Hen just hatched keets, now what?

[sagealbright]

Hello!

My guinea hen finally came out of the woods today with her keets. I counted at least 5 but I can not get close enough to be sure because the two male guineas try to attack me.

Has anyone had experience with guinea hens raising their own keets? I do not want to bring them inside. I'd rather leave them with the hen.

Are the male guineas going to be okay around the keets? I saw the one male pick up one of the babies in his mouth and put it back down.

 

[sagealbright]

Looks like we have 7 all together! three purple, three lavender, and one pied!

 

[R2elk]

Looks like we have 7 all together! three purple, three lavender, and one pied!

Congratulations on your hatch. You do have 3 lavenders, but I don't see any pieds. The one with the white wings and the squiggly lines on its head is your one and only royal purple. The other 3 with the solid stripe on their heads are pearl grays.

Good luck.

 

[sagealbright]

Congratulations on your hatch. You do have 3 lavenders, but I don't see any pieds. The one with the white wings and the squiggly lines on its head is your one and only royal purple. The other 3 with the solid stripe on their heads are pearl grays.

Good luck.

Thanks so much! This is my first time with guinea keets. We bought all our others as adults. So is the royal purple the same color as the two males in the picture?

 

[R2elk]

Quote:
I believe that your two dark colored males are pearl grays. They look to be fully pearled and royal purples are only partially pearled. Royal purples as adults will look black with a purple sheen to the feathers.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/royalpurple2.jpg

 

[Stephanie R]

So cute!

 

[sagealbright]

I believe that your two dark colored males are pearl grays.  They look to be fully pearled and royal purples are only partially pearled.  Royal purples as adults will look black with a purple sheen to the feathers.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/color/royalpurple2.jpg

If my two males are pearl grays I may need to call my breeder. When we ordered them we specifically ordered purple!

 

[R2elk]

Quote:
Sorry about that but your two males are clearly fully pearled and royal purples are only partially pearled. Your males may be darker than normal for pearl grays but that can be due to the DSV (dark shade variant) but it is not possible for them to be royal purples.

This perhaps explains why you thought the pearl gray keets were royal purples.

You can check out the various colors of adults and keets here.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/