Hatching notes summer 2022

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

It is usually the lowest one in the pecking order that does this.

Concord has an interesting history. She is a pied royal purple hen that was in my first group of eggs I hatched, so she was part of the flock that was brooded with chicks and ducks. When I had to rehome the aggressive Guineas to save the chicks and ducklings, I was left with only one remaining Guinea cock (Ghost) with 8 Guinea hens. Concord was a “fringe” girl, she and two other hens were only marginally part of the flock. Although Ghost would breed all of the hens he would chase the fringe girls away too.

Once I expanded the flock and added more cocks, Concord experienced a meteoric rise in status. For the past few years, she has been attached to one of the most dominant flock cocks (not Ghost) and that seems to have translated to flock dominance for her. It’s interesting that this hasn’t been the case for some of my other hens, where I have other subordinate hens (Violet and Slate) that were partnered with cocks that were dominant at the time, but that didn’t elevate their status with the flock. At any rate, Concord is now one of the most dominant hens in the flock, maybe the most dominant hen. She has also hatched keets in the past so she knows something about them, but as of yesterday was the only bird I saw acting aggressively towards the keets. I’ll be waiting until I see improvement in her behavior before trying to let the keets out with the flock. Attaching pics of Concord next to lavender hen Pearl, who is also very dominant but not so great at hatching keets. Concord next to the keet she hatched but eventually abandoned, Viceroy, who is still in the flock. Last is Concord being a good flock leader to the keets that Welsh added to the flock last year.

 

[Sydney65]

The Folly of Mankind: Unable to recognize when his own baby is switched at birth, thinks he can fool a guina into accepting a keet that is not hers, and claims it's the guinea that's dumb..

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

The Folly of Mankind: Unable to recognize when his own baby is switched at birth, thinks he can fool a guina into accepting a keet that is not hers, and claims it's the guinea that's dumb..

I think that @BennieAnTheJets keet from the incubator was one of the parent’s keets. I certainly don’t know how to get a Guinea hen to adopt a keet it didn’t hatch, since I was unsuccessful! This is the only successful account of this I’ve seen in Guinea fowl:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ad-raising-keets.1397503/page-2#post-22947984

 

[R2elk]

I think that @BennieAnTheJets keet from the incubator was one of the parent’s keets. I certainly don’t know how to get a Guinea hen to adopt a keet it didn’t hatch, since I was unsuccessful! This is the only successful account of this I’ve seen in Guinea fowl:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ad-raising-keets.1397503/page-2#post-22947984

Last year I was left with a lone keet in the brooder. It was two weeks old when I stuck a broody guinea hen in the grow out pen. I didn't know where her hidden nest was.

I put the keet in with her. There was a heat lamp for when the keet felt the need.

She did not accept the keet bit did not attack it. After about a week she would allow the keet to cuddle against her for warmth.

She never did bond with it. When putting her bsck with the flock, she was readily accepted but the keet wasn't. He is low dog on the totem pole still.

 

[Sydney65]

Last year I was left with a lone keet in the brooder. It was two weeks old when I stuck a broody guinea hen in the grow out pen. I didn't know where her hidden nest was.

I put the keet in with her. There was a heat lamp for when the keet felt the need.

She did not accept the keet bit did not attack it. After about a week she would allow the keet to cuddle against her for warmth.

She never did bond with it. When putting her bsck with the flock, she was readily accepted but the keet wasn't. He is low dog on the totem pole still.

Yep, I thought Mama would accept Mia-I mean, they were abt the same size after a while, PG guinea, you have to look really hard to find diff in appearance. But she chased and pecked him throughout the winter, then took him as her mate that spring.
It would be interesting to know their original dynamics. When they share a nest, how do they divy up when the keets hatch? What roll does the male play in the wild, bc I've seen some say their male sits on the nest while the hen takes a break, and my males excel at parenting, regardless of the keets origins.
And @Mixed flock enthusiast , did you see the growths on Jessica's male ceres? One looked like a rhino horn!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Last year I was left with a lone keet in the brooder. It was two weeks old when I stuck a broody guinea hen in the grow out pen. I didn't know where her hidden nest was.

I put the keet in with her. There was a heat lamp for when the keet felt the need.

She did not accept the keet bit did not attack it. After about a week she would allow the keet to cuddle against her for warmth.

She never did bond with it. When putting her bsck with the flock, she was readily accepted but the keet wasn't. He is low dog on the totem pole still.

Seems pretty darn successful as far as guineas go! In my case, I don’t know what it will mean if Razorback has adopted the keets, as he certainly seems to have, but the rest of the flock has not accepted them. Im sure they will be low man on the totem pole as all of the last years keets have ended up low man adults for the past few years. I’m considering modifying the run so they can roost in there if need be.

 

[Sydney65]

Seems pretty darn successful as far as guineas go! In my case, I don’t know what it will mean if Razorback has adopted the keets, as he certainly seems to have, but the rest of the flock has not accepted them. Im sure they will be low man on the totem pole as all of the last years keets have ended up low man adults for the past few years. I’m considering modifying the run so they can roost in there if need be.

I did do that, it works well. The adults can get up there, but there seems to be a code amongst goons that they don't go up there when it's in use by misfits. They seven were roosting there in the evening,but everyone is in the coop in the morning when I go out.
Sadly,I guess it's time to start closing the coop door and the pop door. That'll be a shock to their freedom.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I did do that, it works well. The adults can get up there, but there seems to be a code amongst goons that they don't go up there when it's in use by misfits. They seven were roosting there in the evening,but everyone is in the coop in the morning when I go out.
Sadly,I guess it's time to start closing the coop door and the pop door. That'll be a shock to their freedom.

You are closing the door to limit free ranging for winter?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well so Razorback seems to be kind of bizarrely fixated on the keets. They are still caged in the coop but of course I have to change their food and water. These keets are terrified of me, sadly, as they kept panicking when they would see me overhead in their old brooder and have not gotten over that. They are getting more used to me being near their new brooder, but when I open the door they still panic. Razorback decided I was attacking his keets and went for me! Now I have to lock him out of the coop before I do anything with the keets.

I’ve only been letting the flock out to free range for a short time in the evenings when I can be out with them, since I’m not sure what’s up with the bobcat. While the flock takes advantage of their freedom, Razorback runs around and around outside the coop and brooder, unwilling to leave the keets. Then last night, he went all out attacking his mama Welch. I don’t know if it was keet related or what but she was attacked hard enough that she balled up in a corner and just laid their passively, I felt awful for her. I chased him out and Welch just laid their for five minutes panting. She seemed ok after that but obviously scared of Razorback.

They’ve also just stopped pairing and are reforming as a group for winter, so it might be related to that instead of keets. They seem to rework all of their positions out again when they flock up for winter, and I typically have a lot of drama for a month or two. Due to my schedule, it’s also when I’m integrating keets… So I guess I need to start letting them free range again to relieve their dominance stress and hope for the best with my bobcat.

 

[R2elk]

These keets are terrified of me, sadly, as they kept panicking when they would see me overhead

This is why. Try to set your brooder up so they can see you approaching from the side. They have an instinctive fear of things approaching from above.