Hatched some Chocolates and a couple Violets I think

[PeepsCA]

Ahh, ok ... her Royal Purple color gene and his Pearl Grey color gene (dark charcoal grey/black) are dominant, and the Pearl Grey male donated the fully-pearled gene but is also carrying the partially-pearled gene too (hidden recessive), so that is why you got a mix of both Royal Purples and Pearl Greys in this hatch.

In order to get lighter keets, your lighter birds need to breed... hopefully you have a lighter colored Hen for your lighter colored males?

 

[JacqueOCS]

Ah, makes sense...thanks! No, my chocolates and blues are all 4 males. Need to buy some females of the lighter colors. When we bought 15 last summer...we ended up w/2 females and 13 males. At what age can you tell if they're male or female? I could go back to the guy I bought them from last year for lighter colors...but def don't need more males

 

[PeepsCA]

The little Hens can start clearly buck-wheating (making the female specific 2-syllable call) as early as 5-6 wks old, but usually around 7-8 wks old they don't shut up so it's pretty obvious, lol. males do not make that 2-syllable call.

You'd need to separate each keet you want away from the rest of flock (one at a time), but somewhere they can still hear the rest of the flock and see if it buck-wheats, calling to the others. If you are within earshot but out of their sight too they usually get vocal about being separated pretty quickly.

If they are still pretty young (5-6 wks old) they sometimes will just peep/cry, but the Hens will usually sneak a few buck-wheats in there... or just buck-wheat right from the start. Some Hens will hold out on ya tho, and not buck-wheat until much older, but typically they are very vocal once the separation anxiety kicks in.

 

[JacqueOCS]

Thanks again for the info Ill def try the separation once they get older and see what happens. I was hoping there was a physical appearance to tell them apart when younger. That would be to easy!

 

[PeepsCA]

There are a few physical traits and also behaviors that can indicate they are male or female, but those can always go both ways and aren't always 100% reliable. The only really fail-proof way to sex Guineas that I've found is the buck-wheat call... and of course if they lay an egg. Then you know they are Hens for sure. The rest I always consider males.. and they usually prove themselves later on, lol.

 

[JacqueOCS]

Got ya! Ya know this guinea hen we have, we thought she was a male as we haven't heard her "buck wheat" for the longest. If I hadn't seen her sitting on the nest, I'd swear we had all males.

 

[JacqueOCS]

Anyone know what color this little one is? I have 2 of the 22 keets that are marked like this. Thanks for any info

 

[PeepsCA]

That's a Brown keet Jacque. Sometimes at hatch and for the first few days they can look very similar to Pearl Grey keets...then they start feathering in light, lol.

 

[JacqueOCS]

Thanks so much Peeps! I do have 2 chocolate males, thank goodness I got a few babies from them. Wish I would have gotten a few blue keets from my 2 blue males. Maybe next year Thanks again!!

 

[PeepsCA]

Your Hen may lay a new clutch of eggs soon, if she's not brooding this batch of keets. Breeding/laying season last all the way 'til Fall...