Waterer for keets

[vicknick]

OK so I looovvee my little keets!! Love love love! But... I'm wondering if there might be something wrong with their little brains. I started with a chick waterer - the kind with a jar and a tray below that autofills. Which instantly became gross as soon as I put it in. So I put the drinker in a bowl to raise it up a little ways, and I gave each baby water with a syringe - as much as they wanted - several times a day. And then I set up a drinker that has the little ball in the tube, like a hamster or bunny drinker. Only the chick figured it out. (I hatched one chick egg with the guinea eggs, thinking that the chick and the broody hen would make them all think they were chickens. Ha) but the guineababies just peck it and then look shocked as the water pours out onto the ground. Then peck it again. So I set up a nipple drinker from a water bottle. The chick gets it, and 3 of the guineas sort of get it, but the rest of them just stare. I'm still giving them water via syringe a bunch of times a day because most of them do not understand how to drink out of a waterer, or a drinker or a chicken nipple. I have tried poking the chicken nipple with my finger, and they drink the water off my finger, then ignore the nipple. I have tried dripping water on the nipple with the syringe, they drink the water and then ignore the nipple. Is there some kind special guinea drinker, or am I just being dense somehow?

 

[R2elk]

This is the type of waterer I use whether it is chicks, keets or poults. Some people fill the tray with marbles to prevent drowning. I don't but my brooder is 4'x4'.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-poultry-drinker-5-qt

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

OK so I looovvee my little keets!! Love love love! But... I'm wondering if there might be something wrong with their little brains. I started with a chick waterer - the kind with a jar and a tray below that autofills. Which instantly became gross as soon as I put it in. So I put the drinker in a bowl to raise it up a little ways, and I gave each baby water with a syringe - as much as they wanted - several times a day. And then I set up a drinker that has the little ball in the tube, like a hamster or bunny drinker. Only the chick figured it out. (I hatched one chick egg with the guinea eggs, thinking that the chick and the broody hen would make them all think they were chickens. Ha) but the guineababies just peck it and then look shocked as the water pours out onto the ground. Then peck it again. So I set up a nipple drinker from a water bottle. The chick gets it, and 3 of the guineas sort of get it, but the rest of them just stare. I'm still giving them water via syringe a bunch of times a day because most of them do not understand how to drink out of a waterer, or a drinker or a chicken nipple. I have tried poking the chicken nipple with my finger, and they drink the water off my finger, then ignore the nipple. I have tried dripping water on the nipple with the syringe, they drink the water and then ignore the nipple. Is there some kind special guinea drinker, or am I just being dense somehow?

You are so dedicated - congrats on the new keets!! I use a small cup chick waterer, but I can’t find that for sale anymore. If I use a chick waterer, then I add marbles or pebbles to keep the keets from getting a dunk. They do make a mess so I clean and refill daily. I have not had much success with nipple waterers for keets and adult Guinea fowl, though others seem to do better with them.

 

[vicknick]

You are so dedicated - congrats on the new keets!! I use a small cup chick waterer, but I can’t find that for sale anymore. If I use a chick waterer, then I add marbles or pebbles to keep the keets from getting a dunk. They do make a mess so I clean and refill daily. I have not had much success with nipple waterers for keets and adult Guinea fowl, though others seem to do better with them.

Thank you! I was keeping the chick waterer at a very low level and then just putting more water in every time they stepped in it and I washed it out, which was approximately every 15 seconds. LOL!! I am planning to find a container that is just a bit bigger than the waterer, and then using a hole saw to cut out head holes so they can stick their faces in to drink, but can't step or poop in there. Like the pcv chicken feeders, you know? I made them a bunch of little tiny pvc feeders too, bc they scratch the feed right out of the chick feeders, and also poop into it! They are just so stinking CUTE, lol! I hope they stay this sweet as adults - they come running to my hand when I put my hand in, and climb all over my hand, tasting my fingers, or jumping up into my hand and preening, lol - they're just soooo sweet. I have a coop outside I'm going to put them in once they're big enough but I find myself reluctant to put them out there because I'm afraid they'll go wild if I'm not kissing on them all day long! (They like it when I kiss their faces and scratch their long little necks, lol!!)

 

[vicknick]

This is the type of waterer I use whether it is chicks, keets or poults. Some people fill the tray with marbles to prevent drowning. I don't but my brooder is 4'x4'.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-poultry-drinker-5-qt

I have something similar just much much smaller - the tray of water around a container... They just make such a mess of it! LOL!!

 

[Sydney65]

I start w/
And move to

It really doesn't matter which you use, unless the hen is there to teach them, it's up to you to push the button until they're strong enough to and leave a drop so they figure out this is where to get a drink.
I've had the other kind R2 is showing, but they have no concern w/where they poop and flipping it to fill was messy, dripping water. The one I have I ordered from Amazon bc tsc didn't have it. It fills from the top so I don't have to remove it, just adjust height as they grow,& no contaminating water.
I've tried all kinds before asking myself why I was putting them and myself through the hassle of learning how to use different types. This way, when they move to the coop, they already know how to use a nipple.- and teaching them means putting their beak on the nipple and giving a nudge so water comes out.

 

[vicknick]

Interesting! kind of nipple - is it easier to get water out of than the other dangly kind of chicken nipple? I have the regular chicken nipple kind, and I tap the thing, and they tap it, drink the drop off my finger, and then look at me. And I tap it and they tap it and drink the drop off my finger, and look at me. I drip water onto the nipple so they'll associate it with water, and they drink the drip and then they look at me! The chick comes up, takes a big juicy drink, and they look at him.... and then they look at me. I sit there for hours trying to get them to figure it out and they just have nooooo cluuuueee. I am worried it's learned helplessness! I'm giving my babies a complex, haha.

 

[Sydney65]

Ps - not judging or preaching, bc if I could, I'd do it, too- but the main reason poultry owners end up getting sick from their birds is from kissing them. Stick to stroking and crooning and air kisses. They poop on each other and then peck through it, so best to keep your lips to yourself.

 

[vicknick]

Ps - not judging or preaching, bc if I could, I'd do it, too- but the main reason poultry owners end up getting sick from their birds is from kissing them. Stick to stroking and crooning and air kisses. They poop on each other and then peck through it, so best to keep your lips to yourself.

Ohhhh sooo sad!!! (( They are sooo soft!!!! *sigh* I'll have to stop kissing them and probably rubbing my face on their little feathers too. Sigh. It'll probably help me sleep though, since I'm allergic to birds and have had awful sinuses as a result of all the cuddles, haha. (I'm allergic to everything so I generally just don't even bother trying to avoid stuff I'm allergic to)

 

[Sydney65]

Interesting! kind of nipple - is it easier to get water out of than the other dangly kind of chicken nipple? I have the regular chicken nipple kind, and I tap the thing, and they tap it, drink the drop off my finger, and then look at me. And I tap it and they tap it and drink the drop off my finger, and look at me. I drip water onto the nipple so they'll associate it with water, and they drink the drip and then they look at me! The chick comes up, takes a big juicy drink, and they look at him.... and then they look at me. I sit there for hours trying to get them to figure it out and they just have nooooo cluuuueee. I am worried it's learned helplessness! I'm giving my babies a complex, haha.

I think that's just for easier access. It comes with that and the regular straight in one, I've not used the one that sticks out. They'll catch on, just poke their beak to it gently so water drips on them. You don't say how old; the first couple of days they don't seem strong enough to push it but they grow fast. No worries abt complexes; if guineas remembered their early days, my hen wldnt have snagged herself a younger mate this year, bc she was awful to him when he was a keet.