Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[kynewbchickie]

Too adorable, Amber!

 

[jbirds2012]

we have blue slate hens no toms and royal palm hens, 2 toms, funny thing is where did the black baby turkeys come from ?
we also have guineas, they may be lazy but they are smart, they went and layed their eggs next to the turkey hen and the turkey hen would scoop them up under her to sit on also. yesterday i found 2 baby guinea babies running around.

 

[R2elk]

we have blue slate hens no toms and royal palm hens, 2 toms, funny thing is where did the black baby turkeys come from ?
we also have guineas, they may be lazy but they are smart, they went and layed their eggs next to the turkey hen and the turkey hen would scoop them up under her to sit on also. yesterday i found 2 baby guinea babies running around.

Blue Slate turkeys don't breed true to color. When you breed a blue slate to a blue slate you can get blue slate poults (50%), self blue poults (25%), and black poults (25%).

When you cross a royal palm with a blue slate you can get two different versions of blue and also black poults. The black poults are from the royal palm/blue slate cross.

When I crossed my blue slate tom with my royal palm hens, I predominantly got black poults and a few blue poults. This year I have switched to a self blue tom and should therefore have eliminated any black poults.

 

[jbirds2012]

Blue Slate turkeys don't breed true to color. When you breed a blue slate to a blue slate you can get blue slate poults (50%), self blue poults (25%), and black poults (25%).

When you cross a royal palm with a blue slate you can get two different versions of blue and also black poults. The black poults are from the royal palm/blue slate cross.

When I crossed my blue slate tom with my royal palm hens, I predominantly got black poults and a few blue poults. This year I have switched to a self blue tom and should therefore have eliminated any black poults.

ok, thanks. so she had 9 black and the 4 blue ones are self blue turkeys ?

 

[jnjmanning]

I have 5 Guineas, 3 males 2 females. They have cooped with my chickens since I got them last yr in June at 2 weeks old. But now that it has gotten warm they will not go in the coop. They will nest in the Oak tree that is inside the chicken yard. They have been paired up for about 3 weeks now 1-2 and 1-1. Well today I noticed one of my hens never came home. They free range and the hens have been going off every day around noon for a couple hrs, to lay and egg I assumed. I could never find their nests. But today one didnt come home. So either something got her, or she is sitting on her nest. My question Will she come to the feed and water once a day? If so there is a chance I can follow her!

 

[jnjmanning]

Here are 3 Royal Purples (the top 2 are Pied) and 2 Chocolate keets from my last hatch, for a comparison. They are 5 days old now so their body down colors aren't real visible, but you can still compare the head stripes colors at least. Chocolates are noticeably lighter.


If your keet looks different try to post a pic and I can probably tell you what you hatched.

OMG those are Beautiful!!!!!!

 

[R2elk]

ok, thanks. so she had 9 black and the 4 blue ones are self blue turkeys ?

For the blue ones to be self blues, she would have had to have been mated to a blue slate tom. Since your toms are royal palms they have to be blue versions of the blue slate/royal palm cross. There are two different blue possibilities there. From my understanding one of those possibilities if mated back to a royal palm tom can produce a blue palm.

 

[itsjustme]

I have a few more questions. 1. Is it normal for guineas to lay eggs in random places? This is their 1st breeding season. But I was walking through the back yard today and just laying right there in the open was an egg. Then another. It looked like easter. My other question is will guineas lay all year round or just in the spring? And my last question for now. Can I train them to lay in a certain area? They free range all the time.

 

[amberr]

I had 10, one died Saturday night looks like suffocated between the feed dish and floor/side or was keet on the bottom, no signs of injury or illness. We have since moved the food dish out a few inches from edge of playpen. I free feed turkey starter and give them a small dish of FF chick started twice a day, I didn't have another container to FF the turkey starter, but they seem to like to scratch around for the dry feed anyway. My chicks are doing good too they are in a separate trough brooder. They will be sharing a coop and run eventually so I'm going to start introducing them to each other next week. Everyone else is doing great, week old now and getting feathers, I put a bunny house in with them that they love as you can see below.

 

[PeepsCA]

Sorry you lost a keet Amberr. Some just hatch with a suicide wish... and if there is a way they can end their lives in the brooder, they will.

I see 2 other dangers in your brooder that you may want to correct...

Newspaper is too slippery for keets and should not be used as bedding. They can slip and injure their legs (they can stretch/wobble out their hip and hock joints and end up with splayed legs or slipped tendons), and then you will be dealing with fixing leg issues, or worst case scenario putting a keet down. I'd cover those newspapers with well textured paper towels, old towels with no loose strings, rubberized shelf liner or coarse straw ASAP (I do not recommend shavings at this age, they will eat them).

Also, the rim of the waterer you are using is huge and deep, it needs to have a good layer of clean marbles or stones in it to prevent them from falling in, drowning, or getting soaked and cold (they can very quickly die when wet and chilled).