guinea hen left for 4 weeks and came back tonight with keets!

[Rachel1786]

So our spotted Guinea stopped coming home at night in the beginning of June(probably 4th or 5th ish) I saw her a few times since then but she was never around long, well tonight when I went to put them away (chickens are other Guinea) she was back and being particularly evil, hissing and lunging at me when I was putting food down, i went into the inside room(we have a covered outdoor area as well as an indoor) where the nesting boxes are to collect eggs and when I went back out there where a bunch of babies running around, probably 20 or so, one of them came close to me and I picked it up and when she realized she attacked me(I learned my lesson lol). Anyway, 99% sure our other Guinea is a female also(we've had them 3 ish years and no babies before this) so I'm wondering if she could have bred with a wild bird of some sort(unless someone local has a male Guinea). Here are some pics, any ideas?

 

[R2elk]

So our spotted Guinea stopped coming home at night in the beginning of June(probably 4th or 5th ish) I saw her a few times since then but she was never around long, well tonight when I went to put them away (chickens are other Guinea) she was back and being particularly evil, hissing and lunging at me when I was putting food down, i went into the inside room(we have a covered outdoor area as well as an indoor) where the nesting boxes are to collect eggs and when I went back out there where a bunch of babies running around, probably 20 or so, one of them came close to me and I picked it up and when she realized she attacked me(I learned my lesson lol). Anyway, 99% sure our other Guinea is a female also(we've had them 3 ish years and no babies before this) so I'm wondering if she could have bred with a wild bird of some sort(unless someone local has a male Guinea). Here are some pics, any ideas?

Congratulations! Looks like your pearl gray guinea must have been bred by a pied pearl gray guinea since at least some of the keets look like they are pied pearl gray keets. For that to be the case, the father would have had to have been either a white guinea or a pied pearl gray.

 

[Rachel1786]

Thanks...Mhmm maybe our white one is a male after all, I was doing research last night so I'll have to listen closely today, I thought they both made the "buck-wheat" sound, but maybe not.
Should we let her keep raising them or should we take them(eck I can't imagine trying to get them from her lol) she's been sitting on them to keep them warm, but I'd hate to lose them if she can't keep them warm enough.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks...Mhmm maybe our white one is a male after all, I was doing research last night so I'll have to listen closely today, I thought they both made the "buck-wheat" sound, but maybe not.
Should we let her keep raising them or should we take them(eck I can't imagine trying to get them from her lol) she's been sitting on them to keep them warm, but I'd hate to lose them if she can't keep them warm enough.

If your other guinea is a white one it sure seems that it is the father especially if all the keets are pied.

If you have an area where you can keep the hen and keets confined, they should be fine. If you are just going to let her free range with them she is likely to lose a great number of them. The keets don't do well traveling through wet grasses or keeping up with the hen when she decides to go somewhere in a hurry.

If you decide to brood the keets yourself, one way to take them would be to confine mother and keets in a secure place (new keets can easily go through chicken wire). Leave them alone until after dark. Place a towel over the hen and gently remove her from the keets. You can then collect the keets without the hen's interference.

Good Luck!

 

[Rachel1786]

The wire we have around the outside has really tiny holes, much smaller then your average chicken wire they are my mom's birds and their pen is in the horse pasture, so I take care of the horses/birds at night and she does in the morning. When i called to ask how they where this morning she said she had let them out this morning, I told her we should keep them in until they get bigger and went over to help her get them in and the evil thing attacked me again! I was a good 10 feet away and she flew at my head. Darn bird has it out for me! I may tell my mom shes taking care of the birds until she stops being so agressive. I'd love it if the babies were friendlier then the patents but we'll probably end up keeping them with her since we don't have anything to keep them in anymore(or lights). At what age can they start coming out? Do they look like they were just hatched yesterday or the day before?

When we bought the original Guinea and chickens, they were all supposed to be female so it never occurred to me that they could have sent us a male by mistake lol.

Do we need to get them special feed? We always have some chicken layer crumbles down, but should we get some starter/grower feed for them?

 

[R2elk]

The wire we have around the outside has really tiny holes, much smaller then your average chicken wire they are my mom's birds and their pen is in the horse pasture, so I take care of the horses/birds at night and she does in the morning. When i called to ask how they where this morning she said she had let them out this morning, I told her we should keep them in until they get bigger and went over to help her get them in and the evil thing attacked me again! I was a good 10 feet away and she flew at my head. Darn bird has it out for me! I may tell my mom shes taking care of the birds until she stops being so agressive. I'd love it if the babies were friendlier then the patents but we'll probably end up keeping them with her since we don't have anything to keep them in anymore(or lights). At what age can they start coming out? Do they look like they were just hatched yesterday or the day before?

When we bought the original Guinea and chickens, they were all supposed to be female so it never occurred to me that they could have sent us a male by mistake lol.

Do we need to get them special feed? We always have some chicken layer crumbles down, but should we get some starter/grower feed for them?

They are very recently hatched. It would be best to get a high protein turkey or gamebird starter, something around 26% to 30% protein. As long as the hen stays with them I would keep them in for at least three weeks. Without her to guide and care for them I would keep them in until they are fully feathered.

About the only way to get the babies to be friendlier is to raise them in a brooder and give plenty of human contact multiple times daily.

Good luck.