Are Guinea Hens good mother’s?

[Cyprus]

I’ll just scrap that particular grant application then. Thanks for the call to reality! Wait a minute! Maybe I just need a South African collaborator...

You will need an import permit and your collaborator will need an export permit.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

You will need an import permit and your collaborator will need an export permit.

Not if this (purely hypothetical) study was performed in S Africa...

 

[Cyprus]

Not if this (purely hypothetical) study was performed in S Africa...

Good luck. I pray the political climate is better by the time this purely hypothetical study is conducted.

 

[perchie.girl]

Ha! You have me designing experiments in my head now, R2Elk! We need 20 separate, identical pens not in view or sound of one another. Then we can hatch 100 wild Guinea eggs and 100 domestic eggs (to avoid the potential confounding effect of parental rearing). Then we house 10 guineas in each pen, 5 male and 5 female, from each group. Provide nest boxes and alternate laying areas. Record laying output, hen broodiness, parental involvement, weight gain and mortality of keets... Actually, on typing this and considering those articles referenced above (considerable agonistic behavior between cocks in wild guineas, distances described in terms of hectares), I’d further hypothesize that my study design would be problematic. My guess would be that we’ve also selected for other traits not yet accounted for, like the ability to bear confinement and male tolerance of a high density of guinea cocks...

There is actually a study that examined genetic differences in wild and domestic guineas. What I found most interesting about this paper, was that there was greater genetic diversity within the Wild guineas than within the domesticated ones, reducing the functional population size of domesticated guineas. This finding suggests to me that there may be a narrow set of genes consistent with domestication of this species (given the proximity of wild guineas in this study...). A genetic bottleneck that prohibited interbreeding would be an alternative explanation.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1755-0998.13017

Anyway, I’m really not trying to stir things up or contribute to any feuds. I’m just genuinely interested in the effects of nature versus (or combined with) nurture in controlling setting and brooding behavior in chickens in guineas, as I’ve been observing, reading about, and puzzling over those while observing and manipulating our own flocks this past summer!

Love it... But you have to split that study into one that has equal amount of males to females... In the wild males will actually warm the keets up... Even the Bachelor males will take on parenting duties.

YOu have to remember Guineas are not chickens they are even more flock oriented... They came from an area of dried scrub just like where my house.... They lay in bare scrapse hidden in the underbrush or dead fall. And have not been domesticated for thousands of years like chickens have.

Comparing them to chickens is not fair to either. Orignally Chickens came from Jungles of india and china... Even their communication is designed to speak through forrests... Rooster call Egg song....

Best to incubate for refills.... Someone talked me down from using broody hens...

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

There is actually a study that examined genetic differences in wild and domestic guineas. What I found most interesting about this paper, was that there was greater genetic diversity within the Wild guineas than within the domesticated ones, reducing the functional population size of domesticated guineas. This finding suggests to me that there may be a narrow set of genes consistent with domestication of this species (given the proximity of wild guineas in this study...). A genetic bottleneck that prohibited interbreeding would be an alternative explanation.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1755-0998.13017

I love Wiley.... used to get email from them on a regular basis.... Lots of stuff that makes you go ....Hmmmm...

deb

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Love it... But you have to split that study into one that has equal amount of males to females... In the wild males will actually warm the keets

Yes, I’m curious as to whether brooding with a paired male would increase the chances of success!

YOu have to remember Guineas are not chickens they are even more flock oriented... They came from an area of dried scrub just like where my house.... They lay in bare scrapse hidden in the underbrush or dead fall. And have not been domesticated for thousands of years like chickens have.

I’ve read that statement multiple times before, that Guineafowl were only recently domesticated. However, Wikipedia claims 500 BC and the Wiley paper above cites 2,000 years ago as the time of Guineafowl domestication. So, apparently they have indeed been domesticated for thousands of years. Not as long as chickens, but long enough for domestication to have changed the genetic makeup of the birds as compared to their wild counterparts, as the Wiley article above found.

 

[blackfishfin]

View attachment 1896025
I found a guinea nest for the first time since adding them to our farm. I’m wondering if I should let her hatch them, I have some room in our incubator for the last batch for 2019. How are they as mothers if I just leave her be with them? Should I just keep an eye on her and grab the keets when they hatch? We live in WI so it’s starting to get cold and damp.

I would personally incubate the eggs. Even if the guinea does successfully hatch them, they are stupid. They'll walk straight through puddles that their babies can't swim in and they rarely take good care of them. I had a friend who had 12 guineas for 6 years, and none of them successfully had chicks. It's not worth the risk, especially if you have room in your incubator.