Hi,
I incubated 8 Guinea Keats over Christmas, and they've been doing great for the first 3 weeks. However, we recently noticed one was flopping all over the place and kept falling over backwards etc. After a couple of days it sadly passed away. However, much to my surprise another healthy one died the same night! Now one more keet is looking weak, unbalanced, "drunk", and the others are looking a little unsteady and not so interested in their food or running around.
I've been brooding them indoors and feeding them what should be a good quality New Zealand feed (Supa Chick). You can't get high-protein starter feed here, the max is about 21% which is what I'm using. I've also been blending up some dried mealworms to add to the feed for extra protein. The feed is "medicated with "Bovatec" and claims to be suitable for all chicks - including meatbirds and wild birds. I gather from a more experienced local lady, she uses a different NZ feed with similar medication fine.
The keets were possibly in a room that was a little too warm for them, now in our lounge which is a bit cooler (its summer in NZ). Their food was also in this room, so hope its not "gone off" somehow.
My lady-contact suggested she gives her chicks a couple of drops of Aviverm (bird wormer) in their water which she says has helped some of her weaker keets survive. A bit surprising as I gather worms take longer to have an affect, but perhaps it wards off other bugs or parasites. I'm trying that for the first time now.
I'm also just trying them on sone unmedicated feed I've found, but lower protein and leaving out the blended mealworms for now.
Any thoughts or advice appreciated!
Thanks, Alex
I incubated 8 Guinea Keats over Christmas, and they've been doing great for the first 3 weeks. However, we recently noticed one was flopping all over the place and kept falling over backwards etc. After a couple of days it sadly passed away. However, much to my surprise another healthy one died the same night! Now one more keet is looking weak, unbalanced, "drunk", and the others are looking a little unsteady and not so interested in their food or running around.
I've been brooding them indoors and feeding them what should be a good quality New Zealand feed (Supa Chick). You can't get high-protein starter feed here, the max is about 21% which is what I'm using. I've also been blending up some dried mealworms to add to the feed for extra protein. The feed is "medicated with "Bovatec" and claims to be suitable for all chicks - including meatbirds and wild birds. I gather from a more experienced local lady, she uses a different NZ feed with similar medication fine.
The keets were possibly in a room that was a little too warm for them, now in our lounge which is a bit cooler (its summer in NZ). Their food was also in this room, so hope its not "gone off" somehow.
My lady-contact suggested she gives her chicks a couple of drops of Aviverm (bird wormer) in their water which she says has helped some of her weaker keets survive. A bit surprising as I gather worms take longer to have an affect, but perhaps it wards off other bugs or parasites. I'm trying that for the first time now.
I'm also just trying them on sone unmedicated feed I've found, but lower protein and leaving out the blended mealworms for now.
Any thoughts or advice appreciated!
Thanks, Alex