3-month old Guinea keet is tiny!

Well, could be a pituitary problem, or thyroid, something hormonal/endocrine system based that's gone wrong or is deficient.

For a while last year, there were many threads on BYC about chicks not growing. They were remaining as chicks even at 6 months and over. Naturally they didn't last much longer, that's a serious fault; many had even remained in down, improperly feathered. That's the negative theory I guess...

But there's a slight possibility your little fella is a bantam, a dwarf for whatever reason. Perhaps heritable and non fatal, but who knows yet? I haven't heard of bantam or dwarf guineas but there's that sort of genetic capacity in everything, so wouldn't be surprised if sooner or later it is found in them too. It sure is tiny.

Best wishes.

 

That sounds like you've found a likely pattern there. Some breed types or color types are known to be linked to dwarfism in chooks etc, if you regularly get runts of a certain color then you may have something similar. Might be worth discussing this with guinea breeders, there's a slight chance you could have something economically viable there if you can standardize the genetics responsible, provided they're not overly fatal (since when has that stopped dwarf breeds from being established, though?).

At this rate sounds like a certain coloration is perhaps linked to a deficit in growth hormone or something like that, but then it all balances out. (Around puberty?)

Best wishes.

 

Will be interesting to see how it goes.

Best wishes with it.

 

Good to hear. Hope it continues well.