Guineas are family birds (pics!)

[BlueShadow]

I always knew that guineas were social birds, but having 5 hens hatch out nests this summer has emphasized how much they are family birds. The adults take care of the keets, and not just their own. It has gotten so that if we missed catching a keet from the nest (oh catching these fast little fluff balls is an adventure!), or one gets out of a pen, I just wait for another adult (sometimes papa, sometimes not) to call the keet. Then I can more easily herd both of them to where I need them.

I don't have pictures of that, but I do have other pictures of them being family birds:

This pearl grey papa has worn a path around the chicken tractor in the one day mama and keets have been in it:

Because everyone loves baby pictures, here are the keets we managed to catch by ourselves. Pearl grey papa collected the other 4 we missed and brought them onto the lawn where they were a bit easier to find. Boy, when those little pearl grey keets sit still in tall grass, they become invisible!

This lavender papa was happy when his hen and brood were moved out of an enclosed pen and into a larger, open pen. He promptly flew into the pen with them and has been helping out since:

Here is mama (lav), papa (lav), and his other hen (pearl grey) all traveling together with the keets:

 

[Kiki]

@campingshaws Check these out!

 

[campingshaws]

So that explains why the keets will follow hens, roosters, and ducks all over the yard!

 

[red horse ranch]

Love the pictures! My males also love taking care of the little ones. It's really neat to watch the families as they free range.

 

[campingshaws]

Anyone know what these look like as adults? I'm assuming pied but are they mostly white? My other pied keets just has white faces/bellies.

 

[BlueShadow]

Anyone know what these look like as adults? I'm assuming pied but are they mostly white? My other pied keets just has white faces/bellies. View attachment 1127976

My best guess is pied. The descriptions I have read say there can be "varying amounts of white." Not very helpful! Those do seem to have a lot of white, but pied is the only color I know of that has white with colored feathers in a spot on the head and back. Because they have so much white, I would lean towards a pied royal purple. Royal purple keets normally have white bellies & wings, so they would have more white as keets. Could be another color that has white belly & wings as keets though.

 

[R2elk]

Anyone know what these look like as adults? I'm assuming pied but are they mostly white? My other pied keets just has white faces/bellies. View attachment 1127976

I believe those are Pinto keets. As adults they will have lots of white with a little dark feathering.