Can a silkie raise some Keets?

[CrispChooks]

I recently purchased three 8-week-old keets and a few hens at a poultry auction. One of the hens, a Silkie, appears to be broody. She stays pressed up against the divider separating her from the keets, refuses to leave the quarantine coop, and has chosen a spot to settle where I now have to bring her food and water. She’s not aggressive, just very persistent.

Currently, she, two other hens, and the keets are housed in a quarantine coop, with the keets and hens kept separate. Given her behaviour, would it be beneficial to place her with the keets, or are they too old for her to accept them?

 

[R2elk]

I recently purchased three 8-week-old keets and a few hens at a poultry auction. One of the hens, a Silkie, appears to be broody. She stays pressed up against the divider separating her from the keets, refuses to leave the quarantine coop, and has chosen a spot to settle where I now have to bring her food and water. She’s not aggressive, just very persistent.

Currently, she, two other hens, and the keets are housed in a quarantine coop, with the keets and hens kept separate. Given her behavior, would it be beneficial to place her with the keets, or are they too old for her to accept them?

I would not let any chicken raise keets.

The imprinting that would happen to the keets will cause them to lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between them and chickens. As adults they would treat the chickens the same as they treat other guineas.

Guineas have entirely different instincts and behaviors than any other poultry. Chickens do not understand the races and chases and the attacks from behind with the feather pulling and plucking. They also do not understand how to submit in a manner that guineas understand causing the attacks to continue.

I would not keep guiineas with Silkies since they can have vaulted skulls which can make them vulnerable to hard pecks to the head.