Guinea Colors - Breeding

[R2elk]

Keet 1
There are two keets that look like this. This one is significantly smaller than ALL the others.

That particular one has the wing feather color of a Royal Purple and the head markings of a Royal Purple. The white on its face extends high enough that it may actually be a Pied Royal Purple. You will just have to wait and see how it turns out. If it is a Pied Royal Purple, it should end up very pretty.

 

[Leaguinea]

The one on the left is a Pearl Gray and the one on the right is a Royal Purple.

Okay so my 3 cocks all look like Royal Purple's, Hens are 1 white, 1 royal purple and I had a Lavender (my favorite) that a weasel killed while she was setting her nest. who do you suppose the Pearl Gray baby is from?

 

[R2elk]

Okay so my 3 cocks all look like Royal Purple's, Hens are 1 white, 1 royal purple and I had a Lavender (my favorite) that a weasel killed while she was setting her nest. who do you suppose the Pearl Gray baby is from?

Without seeing pics of the adults, I could not say. I do know of previous posters that were sold Pearl Gray guineas as being Royal Purples. Theoretically if you only have adults that are displaying recessive colors (anything other than Pearl Gray) you should not be able to produce any Pearl Gray offspring. But since the white color gene is located in a different place than the other color genes it is possible for a White guinea to carry a dominant color gene such as Pearl Gray without that dominant color gene being expressed.

 

[ChiefSuperFly]

Keet 2

I find this one to have odd markings on its head. I looked at the website you posted pics from and it was talking about indications to pearling. Also after looking at the adult chart she had either bronze or copper for sure! I was jealous of her variety!

 

[ChiefSuperFly]

Elk your the guinea master! I'm curious as to how I feel about giving guineas scratch? I had an old timer tell me it will slow down their laying and cause them to not start laying til later than average

 

[R2elk]

Keet 2

I find this one to have odd markings on its head. I looked at the website you posted pics from and it was talking about indications to pearling. Also after looking at the adult chart she had either bronze or copper for sure! I was jealous of her variety!

I noticed that one and it is slightly different. For it to be a Pearl Gray it should have a thin stripe on the outside of that broad center stripe. It seems to have Pearl Gray markings everywhere else. Guineas are evolving and do on occasion have genetic color mutations. You will just have to wait until it matures to see what kind of dotting it ends up with.

 

[R2elk]

Elk your the guinea master! I'm curious as to how I feel about giving guineas scratch? I had an old timer tell me it will slow down their laying and cause them to not start laying til later than average

I do not give my guineas any scratch or any kind of treats. Scratch was designed to throw on the ground to get chickens digging around and picking up grit. Scratch as far as guineas go should be considered only as a treat and as such should be limited to no more than 10% of their total diet. As a treat it can be used as a training aid.

My training aid is long sticks to give the impression that I have a much longer reach and I use them to herd the guineas where I want them to go. Guineas are capable of being trained to give certain responses after repeated conditioning such as coming to a bell or a specific call to receive their treats.

 

[ChiefSuperFly]

When she was fishing them out of the brooder She would look at their head and say yep this is chocolate. There are several that look like this lil guy- I'm eager! By the way I was the kid that snooped all over the house before Christmas...!

 

[R2elk]

When she was fishing them out of the brooder She would look at their head and say yep this is chocolate. There are several that look like this lil guy- I'm eager! By the way I was the kid that snooped all over the house before Christmas...!

She was looking for the squiggly lines on the top of their heads. Personally I have a really hard time telling newly hatched Chocolate and Royal Purple keets and then there are Bronze keets that are just a little darker than the Royal Purples.

 

[Krazyquilts]

Not necessarily. When the youngster that you produce start breeding with each other all the hidden color genes will start showing up. The reason the first generation will be pearls is because pearl gray is the dominant color. But many of those offspring will only have one pearl gray gene plus at least one other recessive color gene. The second generation may contain all kinds of surprises even ones that you don't expect.

I never expected to get Royal Purple keets from a Coral Blue hen mated to a Chocolate cock but that is what I got. The next generation also produced some Violet keets from the Royal Purple hen mating with the Powder Blue cock.

Good luck.

Cool! I'd love to see pics.