Guinea fowl pairing: Must they be of the same breed?

[Eric1980]

Hello. I ask this question because I currently own two guinea hens(pied and pearl) who live along side my flock of 14 chickens(including one Black Australorp roo), and late Summer this year('14), I attempted to purchase a guinea cock(or two) for my girls at a nearby swap meet. The small problem was that of the few sales of guinea fowl that were offered were either young and unsexed or were the ones who were easily identified as "cocks/roos", but were only offered in PAIRS. One local lady selling the pairs was attemptin to educate me(and I claim minimal knowledge on guinea fowl - mainly knowledgeable on chickens) on "pairing" guineas, that if I brought home a roo of another breed/color opposed to my pied or pearl, and that if they bred fertile eggs, I would have a "poor hatch". Is this true? Should I pair up exactly, and can one cock/roo pair with two hens, or should I separately pair a pied w/pied and pearl w/pearl?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[chasiekitten12]

Does not matter. You may end up with a mixed breed though.

 

[R2elk]

Hello. I ask this question because I currently own two guinea hens(pied and pearl) who live along side my flock of 14 chickens(including one Black Australorp roo), and late Summer this year('14), I attempted to purchase a guinea cock(or two) for my girls at a nearby swap meet. The small problem was that of the few sales of guinea fowl that were offered were either young and unsexed or were the ones who were easily identified as "cocks/roos", but were only offered in PAIRS. One local lady selling the pairs was attemptin to educate me(and I claim minimal knowledge on guinea fowl - mainly knowledgeable on chickens) on "pairing" guineas, that if I brought home a roo of another breed/color opposed to my pied or pearl, and that if they bred fertile eggs, I would have a "poor hatch". Is this true? Should I pair up exactly, and can one cock/roo pair with two hens, or should I separately pair a pied w/pied and pearl w/pearl?

Thanks,
Eric

Sounds like she was doing her best to sell you a pair even to the extent of making a huge exaggeration.

First other than the exotics and the jumbos, all the rest of the guineas are the same breed. There are different colors of guineas but these are color variations only. A pied and a pearl are the same breed as is a coral blue, a white, a lavender or whatever color they are, they are still all the same breed.

If the cock breeds the hens and the eggs are fertile, you may or may not have a good hatch depending on the incubation procedures used. I had both good hatches and poor hatches this year from fertile eggs. For a brief period I also had fertility problems due to stress that the guineas were going through. I also had a chicken hen that I couldn't break of being broody and gave in and presented her with 10 of those same guinea eggs and 26 days later she hatched 10 keets.

You can bring in a cock of any color to pair with your 2 hens or you can bring in 2 cocks to pair with the 2 hens. You do not have to get a pied cock for your pied hen and you do not have to get a pearl cock for your pearl hen. Choose whichever color that you want from whatever colors that are available to you.

Your pied hen is proof that at some time in her past she has a white guinea and a solid color guinea as past ancestors. When a white guinea mates with a solid color guinea they produce 100% pied guineas. When 2 pied guineas mate, they produce 25% white guineas, 50% pied guineas, and 25% solid color guineas.

 

[Eric1980]

Thank you both. R2elk - That helped alot. I was trying to be...modest about the woman, but I agree - she was trying to make a sell. She was pretty disrespectful to be honest, and tried to "uneducate" me before trying to educate. We she asked what genders I had at home, I replied "Both females." She responds with sarcasm, "Now, who told you that?" Even after I politely gave my sure knowledge of telling hens from cocks, she laughed, said "You don't go by that!", then repeated what I had just told her. So, obviously I was a skeptic and chose to leave empty handed, then ask someone else. Appreciate it!