First time Guinea Mom and Dad raising keets!

[BennieAnTheJets]

About day 7 now: all 6 keets and mom and dad still doing great.

Keets are growing like weeds - parents still very good parents!

Got 3 Lavender and 1 Buff Dundotte in the brooder now from the eggs she abandoned after the first 6 hatched. One just hatched today. Those will be re-homed - our coop is more than full now!

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Next week: 2 RIP due to the black snake getting in (beats me how, I even put hardwire cloth on the floor to enclose the whole thing - open door during day or roof ridge vent on the prebuilt, connected coop??) and we have a family of 6 - mom, pop, and 4 keets!

First outings from their pen to the enclosed run: proud papa... and keets growing up.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Next week: 2 RIP due to the black snake getting in (beats me how, I even put hardwire cloth on the floor to enclose the whole thing - open door during day or roof ridge vent on the prebuilt, connected coop??) and we have a family of 6 - mom, pop, and 4 keets!

First outings from their pen to the enclosed run: proud papa... and keets growing up.

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Look at how big they are getting!!! How old are they now? Here’s a pic of Welch with chicks in the run. They are two weeks old now. Very fun. Is your guinea family out with the rest of the flock or still separate?

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Look at how big they are getting!!! How old are they now? Here’s a pic of Welch with chicks in the run. They are two weeks old now. Very fun. Is your guinea family out with the rest of the flock or still separate?

I see 7!! Wonderful! What color is Welch? She is gorgeous! Are some of the babies her color?

Ours are still separate from the flock. I think they are also about 2 weeks now but maybe I lost track a little. Dad made one round outside the run before coming back in today - with tilted head, moving sideways, telling everyone off!

I am a little worried about integrating them. Brought them some greens. The rest of the flock may attack them? They already killed one keet that crawled under the wall into the wrong pen really early on - so awful!

How do you let them together? One bad peck and there could be a bad injury, no?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I see 7!! Wonderful! What color is Welch? She is gorgeous! Are some of the babies her color?

Ours are still separate from the flock. I think they are also about 2 weeks now but maybe I lost track a little. Dad made one round outside the run before coming back in today - with tilted head, moving sideways, telling everyone off!

I am a little worried about integrating them. Brought them some greens. The rest of the flock may attack them? They already killed one keet that crawled under the wall into the wrong pen really early on - so awful!

How do you let them together? One bad peck and there could be a bad injury, no?

Welch is a royal purple. She didn’t hatch our eggs but eggs from a neighboring farm, where they have lots of white, slate, and pastel birds. “Her” keets are pearl grey, pied pearl grey, white, and pastel. She had 14 eggs but was afraid of the hatching eggs and ended up shrink wrapping some and crushing some, so she successfully hatched 7 keets and we saved one more and sold it.

Hatching in a communal nest has been stressful, but it does mean that the rest of the flock has already accepted the keets. Matriarch hen Lemon Pie had several bonding episodes with the keets when they were 3 days old, which was really cool. That was when Welch was willing to let select guineas get close to the keets, as she had been aggressively driving off all guineas when they entered the coop. I was surprised that she could do that, as she’s pretty low ranking. Lemon Pie slipped in and “cuddled” the keets while making a “brrrrrrr” call for several mornings, then Welch got less nervous about letting the flock in. When a keet escaped the run and I had to catch it, the other adult guineas attacked me as I was trying to grab the keet, so they are really treating them like flock members. The only ones that Welch still chases off are the lone 6 week old keet and the Bruiser trio that is its own very separate subflock. At this point, Welch and keets spend the morning with the flock in the coop and run, we let the rest of the flock out to feed range in the afternoon, then Welch goes nutty all afternoon confined in the coop/run. Actually she’s not that bad but she desperately wants to join the flock. I let the earlier group of keets out with parents at 2 weeks but I’m not sure when to let Welch and her brood out... Her keets are not as good at staying with her.

Have your seen the thread from @Unicornlife3316 ? Momma guinea and keets were separated for six weeks then integrated with the flock.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guinea-keets-5-5-weeks.1387200/

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Another update: keets are able to fly now and proudly roosting high with momma. Parents are getting a little antsy to go out but I still keep them in the run. Keets are learning to come home for millet and meal worms when they need to go back to their pen when the others are coming home from free ranging. Had to share this photo I was lucky to snap with mom and three youngsters and little Chance peeking out from under the wing to see what was going on out there.

The Hurricane brought lots of rain up the coast - not too bad for us, but the keet pen started to flood, so I built up the floor with bricks and sand every day a bit more, to keep them out of the wet. (last photo)

 

[My2butterflies]

Another update: keets are able to fly now and proudly roosting high with momma. Parents are getting a little antsy to go out but I still keep them in the run. Keets are learning to come home for millet and meal worms when they need to go back to their pen when the others are coming home from free ranging. Had to share this photo I was lucky to snap with mom and three youngsters and little Chance peeking out from under the wing to see what was going on our there.

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So adorable That is a great picture! I’d frame it

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Another update: keets are able to fly now and proudly roosting high with momma. Parents are getting a little antsy to go out but I still keep them in the run. Keets are learning to come home for millet and meal worms when they need to go back to their pen when the others are coming home from free ranging. Had to share this photo I was lucky to snap with mom and three youngsters and little Chance peeking out from under the wing to see what was going on out there.

The Hurricane brought lots of rain up the coast - not too bad for us, but the keet pen started to flood, so I built up the floor with bricks and sand every day a bit more, to keep them out of the wet. (last photo)

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Very cute! I love the peeking out from Mom shot! Our keets are almost 3 weeks old ld and just went out free ranging for the first time with mom, Welch, yesterday. It was only for a few hours and one of us followed the whole time, which did not amuse Welch! No roosting for our keets just yet!

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Though they are getting plenty big now, three of them want to sleep on their own but little Chancey still wants to tuck under momma's wing at night.

She amuses her little one with a half-hearted gesture (seen below) sometimes and sometimes the little one pushes under the wing head first, trying to cuddle and momma hops off the roost in the other direction, saying: meh.

If you remember Chance was the keet that I got to smuggle in three days after the others had hatched and s/he emerged in the incubator where the other rescued eggs were still developing. Gave away 6 more keets that hatched later but Chance stayed with Mom and Dad and was accepted by them ok.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Going out now - meeting the flock - here, too - I guess it's that time of year...