A French Breed?

[LovnNYLivn]

Hi all! This is my first post, we are new chicken owners. Your site is a wealth of information, Thank You!! I hope you can help me figure out what breed my chick is. She (I hope!) is about five weeks old, we got her from Tractor Supply and he told us she was a French breed. She was from a straight run batch but despite asking friends and looking online since we brought her home I can’t figure out what she is!! In the attached pictures she is the grayish colored chicken with the striped head. She is much bigger than the rest of the ones we got the same day. Any ideas would be appreciated!!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Uhhh... that's not a chicken. I'm pretty sure it's a guinea. I've never wanted any but I'm pretty sure that's what it is.
@hysop has guineas. Is it a guinea?

 

[LovnNYLivn]

I had a feeling it wasn’t a chicken about a week in. Ugh!

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Yeah, that's a guinea keet. Great bug eaters, but have a tendency to wander. Mine wandered off into the woods and never came home. That was the last of raising guineas.....

 

[rsrpoultry]

Yeah, that is definitely not a chicken... I would say its a guinea

 

[LovnNYLivn]

Yeah, that's a guinea keet. Great bug eaters, but have a tendency to wander. Mine wandered off into the woods and never came home. That was the last of raising guineas.....

We did get birds to help with the ticks, but now I guess I had better start reading up on guineas fast!

 

[Lunarpuppy]

Wow. They told you it was a chicken?

 

[LovnNYLivn]

Wow. They told you it was a chicken?

Yes!! He acted like he knew what he was talking about. You have to buy them in increments of six here and they only had three pullets so we were trying to make our half dozen. He said this was a great breed that laid lots of eggs. At the time she was the same size as the others so I didn’t question. Plus he pointed out she was the last one left of her group. I feel like I must have had “sucker” broadcasting from my forehead.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Wow. They told you it was a chicken?

That was my first thought! Shame on them!

You have to buy them in increments of six here

This I don't understand either. I could understand maybe selling them in pairs, but making people get 6 isn't right. What if you already own chickens and only needed 1 or 2 ?

 

[hysop]

That is definitely a guineafowl. They do better with their own kind. Raising them together with chickens may be okay at first but within a year or two they’ll start picking on your chickens.

They have a weird way of working out their pecking order and it’s not the same as with chickens. Guineas will peck and pull feathers. But like I said, this is usually around a year or two during the mating season, but once it starts it usually never ends.

I love my guineas, but they are loud. How big is your area and how close are your neighbors?

They are great for bug control. Sorry they lied to get the one sold. They should have forced the last person to buy a bunch of guineas to buy that one too.

As far as eggs, they will hide their eggs. If you’re going to let them free range, and if that’s even a girl, she will hide her nest and you’ll have to search for it. But she won’t start laying til next spring.

As far as knowing if it’s a boy or girl, it depends on the call and it’s easier to tell at around 6 months, maybe a little sooner but for sure by then.