Guinea talk.

[R2elk]

Hey everyone. I have a question pertaining to one of my keets. His or Her beak has such an over bite that when it talks its mandible doesn't clear the top. James called our vet this morning and they want $55 to trim the beak. Is there a way I can file it at home to make it more uniform for it to eat and talk comfortably?

You might try with an emery board. Take your time and don't go too far.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

I dont want to go to far. I see where the actual part of her beak is, its like an over grown finger nail. This is it in the picture, and one of the other keets with a normal looking beak. It looks alot longer in person.

Above is over grown

Below is Normal beak

 

[guinealeghorn]

You should take a look at the beaks, spurs, and nails thread. Lots of good info there. It should come up if you search it. Good luck!

 

[Dmontgomery]

I was mowing the field by my son's house today. It's about a 1/4 mile away from our place.

IMG_0759

• Dmontgomery
• Jun 14, 2017

Gertrude, Gary, and Jennie heard the mower and came running to get bugs!

 

[GlennLee]

@Dmontgomery they come in like little soldiers clearing out a field. Miss seeing that! LOVED having my flock. We'll get there again once I have the predator thing in control and the new keets have grown. Picked up 20 mixed colors regular domestic keets yesterday and have 20 jumbo lavenders arriving around the 4th! Will post some pictures before too long. Have got to get this fox though - we've lost 7 birds this spring, have 3 left. Two males and one female who has FINALLY gone broody, but I fear the eggs are infertile. So far, I've tried to incubate 47 eggs and am not seeing any sign of fertility. I've read posting about the French Jumbos being infertile, even though the hatchery said that wasn't true. My neighbor has had to trim underfeathers on her roosters to improve contact and she offered to do that with the Jumbos to see if it made a difference. At this point, given what I keep the flock for - free range tick eating - I will probably transition over to the regular domestics. All the reasons I like the Jumbos - calm, don't fly well, slower moving - make them more vulnerable to predators. BTW - have you thought about hiring your dogs out as the Easter Bunny? They love finding and moving those eggs around.

 

[GlennLee]

@MartinsPoultry - Christy I noticed you have the plastic leg bands. I bought some to put on my chickens. How do you like that style and how much room to you leave for comfort and growth? At this point, my only experience with something like that is dog collars - the two finger rule. I don't think that will work with the chickens or guineas.

 

[GlennLee]

Being a keet is exhausting! First pic of the new additions. It will be fun watching them grow and change and to see how many of each color I actually have.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

For the young ones I use zippies for the babies and clips for the adults, and cut the zippies before they get to tight and add another one of the same color.
I go by the last toe to see if i can slip the band off or not, if i cannot and there is still room to move then i leave it. Test it with the toe, i leave enough room to get a pair scissors underneath them.

For the bands I use med sized for my adult guineas and chickens, but need to get a pack of large for my larger legged girls. But for now I keep a good amount of wiggle room on them, and they are great if their leg gets caught it snaps the band open and falls off

 

[MartinsPoultry]

@GlennLee they are adorable!

 

[MartinsPoultry]

With a bit of sad news, I am rehoming Echo or worse comes to worse eating her. She has gone from teasing other guineas to full blown trying to kill one. And my fear is my keets joining the flock this fall and her hurting them. She has to go. Her plus 2 of my turkey hens, 3 possibly 4 chicken hens as one is now eating my eggs. I collect them as soon as I hear the egg song.