Can you tel boys from girls???

[Chicken5555]

I am a total newbie when in the world of guineas and this may sound like a dumb question, but is there any way to tell the boys a nd girls apart from each other??? I have four keets that (I'm guessing) are 6-8 weeks old. The picture is just for fun. two are pied and two are, I think, pearl.

 

[Pyxis]

You can tell them apart by the sounds they make Males can only make an "ack ack ack" sound. Females can make that sound and also one that's two toned and sounds like "buckwheat". They generally start to make that noise at around 12 weeks.

 

[Chicken5555]

@Pyxis Thank you for a very fast answer!

 

[Chicken5555]

Is the pied color caused by a (relatively) simple dominant/recessive inheritance rule? or are there a lot of genes involved?

 

[Pyxis]

Is the pied color caused by a (relatively) simple dominant/recessive inheritance rule? or are there a lot of genes involved?

Pretty simple - my understanding is that if you breed a white bird to a solid colored bird, all the babies are pied. Pied to solid, you get half pied and half solid. Pied to pied, you get 50% pied, 25% white, and 25% solid.

 

[Chicken5555]

Pretty simple - my understanding is that if you breed a white bird to a solid colored bird, all the babies are pied. Pied to solid, you get half pied and half solid. Pied to pied, you get 50% pied, 25% white, and 25% solid.

Great! thank you again.

Sounds like it's the same inheritance rule as blue/black/splash in chickens.

 

[R2elk]

Great! thank you again.

Sounds like it's the same inheritance rule as blue/black/splash in chickens.

No it is not the same inheritance rule as blue/black/splash in chickens.

In guineas (at least in the U.S.) the white color gene is located in a different site than are the other color genes. If the guinea has one white color gene, it will be a pied guinea with the non white area being colored by the dominant color gene that the guinea has or the recessive color gene if there is no dominant color gene.

If the guinea has 2 white color genes it will be white irregardless of any other color genes it has.

It also affects the dotting genes since there is no dotting on a white guinea.

@Pyxis is correct about the breeding results.

 

[Chicken5555]

@R2elk oh, I see. Thank you for clarifying that for me.

 

[GlennLee]

I have a flock of 15 French Guineas - 12 weeks old. One of my females started in on the "buckwheat" at 5 weeks. This is my first time with Guineas - actually, birds of any kind, but I've spent a lot of time just watching them and trying to learn all that I can.

Early on, I noticed physical differences between the males and females, but wasn't sure I was accurate until they matured. Even at a few weeks old, the females had slimmer necks; the males had thicker necks with more neck feathers coming out in a whirl. From their side profiles, the males looked more like a vulture. The males started growing their wattles and helmets earlier than the females; now the males' wattles are larger than the females' and they jiggle more when walking, eating or drinking. The females' waddles are smaller and fit closer to their faces - less movement.

I'm not sure if you will notice these same differences with yours. It will be interesting to see if you do. From your picture, it looks to me like the Pearl farthest to the right might be a male and the Pearl standing up higher and in back of it, a female. Let me know if my observation ends up being accurate.

Have fun!

 

[Chicken5555]

Fascinating!!! I'll see if I can tell any differences. Thank you for sharing your observations.