feeding guinea keets running with moma

[bigdawg]

i have a single guinea who laid 16 eggs before sitting. wed is hatch day and i have count 9 little heads poking out from under her.(yea). now how do i put out food for the keets when they pen up at night with the other chickens. i dont know if guinea moma will even take them to the coop. i am going to put feed and a waterer next to here nest. any other ideas.

 

[robin416]

You've got a couple of problems. First is having those keets and the mother out in the open. It won't take long for predators to find them. The second problem is if you do get them in the coop the mother is liable to go after chickens big time. There is nothing like a Guinea mother when dealing with what she perceives as a threat to her keets. My Guinea mothers is constantly trying to go after my two month old keets in a pen in my main coop. Never mind what would happen if one of my chickens wanders in while she's being this protective.

 

[ColbyNTX]

If you let her free range with them then you will most likely have fewer and fewer keets each day. Guinea hens are protective but stupid and will run off and leave some behind day by day for about a week until you have no keets. This is the norm for guineas. One of my neighbors guineas hatched and raised 17 keets last year but that was a rare thing.

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
Good points here, we loose most keeks left with the momma in the fields to snakes.

We put our momma guinea and keets in the brood area she can fly out but the keets can't she will stay by them and will get back in with them when she remembers how to get back in with them

,by time they can fly out on their own they are free to go but they allways have stayed close to the roosting area till they venture out with the adults.

Good luck with your babies.

 

[darkmatter]

I've never had a Guinea Mother hen successfully raise her keets. They all die here from hyperthermia from the morning dew in the grass. I've had a Chicken Mother hen successfully raise keets from substituted eggs. My best success has been to raid the Guinea nests (when I can find them) then incubate the eggs and brood them in the house basement for 4 weeks then place them in an introduction cage for a couple weeks in the coop before opening the cage and allowing intermingle.

P.S. I usaully place a few chicken eggs into the incubator 7 days after starting the Guinea eggs in order to have some chicks to raise with the keets to help blend the flock.

 

[robin416]

Quote:
Good points here, we loose most keeks left with the momma in the fields to snakes.

We put our momma guinea and keets in the brood area she can fly out but the keets can't she will stay by them and will get back in with them when she remembers how to get back in with them

,by time they can fly out on their own they are free to go but they allways have stayed close to the roosting area till they venture out with the adults.

Good luck with your babies.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e149/zazousemoon206/farm/2.jpg

I just stole your idea, sort of. Mine are in the main Guinea coop so I just ran a foot and a half wire barrier in one area. Mom & Dad can get out but the keets are secure.

 

[bigdawg]

today is day three, and mom amd pop guinea are doing a wonderful job careing for the little keets. fingers crossed they all make it.

 

[chickensrfood]

I have always heard horror stories about how bad the guineas are at being parents. I have seen the opposite and the guineas would be brooding the chicks during the early morning hours not forcing them through wet grass.

 

[zazouse]

Mabe in some places they can but it is almost 10 am here and the grass is still wet, My guineas get up and moving at the crack of dawn.

Snakes are an even bigger problem, they can just sit and wait for the keet to happen by and it is gone.

 

[robin416]

Quote:
It appears that if the father shares in the keet raising things work out better. But if the hen is raising on her own she becomes obsessed with rejoining the flock and ignores the keets.

My hen does not brood her keets once the sun is up. So if the out side temps won't support the keets' temperature needs then problems do crop up.