Adult Color

I have a hen who has just hatched keets. The eggs are from my guineas which are descended from some babies I got at a flea market several years ago---your basic mutts. The originals were all pearl grey as are these parents with one of the three mother having a white chest. In the past they have produced pied (like the one mother) brown, and white babies along with the majority of pearl grey. This time there is this little guy. Any idea what color to expect it to be as an adult? Looking at the color charts "chocolate' seems a fairly close match but I'm not sure. I've include two pictures of it and one of part of the rest of brood just because everyone likes baby pictures! )

Thanks!
Bill

So cute! Especially the first picture! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Guinea_fowl_keet_4.jpg Here is another cute picture!

billfields said:

I have a hen who has just hatched keets. The eggs are from my guineas which are descended from some babies I got at a flea market several years ago---your basic mutts. The originals were all pearl grey as are these parents with one of the three mother having a white chest. In the past they have produced pied (like the one mother) brown, and white babies along with the majority of pearl grey. This time there is this little guy. Any idea what color to expect it to be as an adult? Looking at the color charts "chocolate' seems a fairly close match but I'm not sure. I've include two pictures of it and one of part of the rest of brood just because everyone likes baby pictures!

)

Thanks!
Bill

Click to expand...

It is definitely not a chocolate. Chocolates are partially pearled which is why they have squiggly lines on the top of their heads. This keet has a solid colored head which indicates that it will be a solid colored adult without any pearls. Based on the images at

http://guineas.com/colorchart/

My guess is that it is a Violet.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/violetkeet2.jpg

So squiggly lines on their head means at least partially pearled? That's great to know! I'll have to look at the others. I know the brown is just brown, all over, no line anywhere. And past ones like it have been brown adults. Thanks. I'll go look at a picture of a violet. The first ones were all the standard grey pearled, one had a small patch of white on her belly. I am always surprised at the variety of their offspring and descendants. That diversity one of the joys of mutts!!

billfields said:

So squiggly lines on their head means at least partially pearled? That's great to know! I'll have to look at the others. I know the brown is just brown, all over, no line anywhere. And past ones like it have been brown adults. Thanks. I'll go look at a picture of a violet. The first ones were all the standard grey pearled, one had a small patch of white on her belly. I am always surprised at the variety of their offspring and descendants. That diversity one of the joys of mutts!!

Click to expand...

If you look at the guinea fowl site color chart, it has three columns. Broad center stripe with two outside lines is the first column and those all are fully pearled. Squiggly lines without a broad center stripe means partially pearled and is the center column. The right column is no pearls and the heads of the keets are solid colored.

A non pearled solid color "brown" is possibly a Copper. What is called a Brown is a fully pearled light brown guinea.

Brown adult and keet.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/brownadult.jpg

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/brown.jpg

Copper adult and keet.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/copper.jpg

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/copperkeet.jpg

Violet adult and keet.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/violet_better.jpg

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/violet.jpg

Good luck..

Thanks so much! I'm pretty sure the one little guy is a violet. And looking at the chart, the one I have thought of as brown is probably a slate. Both of them are clear in these pictures. (first meal of boiled egg yolk which accounts for the yellow speckles on them)There are ten all together but using the squiggly line rule these two are the only ones that will be solid colored.

I agree that your other solid color keet looks like a Slate.

Good luck.