Breeding Guineas - what if they are related?

[2ndTink]

Getting the cart slightly ahead if the horse here as we don't even know our keet's genders yet, but we were figuring on hatching out some eggs when the time comes. Since we got these at a sale and don't know if they are related, or full siblings or half siblings, is it a bad idea to hatch out the future potential eggs?

I read some basic information on Guinea genes, but since both the pearls and lavenders could have come from the same parents if they were pearl but carried the lavender recessive gene. I also noticed a couple have white flight feathers but not all of them do.

 

[R2elk]

Getting the cart slightly ahead if the horse here as we don't even know our keet's genders yet, but we were figuring on hatching out some eggs when the time comes. Since we got these at a sale and don't know if they are related, or full siblings or half siblings, is it a bad idea to hatch out the future potential eggs?

I read some basic information on Guinea genes, but since both the pearls and lavenders could have come from the same parents if they were pearl but carried the lavender recessive gene. I also noticed a couple have white flight feathers but not all of them do.

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Hatch out the eggs, if they start showing defects that could come from inbreeding, bring in more guineas from a different source. It is likely they will be fine.

 

[2ndTink]

Hatch out the eggs, if they start showing defects that could come from inbreeding, bring in more guineas from a different source. It is likely they will be fine.

Ok, that makes sense. But if they hatch out with extra toes or two heads

Thanks for answering again!

 

[My2butterflies]

I bought all my keets at the same time so I’m sure they are related. All 17 keets hatched this year were/are normal. No noticeable deformities anyway. I had an awful fertility rate and rough hatches. The rough hatches I think are my fault due to inexperience and humidity that wasn’t stable. The fertility I’m not sure. This was their first breeding season.
I don’t have plans to hatch more next year. I’ll focus on hatching eggs from my lavenders, Royal purples, and whites. Again, bought those all from the same hatchery so siblings among them I’m sure is possible within the same color type.

Anyway, here are most of my keets hatched this year.

Oh, I did have one keet that needed leg braces for a couple days. After that it was good as new

 

[sunnie7]

I’m pretty sure the original flock came from breeding within the same flock and since then I’ve hatched from my flock twice! Great hatches I had 2 splayed legs but with how many I hatched I think that’s normal for guineas. Wrapped them for 4 days fine! I do have one little odd ball that is not at all growing at the same rate as others but it’s still thriving and is now free ranging with the flocks and I think starting to catch up.

 

[R2elk]

Ok, that makes sense. But if they hatch out with extra toes or two heads

Thanks for answering again!

My guineas are close enough related that I actually know their color genetics including the hidden recessive genes. There is sometimes poor fertility (possibly due to too few males to females) and often failure to hatch late in incubation. I did find one cross beak in a failure to hatch.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Getting the cart slightly ahead if the horse here as we don't even know our keet's genders yet, but we were figuring on hatching out some eggs when the time comes. Since we got these at a sale and don't know if they are related, or full siblings or half siblings, is it a bad idea to hatch out the future potential eggs?

I read some basic information on Guinea genes, but since both the pearls and lavenders could have come from the same parents if they were pearl but carried the lavender recessive gene. I also noticed a couple have white flight feathers but not all of them do.

View attachment 2331186View attachment 2331190

I have been adding eggs/keets from another breeder that breeds colors I don’t have. In addition to more colors, my goal was to increase genetic diversity since we sell keets and hatching eggs. Last year, I added 5 birds from this other farm but lost 2 and the remaining 3 all bred together! No increase in genetic diversity for us! I just found this so ironic because I brooded those young keets with keets hatched from our birds. They still split off into their original origin groups! This year we’re adding more keets from that farm, and I guess they will probably choose to breed with each other again. At any rate, I haven’t seen problems in our incubated keets that I thought were attributable to inbreeding...

 

[R2elk]

I have been adding eggs/keets from another breeder that breeds colors I don’t have. In addition to more colors, my goal was to increase genetic diversity since we sell keets and hatching eggs. Last year, I added 5 birds from this other farm but lost 2 and the remaining 3 all bred together! No increase in genetic diversity for us! I just found this so ironic because I brooded those young keets with keets hatched from our birds. They still split off into their original origin groups! This year we’re adding more keets from that farm, and I guess they will probably choose to breed with each other again. At any rate, I haven’t seen problems in our incubated keets that I thought were attributable to inbreeding...

It really isn't surprising. I have seen time and time again where birds exhibit a strong desire for segregation. When I had Bourbon Red, Royal Palm and Blue Slate turkeys at the same time, they all stayed with their own kind even though they were all being kept together. Of course their segregation was not complete during breeding season as the dominant tom would try to breed all of the different hens (just like a typical guy).