color question again.

[kfacres]

Yes, I hatched this keet from my flock. I have had two guineas for just over a year now- selected from my parent's flock. The pearl hen was selected b/c there was just a handful of females to choose from- all pearl. The buff male was selected, for his 'different' color-- than what I have been used to (white, pied, pearl, lavendar).

So yes, I know which guineas are the parent's of this keet, they are my only 2 guineas. No, no pictures of it as a youngster- only in the last 2 weeks have I noticed it is 'different' than the rest.

 

[PeepsCA]

Interesting that a non-pearled keet hatched from a Pearl and a Buff pair, must have some good (hidden recessive) genes in that pool.

Do you remember if the keet was mostly a solid brown color as a baby (no stripes)? Did it have white wings?

 

[kfacres]

Interesting that a non-pearled keet hatched from a Pearl and a Buff pair, must have some good (hidden recessive) genes in that pool.

Do you remember if the keet was mostly a solid brown color as a baby (no stripes)? Did it have white wings?

not really... these were hatched by mom-- and as you can imagine... she was a typical dumb (poor mother) mean (kiill anything) guinea hen... so i didn't put much effort into trying to check her chicks out.

I don't remember there being much difference b/w the buff colored keets-- they all were pretty much the same-- and I didn't really look at them.

You remember seeing pics of my buff male? and my hen is pretty standard pearl.

 

[kfacres]

A little update: the keet is getting close to being full grown now. Still not a single pearl on it, and a very purplish/ grey color. It's appearing to be a female *although I've been wrong a time or 2), and if it is indeed a female, it will be mated back to it's buff dundotte father to see what happens.

The two chocolate keets that I have, are interesting looking to me. not much different than the buff deals, maybe not the pearling on them though. I remember each having two white wing feathers as well...

 

[PeepsCA]

Sounds like it is indeed feathering out as a Violet. Please post some new pics, we would love to see her (hopefully it's a Hen!).

To confirm it's sex you can catch it, separate it from the others in a cage or a crate, (out of sight but within earshot of it's flock) and if it's a Hen it should start buck-wheating, calling to the rest of the flock within a few minutes. It helps if it can't see you as well, that way separation anxiety helps cause the bird to start calling to the flock that much quicker. If after 15-20 minutes it does not make the 2 syllable buck-wheat call you probably have a male... this method is usually fail proof for me, especially with birds this age.

 

[kfacres]

Sounds like it is indeed feathering out as a Violet. Please post some new pics, we would love to see her (hopefully it's a Hen!).

To confirm it's sex you can catch it, separate it from the others in a cage or a crate, (out of sight but within earshot of it's flock) and if it's a Hen it should start buck-wheating, calling to the rest of the flock within a few minutes. It helps if it can't see you as well, that way separation anxiety helps cause the bird to start calling to the flock that much quicker. If after 15-20 minutes it does not make the 2 syllable buck-wheat call you probably have a male... this method is usually fail proof for me, especially with birds this age.

physically, she looks like a hen, actually 8 of the 10 in that batch did.

I'll see what I can do, but it's sounding like I have something pretty different. I've still got my original pair, and so hopefully, I can make more like this-- as a plus, if I mate this one back to her sire= then that should yield me good results as well.

I'll try and picture the two 'chocolates' as well, we'll see what they really are.

 

[kfacres]

I have some new pics-- but dangit, keep forgetting them when i've got time to post around on here.

My 'chocolates' are goofy looking birds. partially pearled, just a touch darker brown than my buffs, who are just a touch darker than dirty white. The chocolates seem to have some dark and light feathers mixed together.

My breeding season this year, should be interesting. Only one male on the place, since my 'choco' both turned out to be hens. throw in the pearl mother of the violet, the violet, and one full sister to the violet who's buff... and that's the flock for 2013

 

[PeepsCA]

I have some new pics-- but dangit, keep forgetting them when i've got time to post around on here.

My 'chocolates' are goofy looking birds. partially pearled, just a touch darker brown than my buffs, who are just a touch darker than dirty white. The chocolates seem to have some dark and light feathers mixed together.

My breeding season this year, should be interesting. Only one male on the place, since my 'choco' both turned out to be hens. throw in the pearl mother of the violet, the violet, and one full sister to the violet who's buff... and that's the flock for 2013

Sounds like you have Blondes then, not Chocolates. Blonde is the shade in between Chocolate and Buff.
Looking fwd to pics!

 

[kfacres]

Maybe a bit overboard on the pictures, but this is my guinea flock. In one pen is a pair of buffs (my original male), and in the other pen is the pearl hen (my original female), the lavendar female, and the two 'chocolates'. The buff (who's just a touch darker than my buff male), and the violet were hatched here last summer. The two "chocolates' were also hatched here, but I had someone give me a bunch of hatching eggs to do.

I have gotten rid of all the other young birds hatched last summer, about 2/3 were buff, and the remainder pearl. The lavendar was the only off color hatched.

So, are they chocolate?

 

[PeepsCA]

Thanks for all the pics! We love pics, so I'm sure no one will complain, lol.

As for your "Chocolates", their color looks diluted to me... in my flocks that would be what I call Blonde. Most people don't know about the Blonde color or what Chocolate really looks like, so that color is considered as Chocolate by a lot of backyard breeders and a lot of people are selling birds that color as Chocolate. But I have done a lot of digging for info in regards to the color Chocolate in Guinea Fowl since I hatched my first ones back in 2010, and Chocolate is not supposed to be diluted at all. It should be a deeper brown color, like the base color that a Brown Guinea has. (A Chocolate is basically the partially-pearled version of a Brown, just like a Royal Purple is basically the partially-pearled version of a Pearl Grey).

Also, your "Buffs"... are fully pearled, so they are actually Buff Dundottes. Hens are usually always darker than the males. She almost looks Cinnamon, going by the color in the flank area.

Your "Violet" feathered out light and looks more like a Slate in those pics. Violets should have a dark base color same as the Royal Purples, but with no pearling at all. Slates are more of a lighter grey color (kind of steel grey). That's why I was questioning what that keet's down looked like while back... both colors can look a little similar when they've grown their first set of feathers (you didn't have pics pf it before it grew feather), but there are differences in the coloring of the down that indicate what color they are... Slates are a dark brown color over most of their body, Violets have a more copper/rust color on their body that blends into a darker coppery/rusty brown color on head, and they have white wings.

Your hatches will definitely be interesting. Hope you have a great hatching season and hatch some new to you colors (that's my favorite part about hatching season!).