At what age do they.....

[WestKnollAmy]

Oh wise group of Guinea owners, I know you must have the answers all in your hard drive saved to show me an answer to this crazy question......
At what age do their faces and heads start to change? Did I miss that in all my reading materiel? Is there anywhere or anyone that shows photos of the aging process for the first 6-8 months of a Guinea's life?

Mine are 5 weeks old and I got more today from the original hatch when I told the owner of the eggs (I got half the hatch for using my time and incubator) I needed more keets. So I am looking at how totally adorable these babies are and I still get the chance to scoop up one of mine and love on it a bit. (Gosh, they sure can scream! That one must be a boy!

) And I was just wondering when do my adorable cute headed little birds turn into masked comedian? DH calls them buzzard heads but I think they look like clown faces all in make up and cute little outfits.

 

[PeepsCA]

Sorta depends on the weather/summer temps, and if they are going thru a molt or not, but my 4-5 month old Guineas usually all have their adult features at that point... complete with adult plumage, matured brightly colored wattles and the clown makeup job

At 6-8 weeks they start loosing head and neck fluff and go thru really fugly stage, makes you almost wonder if they have mites or mange... but have no fear, they DO eventually grow out of it

 

[perchie.girl]

Last week my eight week olds (at the time) had stripes on their heads still but there was lots of pinkish flesh showing through. Today My nine week olds have a very good start on white skin and those backwards pointing feathers that look like hair on their necks. Oh oh oh.... Annnd some of them are getting a bluish tint to their white skin.... very very pretty. My lavender went from totally Lavender to having a lavender with beautiful pearl spots and a dark dark charcoal neck..... Where did the heck did those come from between last week and this week.....?

And from about two or three weeks I have known I had one female. Today when she started Buck Wheating I heard a second voice.... Buck Wheating at the same time.... a little lower in volume. Both are pearls and both are taller than the rest.

I have been sitting listening and observing my little ones all thirty of them... Sadly I lost three total.... Any way I am hearing within their vocalizations several Double peeps. Where everone else is just peeping there are several that are PeepPeeping.... My guess is early vocal patterns that will change to a Buck Wheat. Out of thirty I am hearing at least ten voices that are PeepPeeping. I have to sit again and listen tomorrow. They are what .... a Month old now? Yep I looked at my original post.

 

[PeepsCA]

Uh oh

... from 33, down to 30

Hopefully no more losses from here on out

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
The first one I believe got caught between the perch leg and the wall of the tub. The other two were from this disaster.... It was a combination the close quarters in the tub and some "help" from mom.

One day when I was worn out from the trip up to the house I asked her to give the keets the water container I had already prepared. It was about a gallon. She called me the next day and asked me why the lid kept falling off the waterer..... She said she had spilled it a couple of times getting it into the tub. That was when she told me another two Keets had died. What I didn't know is she had spilled not just some but she had spilled all of one gallon and part of another into that tub. And even though she saw screw threads she had tried to shove the base on... And she didnt tell me till the next morning.

I had to take emergency action because all the keets were wet. they absolutely had to go into a new brooder I dumped dry shavings in a very deep layer. Then I worked non stop to make the new brooder that afternoon and transferred them that evening. thank goodness the top layer of shavings had stayed dry. My son and I scooped up the keets into a pillow case and moved them to the new brooder. I inspected each bottom to make sure the plumbing was good. And outside of having feathers that felt they had been wet but were dry now the remaining 30 were in good shape. They have been in the new cage now one and a half weeks and are robust and growing like weeds.

I take the blame because it should have been me to care for the little guys.

I let too many things derail me. So now they have 48 by 40 by 40 cage with an automatic waterer filled from a five gallon reservoir. Two sets of free standing perches, and all the food and dry bedding they need. I have forgiven my mom and she has stopped volunteering to "help" me out. I haven't forgiven myself though. I wanna go home now... been away from it for too long.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Okay, so only a few more weeks of cute baby head and then on to the wild jungle look of grown keets, where I am sure I will not want to kiss and cuddle their faces anymore. Won't they be happy?

Thank you for the info.

 

[PeepsCA]

perchie.girl :

The first one I believe got caught between the perch leg and the wall of the tub. The other two were from this disaster.... It was a combination the close quarters in the tub and some "help" from mom.

Aww bummer, don't beat yourself up tho, things/crap/accidents happen. We learn from the mistakes and move on. Keets, especially that many at once are definitely a daily learning experience and keep you on your toes every second. Sounds like you've got a bombproof set-up for them now tho

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Just enjoy the little fuzzballs while you can..... LOL. I am continually amazed at how quickly they grow up....


I apologize for my long OT post.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Gosh, I don't mind a bit. Every sentence I read teaches me a bit more.