Surprise. I’m receiving two crippled guinea keets and one “healthy” keet.

[humblehillsfarm]

I know very little about Guineas but have tried to read up on here rather quickly. My friend is a manager at rural king. I often am given “leftovers” that would otherwise be trash..... but this time he called and asked if I wanted a 10 week old guinea keet with a deformed leg. I only have a flock of chickens but have wanted Guineas.... so I said sure as long as I can get a second one for a companion. Well now I’m getting two crippled ones and a healthy one. All different ages with the one being ten weeks. What did I just sign myself up for?

Big question: can they eat my all flock feed at this age? I also have some crumbled meat bird feed at 19% protein.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Aaaaand I guess they are getting dropped off tonight. Boy am I ill prepared for this. All flock pellets it is.... I don’t have anything else to feed them on such short notice.

 

[R2elk]

I know very little about Guineas but have tried to read up on here rather quickly. My friend is a manager at rural king. I often am given “leftovers” that would otherwise be trash..... but this time he called and asked if I wanted a 10 week old guinea keet with a deformed leg. I only have a flock of chickens but have wanted Guineas.... so I said sure as long as I can get a second one for a companion. Well now I’m getting two crippled ones and a healthy one. All different ages with the one being ten weeks. What did I just sign myself up for?

Big question: can they eat my all flock feed at this age? I also have some crumbled meat bird feed at 19% protein.

Guinea keets should have a high protein (28-30%) turkey or gamebird starter for the first 6 to 8 weeks.. The proper starter will have the higher levels of lysine, methionine and niacin they need for proper development.

Failure to provide the proper feed often causes leg problems.

Guineas are flock birds and do best in large groups of guineas.

Keets raised with and imprinted by chickens can cause great stress to the chickens once their first breeding season arrives.

Read the thread Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA .

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Yes I read the post. It wasn’t particularly helpful in providing any info I didn’t already know. It didn’t mention anything about brooding them. They’ve already been delivered. His estimate on age was way off. One looks to be 3-4 days old and another looks to be maybe 2-3. Of those two, one had splayed leg and I taped it. The third is probably a week old. It has a slipped tendon and is severely deformed. I’m sick over it. I’ve raised over thirty chicks so far and have never had anything more than a mild case of curly toes. I have to work tomorrow then I will come home and put it down, which I’ve never had to do. They’ll be housed with my chickens but an emergency brooder was set up with a radiant heat plate for now. I don’t have the right feed so I have no choice but to pound down some pellets tonight and buy game feed after work tomorrow. I hope the splayed leg guy pulls through because otherwise I’m stuck with a single guinea keet

 

[R2elk]

Yes I read the post. It wasn’t particularly helpful in providing any info I didn’t already know. It didn’t mention anything about brooding them. They’ve already been delivered. His estimate on age was way off. One looks to be 3-4 days old and another looks to be maybe 2-3. Of those two, one had splayed leg and I taped it. The third is probably a week old. It has a slipped tendon and is severely deformed. I’m sick over it. I’ve raised over thirty chicks so far and have never had anything more than a mild case of curly toes. I have to work tomorrow then I will come home and put it down, which I’ve never had to do. They’ll be housed with my chickens but an emergency brooder was set up with a radiant heat plate for now. I don’t have the right feed so I have no choice but to pound down some pellets tonight and buy game feed after work tomorrow. I hope the splayed leg guy pulls through because otherwise I’m stuck with a single guinea keet

I start my keets at 90°F measured at the bedding level.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yes I read the post. It wasn’t particularly helpful in providing any info I didn’t already know. It didn’t mention anything about brooding them. They’ve already been delivered. His estimate on age was way off. One looks to be 3-4 days old and another looks to be maybe 2-3. Of those two, one had splayed leg and I taped it. The third is probably a week old. It has a slipped tendon and is severely deformed. I’m sick over it. I’ve raised over thirty chicks so far and have never had anything more than a mild case of curly toes. I have to work tomorrow then I will come home and put it down, which I’ve never had to do. They’ll be housed with my chickens but an emergency brooder was set up with a radiant heat plate for now. I don’t have the right feed so I have no choice but to pound down some pellets tonight and buy game feed after work tomorrow. I hope the splayed leg guy pulls through because otherwise I’m stuck with a single guinea keet

Wow! I’m sorry that you have to deal with this, but thank you for trying to help these poor keets! My keets with splay leg have done very well when treated with standard chick treatments. However, I euthanize for slipped tendon (perosis) as I’ve not had one survive this for long and it’s a painful condition.

