just recently put month old keets (hatched from our own stock) in a coop by themselves. The adults are curious and will perch on the roof or other nearby structures. Until they forget what they were doing and go do other dumb Guinea things.

We had the craziest staggered hatch last year with keets of all ages brooded together. I think that the keets did much better at accepting younger members than chickens do. These keets got so used to new additions that they barely blinked when I added a new one, even when they were several weeks older. I did worry about them running over the younger keets, so when I ended up with 6 week old keets, a 2 week old keet, and a newly hatched keet, I divided the brooder to keep the two youngest separate from the much bigger and older keets. The younger keets hates this arrangement and would desperately try to get to the older ones. The older ones were so sweet with them, they would lay right next to the divider and chat with their young broodmates. I had to get those older ones outside and wanted to keep them familiar with each other, so I made a crate with brooder plate in the coop so they could all be together. At this point, keets were 8 weeks, 4 weeks and 2 weeks. Well, the two younger keets managed to get out of the crate, so when I checked on them, they were all together. They seemed so content snuggling together that I didn’t have the heart to separate them again. The older keets fought with each other, but they never attacked their little junior flockmates until they grew up.

 

[EarlJ]

That's awesome! They look like dinosaurs next to the little ones.

Now that my guys have had a day, I can't tell which ones were runty anymore. Still going to doctor up their water as a precaution, but they're all running around and having a good old time now.

They have no problem hopping up on a brick. Even at a day old, their antics are fun to watch : )

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That's awesome! They look like dinosaurs next to the little ones.

Now that my guys have had a day, I can't tell which ones were runty anymore. Still going to doctor up their water as a precaution, but they're all running around and having a good old time now.
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They have no problem hopping up on a brick. Even at a day old, their antics are fun to watch : )

Are they lavender?

 

[EarlJ]

Yeah, hatched from shipped eggs. We've only had pearls before, and I thought those were pretty. We'll finally have guineas we can easily tell apart, heh.

 

[My2butterflies]

Awe! They are adorable!
Haha, pearls are hard to tell apart. I have a few I can pick out of the bunch, but that’s it.
I can’t wait for our other colors to arrive!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yeah, hatched from shipped eggs. We've only had pearls before, and I thought those were pretty. We'll finally have guineas we can easily tell apart, heh.

I love lavender! It’s probably my favorite color. We have a bunch of very expensive eggs in the incubator that should hatch some slate, Violet, and white keets. We started adding these colors last year, but so far, have not been able to produce these colors in our keets, thus the addition.

 

[EarlJ]

We went out of town the other day to pick up some canning stuff off craigslist, the TSC out there was better stocked. And I got a quail base for a jar waterer to dose them in.

I'd never seen one before, and thought immediately "hey, they probably can't get themselves too wet with that!" I'll have to get them started on nipple waterers in a few days. Hopefully they pick up on that quickly... have week old GLWs that are just learning by watching the Silkies I put them in with yesterday.