Guinea talk.

[pattyhen]

Delta with Foxy and Juliette


Blue, Echo and the other new girl we have yet to name. She actually cut her sinuses and we had a heck of a time getting her to clot so to keep an eye on her she is in a medi box in my dining room with food water and a basic light bulb for light.

Very pretty girls. I'm glad Delta was so good with them. I hope the other girl is going to do ok. They get a little rowdy when their scared. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

I hope so too, she is laying down in the medi box but is alert. We will be keeping an eye on her as she soiled my coat, shirt and pants, same with james and two towels and multiple washclothes with blood.

When it happened we didnt have cornstarch nor bloodstop so i had my in-law grab a box from the store and it stopped. I just hope it wasnt to late. I fear she is anaemic.

Thanks they are pretty, two have white feathers in the wings and are fiesty. No human trust as my friend didnt work with them so i hope with time they come around.

 

[GlennLee]

Christy - glad to hear that the girls are all getting along. It didn't work for me, but I'm glad that it did for you. Hope you get the bleeding under control as well as the feisty behavior.

Isn't it interesting that even though they are all guineas, they have preferences in treats? Mine absolutely LOVE their mealworms and bird seed. I've tried cabbage, melon, apple, bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts and they won't touch it. They do pick at a bale of alfalfa I keep in the coop and a seed block for game birds. They love eating grass and do their little happy honking noise when they find a patch of clover.

Blanket of white back again today. That means they will just stare out the door and hunker down in the straw bales. They are smarter than people give them credit for! Have a great Thursday everyone!

Question for those of you who free range in the winter - do you notice an increase in foot problems? I don't know if it's related to the cold, but mine are hobbling a bit when they return after being out on colder days. By colder, I mean 30's - the ground is frozen and I wonder if they are getting their feet cut. They can also get themselves into trouble when they head up to my neighbor's bird feeder. She has some fencing that could be a hazard. They get better if they are kept in the coop for a few days. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Hi Glenn,
She is doing good, just needs a bath to clean all the bloodied feathers. She is in a snippy mood this morning which I am not going to complain at all. We are going to name her Zelda with how she is a fighter.

Foxy has made a home with the flock. She has a distinct black mask on her beak that looks like a foxes mask.

Juliette has as well made herself at home with the flock. Her, Foxy and Delta follow eachother around hardly any chasing from Echo, Blue and Charlie. The Turkeys and chickens ignore the noisy fowl.

I gave her a little boost of an iron source by a tsp of beet juice diluted in her feed mix to help her out with how much blood was lost.

I was chatting with my brother inlaw this morning and he suggested getting Glycerine sticks to help clot the blood, which is what his wife uses on their dogs if she accidently nicks their quicks when clipping nails.

 

[chicks are life]

I have two males how many females should I get?i really only have room for 2 more because i Have polish chicks coming in the spring but 2 of my chicken keep getting sick and every time it brings them down more they might not survive.so I would like to just get two females but I have read that they need 2 females per male. What do you think I should do?

 

[guineapeeps]

I have two males how many females should I get?i really only have room for 2 more because i Have polish chicks coming in the spring but 2 of my chicken keep getting sick and every time it brings them down more they might not survive.so I would like to just get two females but I have read that they need 2 females per male. What do you think I should do?

Are the two males the only Guineas that you have right now? If so, I would get a minimum of 2 females, but a few more would be better. I find that if I have at least 2 females per male, they tend to do better. If you are limited in space and unable to take that many, a 1:1 ratio is better than having more males than females.

 

[guineapeeps]

Christy - glad to hear that the girls are all getting along.  It didn't work for me, but I'm glad that it did for you.  Hope you get the bleeding under control as well as the feisty behavior.

Isn't it interesting that even though they are all guineas, they have preferences in treats?  Mine absolutely LOVE their mealworms and bird seed.  I've tried cabbage, melon, apple, bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts and they won't touch it.  They do pick at a bale of alfalfa I keep in the coop and a seed block for game birds.  They love eating grass and do their little happy honking noise when they find a patch of clover. 

Blanket of white back again today.  That means they will just stare out the door and hunker down in the straw bales.  They are smarter than people give them credit for!  Have a great Thursday everyone!

Question for those of you who free range in the winter - do you notice an increase in foot problems?  I don't know if it's related to the cold, but mine are hobbling a bit when they return after being out on colder days.  By colder, I mean 30's - the ground is frozen and I wonder if they are getting their feet cut.  They can also get themselves into trouble when they head up to my neighbor's bird feeder.  She has some fencing that could be a hazard.  They get better if they are kept in the coop for a few days.  Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. 

I free range in the winter here in Iowa where it is cold with occasional snow and temps in the 20's most days. I find that my Guineas can be tender footed in snow and ice at times, but have not noticed an increase in any foot problems as far as cuts and scapes from ice. The only thing I do notice is that some of my Guineas, especially the males, seem to get very long nails in the winter., which makes them limp around a bit. Im guessing this is due to not scratching and digging in the dirt as much as in the warmer weather so they are not grinding their nails down much. When I notice this, I catch them and trim the affected nails and this seems to eliminate the problem. Hope this helps!

 

[GlennLee]

I think your domestics would still be noisy if you had raised tthem as keets. I raised my pearl gray guineas from keets, and they are screaming at the tops of their lungs all the time!

Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom, guinealeghorn! I guess it makes me feel better about my domestics. They are the crazy ones of the bunch! Hopefully, I'll be having keets here this spring from my French Jumbos and it will be interesting to see how they do being born here versus being shipped in a box! AND a big WELCOME to the Guinea Talk thread! I'm guessing you have leghorns as well? Please share a bit about your birds and where you are from. We all appreciate listening to each other's stories.

 

[GlennLee]

Hey Everyone, Christy here with a funny story and an update with more feathered kids.
I went to feed everyone the other night and Charlie our top male Guinea had stepped in the Turkeys feed bowls blocking our dominant tom from the spot he wanted to eat from. The tom gently picked up Charlie by the nape of his neck, not a squeal or sound from Charlie, took him out of the bowl and placed him at the small birds feeding dish then turned around to continue to eat himself. I got a good giggle out of it and I am sure Charlie didn't think so.

Also as an early birthday gift James is letting me get 2 female Guineas from a friend. She is the one who has sold us duck eggs and ducklings. And she is not charging us to much for sub-adults who are the same size as our guys and gals now. We are picking them up tomorrow as she has them running around the 25 acres she owns.

We are thinking of naming them Foxy, short for Foxtrot and Juliette. Kind of sticking with a Military theme since the rest are named in a non-intentional Military way. And we are sad to say our Sweet-grass hen isn't acting right and maybe passing away soon. All she is doing now is sleeping and perching, even when we let them out she stays inside the coop.

That is a funny story about your tom! Is he part dog or cat? I've never heard of birds doing that, but then again, my experience with domestic poultry is limited. So glad that you were able to pick up a few more "girls" and that they are doing well assimilating into your current flock. Thank you for keeping us updated on what's happening at MartinsPoultry... you always have a busy place with lots of things going on there. Amazing!

 

[GlennLee]

I gave her a little boost of an iron source by a tsp of beet juice diluted in her feed mix to help her out with how much blood was lost.

I was chatting with my brother inlaw this morning and he suggested getting Glycerine sticks to help clot the blood, which is what his wife uses on their dogs if she accidently nicks their quicks when clipping nails.

Good idea about the beet juice. I have another option to use for getting blood to clot. The product is Super Clot - our dog groomer highly recommended it and said it works even better than the sticks. It's a gel. Posting a picture so you know what to look for. I keep it on hand in my household first aid kit and hope I never have to use it!