I think your all flock pellets, crushed down to crumble consistency, will be fine until you can get feed. If you have chick grit, I’d offer that as well. Overall, brooding keets is very similar to brooding chicks. I go with the conservative 95F first week then slowly drop temps week by week approach. If using a standard chick waterer, you will want to put marbles or pebbles around it to keep keets from drowning or getting wet and chilled. I also use warming water and dip all beaks u less I see them using it. If the keets are debilitated from shipping and store stress, you might want to pick up Nutridrench or electrolytes like save a chick. If you will only have two keets, I’d put a stuffed animal under the heat light for them to cuddle, but I’m not sure how to safely do that with radiant heat plates… Best of luck and let us know how these keets do!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Wow! I’m sorry that you have to deal with this, but thank you for trying to help these poor keets! My keets with splay leg have done very well when treated with standard chick treatments. However, I euthanize for slipped tendon (perosis) as I’ve not had one survive this for long and it’s a painful condition.

I think your all flock pellets, crushed down to crumble consistency, will be fine until you can get feed. If you have chick grit, I’d offer that as well. Overall, brooding keets is very similar to brooding chicks. I go with the conservative 95F first week then slowly drop temps week by week approach. If using a standard chick waterer, you will want to put marbles or pebbles around it to keep keets from drowning or getting wet and chilled. I also use warming water and dip all beaks u less I see them using it. If the keets are debilitated from shipping and store stress, you might want to pick up Nutridrench or electrolytes like save a chick. If you will only have two keets, I’d put a stuffed animal under the heat light for them to cuddle, but I’m not sure how to safely do that with radiant heat plates… Best of luck and let us know how these keets do!

Thankfully I had some probiotics. Biggest difference between those other than the probiotics is the lack of sodium. For now I added that to the water. I am so upset that the tendon chick had been left to live that long and I’m upset I have to let it go even longer but it’ll ruin my whole work day to put down a baby before going to work. Idk I think either way it’s going to ruin my day. The other two littles survived the night though. Idk the temp under the heat plate but it’s 77 in the chicken coop where the brooder pen is located. I showed them the water last night and this morning.

This guy is a dingbat for thinking these things are ten weeks old!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I think I’m gonna tell him to buy two more and bring them home and I’ll pay him back. Just to have a healthier number in the flock.

This isn’t the first time I’ve taken on someone else’s problem. I’m gonna need to start a go fund me for all of these rescues if it keeps up. I just don’t think most animal rescues butcher their roosters lol.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thankfully I had some probiotics. Biggest difference between those other than the probiotics is the lack of sodium. For now I added that to the water. I am so upset that the tendon chick had been left to live that long and I’m upset I have to let it go even longer but it’ll ruin my whole work day to put down a baby before going to work. Idk I think either way it’s going to ruin my day. The other two littles survived the night though. Idk the temp under the heat plate but it’s 77 in the chicken coop where the brooder pen is located. I showed them the water last night and this morning.

This guy is a dingbat for thinking these things are ten weeks old!

The two next to each other are quite young. The one off by itself with the bad leg looks a lot older. My slipped tendon keet that I tried to help didn’t grow well, so it’s tough to judge the age of the feathered one.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

The two next to each other are quite young. The one off by itself with the bad leg looks a lot older. My slipped tendon keet that I tried to help didn’t grow well, so it’s tough to judge the age of the feathered one.

Yes I said the two little ones were less than three days old. The other one maybe a week but I’m not sure exactly. I’m going to dispatch it tonight. The leg is not likely to be fixable.

Edited to add: what was the final outcome for your keet? I probably would have tried to fix it if I had it as a day old keet, but this one has grown like that. Poor baby.