You guys are my only hope!!!!

[prepperchickens]

Ok that title was melodramatic in light of the question I'm about to ask but it's true you're my only hope, I'm a novice and know nobody else to ask.
I can't tell if my 4 day old EXTREMELY special guinea keet has a swollen crop or if it's normal for young babies to stuff themselves so full they have bulging crops that feel more hard than soft.
He seems extremely healthy, I got him 24 hours ago and he's in with my 11 day old sebright pair, the roo of which attempted hilariously to bully him the first night to no avail (guineas don't play the chickens games I notice, they are Unphased and just want to eat all day long and pass out, they are the best) as he's substantially older but noticeably smaller than this freshly hatched keet. My keet seems so healthy/happy in fact that just now when I brought him out to my older pullets and guinea hen (all between 3 wks and 3 mos old) while I fed them meal worms, he had the nerve to chase after them and try to steal worms out of their mouths! These birds are giant compared to him! I let him run around in circles with a worm before taking it away lol. Point is, he's probably the liveliest, happiest, most playful keet or chick I've ever seen but his crop is stuffed and not squishy. Rural King keeps them all on pine bedding but honestly they don't lose chicks often at all except to customer stupidity and he'd only been there a day or less when I got him. He does try to eat things he shouldn't but I can't feel anything weird in there just feels stuffed with chick crumbles. I got some chick grit and sprinkled it on top of the feeder and the big scratch pile the bantams make. Just a pinch or two. I'm so scared, I've never ha a chick or keet quite this young, they're usually about a week at least when I get them. I can't see when his crop would be empty since as with all guineas he's always eating and I don't take food away at night. I can only find crop information about chicks, keets have smaller crops and eat more frequently so i don't know if the info applies. I just lost my very favorite boy, my 2.5 mos old guinea And best friend Little Foot and amazingly this keet acts like he's Little Foot reincarnated. I am a spaz, it's true, I get way too paranoid but I've never raised poultry until now. Does anyone know what kinda crop is normal for a keet his age? If there was a problem would he be so active and happy? Can it be fixed if his crop is backed up somehow at home??? You can kinda see it here, it's hard to capture and he doesn't hold still long

 

[eviemethugh]

Take away his food for about 6-8 hours tonight and see if it goes down. That's the best you can do if you are really paranoid I think. Yes you can do a bunch of different things to clear out a blocked crop if needed. But day one is a little preemptive I think.

 

[prepperchickens]

Crisis averted I think. I went to Rural King to feel the other keets up and they all have the same thing, the employee said they're always like that they eat more than any chick does so they're always stuffed full. My older guinea keet is the same but the bulge is just not so hilariously dis proportioned lol. I notice my chicks eat prolonged big meals and my keet just round the clock eats a few bites, goofs off for a second then conks out for 2 seconds until jumping up out of nowhere and charging the feeder.
I also notice that keets immediately figure out what the feed bag sounds like and at day 1 already will do anything for food whereas chicks are more timid and discerning. It's weird that people say guineas aren't as friendly/tame as chickens, I've had the opposite experience. My chickens make me work for it while my guineas turn into tail wagging puppy dogs the moment they figure out that I'm the treat hook up, they even fly onto me to be pet!
So unless RK just has an entire brood of impacted keets I guess it's cased closed and I'm just neurotic but thank you sooo much for your reply, it always feels like life or death lol.

 

[eviemethugh]

Haha, that's good!
I have this picture in my mind of someone with a tiny keet in their shirt collar sneaking it back into the store just to compare it to the others.
It sounds very endearing!

 

[prepperchickens]

Dude, RK must be so sick of me. I have called them daily for a week and gone in there like every other day. Those guys aren't even chicken experts but they'll do when I'm having a neurotic fit. It's funny you mentioned the keet in the shirt collar imagery because...

Lol. This is what I do with all my babies to get them very used to me while still having free hands to go about my days work. The keets especially love it because they're all obsessed with hair, they make these crazy sounds and nuzzle into it and then find a comfy spot and wee-jip a bunch and fall asleep. I found out he is actually only 2 days old! He wasn't shipped far, he was just an hour away so I got him the day after he hatched!!!

 

[eviemethugh]

I could have sworn you mentioned having him in your shirt! But maybe everyone does this! Hahaha.
I have definitely bugged the pants off of people before! I think farm stores are used to it. I swear my cousin hangs out at farm stores just to try to answer shoppers questions in as much detail as possible, then complain that he is the only one who knows how to fix everything!

 

[prepperchickens]

Lol where is your brother when I need him then? I'm making this clueless teenage boy who works there feel like a world class poultry expert every single day even though I've repeatedly caught him saying crap that is incorrect lol. I just need the morale support. The Sebrights, bless their ornery little hearts, turned me from go with the flow zen master chick mommy to someone in desperate need of a Paxil Xanax quaalude smoothie. I've had 7 hrs of sleep total in 2.5 days, I sit over he brooder on my iphone looking crap up and watching them for hours at night. Everyone says they just look for a reason to drop dead left and right but I'm starting to think this delicate little cherub act is a racket to keep me spoiling them in every way around the clock. As if sebrights need more help growing up into uppity little brats right? Be never seen chicks so stubborn about getting their way. I'll hear them screaming bloody murder and go in there only to find that one of them is throwing a big fit that the other got the exact piece of oatmeal the one crying wanted even though there's plenty around the feeder (I give them grit, I was told oatmeal crushed up could help with pasty butt but I think the problem is they are too short to make a clean "break" with their poo lol) while the guinea is just chillin happily gobbling up anything he comes across (which is why I said no to pine bedding...the bantams are smart enough not to eat it I notice but the little keet will eat anything). They're fun to watch, super entertaining especially now that the keet is in there, he made it a party and the bantams act a lot more energetic. Actually that's the effect all my guineas have had on the chickens, it's like they set a fun, happy go lucky vibe the chickens begin to mimic.
I'm sure tomorrow one of them will fart and I will be convinced they have chicken AIDS or something, stay tuned for the next frantic thread pleading for rescue with a subject title like "rape!!! Rape!!! And fire !!! Help me!!!!"