Guinea talk.

[guineapeeps]

On the hill with the rose bushesView attachment 1150762
Running away from home... but they always return!

View attachment 1150764

Reminds me of the movie, The Sound Of Music:

The hills are alive....with the sound of guineas!

 

[GlennLee]

And you know all about the sound of guineas! Especially with double the amount of females.... I keep checking in with the neighbors to make sure everyone is okay with their activity and noise level - we have double the numbers we had last year.

Well, I thought my one laying female was done for the season. We're getting close here, but yesterday I heard her singing away in the barn and thought, "Oh no, she's got another nest started".

After she left, I checked out the straw bale cave and not only found 16 of her eggs, but also two Rhode Island Red eggs! I left her 6 of them to play with and we'll see how long she keeps this up.

She is all about those eggs - just loves them - didn't want anything to do with the one keet she hatched in the summer, but loves the eggs and is a good broody hen.

I'm hoping when she has more that are fertile and hatches several keets around the same time, she'll take on the mama role. If not, it will mean more hand raising, but "been there, done that".

 

[Dmontgomery]

Thanks, Dmontgomery. Every day, I think how lucky I am to have my flock of birds. They are the best. And I don't think I mentioned how much I loved seeing those hay bale caves of yours. They really like them - it makes them think they have natural protection. Have fun with your birds! Can't wait to hear your stories in the future with hatching. It will happen - just get that incubator!

Thank you for the hay bale cave idea. On the old BYC we could search for photos in a particular thread, wish we still could. I would have been able to give you the proper credit due. I knew someone had done it but just couldn't remember who.
We finally gave up on the last 7 eggs yesterday and took them from the nest. None of the 32 eggs showed any sign of development. I'm going to take the nest apart today and move it to a more accessible location in case she tries one more time this year. It's still in the upper 80's here during the day. If not, oh well. I've got about 30 pullets a couple weeks away from laying age. They might like the hay bales too.

 

[guinealeghorn]

Good morning, everyone! I candles those eggs last night, and quite a few of them were moving around! Looks like they are more resilient than I had thought!

 

[GlennLee]

Oh great news! Can't wait to hear how things progress. I know you're going to have some little keeters running around there this time!

 

[GlennLee]

On the old BYC we could search for photos in a particular thread, wish we still could. I would have been able to give you the proper credit due.

Oh yes, I remember how we used to be able to go through the photos from a thread. That was great! Too bad we lost that feature, but not to worry about giving proper credit, I'm just glad that you are using the idea and that it's working for you. I wouldn't be surprised if your pullets like the hay bale caves too. I just came across a couple of Rhode Island Red eggs, in with the guinea eggs, in a nest in the cave. Of course, my Reds and Orpingtons also like hanging out in the brush line and we refer to them as JUNGLE CHICKENS. You just never know what silly antics they'll get into!

Can't imagine temps in the upper 80's this time of year. In fact, we just had a few days in the high 70's and 80's and was glad when it started to cool off again. Harvesting the last of the tomatoes and now it's jelly time with the concord grapes!

 

[guinealeghorn]

We had a day in the 90's! Way too hot for fall! Also, the eggs went on lock down last night. Will keep you posted!

 

[yoopergirl1211]

I finally can tell the different calls for my royal purple guineas! But.... I can't keep track of who's making them lol. I only hear one girl at a time so maybe only 1 out of 5.... but my young grey and lavender both sound like girls. So if I have one purple, one lavender, and one grey females and all purple boys I'll get lots of lavenders? With some purples? I haven't looked into guinea genetics yet. I want one of every color someday!

 

[guineapeeps]

I finally can tell the different calls for my royal purple guineas! But.... I can't keep track of who's making them lol. I only hear one girl at a time so maybe only 1 out of 5.... but my young grey and lavender both sound like girls. So if I have one purple, one lavender, and one grey females and all purple boys I'll get lots of lavenders? With some purples? I haven't looked into guinea genetics yet. I want one of every color someday!

I think most of my lavenders came from buff dundotte hens crossed with pearl gray males (although I had a few lavenders hatch more lavenders). I’ve also had my buff hens mate with my lavender males to produce a porcelain and a opaline, but only had this happen one time each. I think pearl grays and lavenders would produce mostly pearl grays (that may carry a blue gene) with a few lavenders, because the pearl gray is dominant. I’ve never had purples, so I’m less sure about what they would produce when crossed with pearls and lavenders. R2elk seems to be pretty knowledgeable about guinea color genetics so hopefully he/or someone else will chime in here on that (and to correct me if I’m wrong in my info above!)

 

[MartinsPoultry]

My pearl gray crossed with purple gave me a 50/50 clutch, pearls and purples. This year anyways, my genetics and hatch rate were spot on for my first year.
Next year I am crossing my powder pied girls with my lavender boy, and my powder pied boy with a pearl jumbo.