Joining the World of Guineas

[kcardella]

Sorry about your loss

I don't have much luck with feed store guineas - I usually lose nearly half of them. I hatched my first eggs this year, and had a 100% survival rate. They are raised exactly the same, so the only thing I can think of is that they are just more stressed from the feed store.

Nice keets though, and good luck with them!

 

[chseeads]

Moved my guineas into the big bird house today with the chickens and everybody else.

Here's some pics today.....

What color do you think that first one is? It looks like it has some solid white on the breast, so is it a pied something or other?

Second one a buff?

Third pied pearl I guess....

Fourth lavendar.....

Eh?

 

[Guinea Goonie]

It may turn out to be a "bad" white (has spots) or it could be a young female brown. The brown color is not real previlant until about 16 weeks. I have a male brown and he is geting darker by the week on the wings.

Have your guys started calling yet. When you hear them, watch them carefully and band the females. The females will double syllable call. These are the ones you want to watch and be careful to introduce to the flock. Older male Guineas may try to mount them and they can and do kill them.

Oh and Sorry for your loss. Guineas are usually very resilient after two weeks of age. They are pretty susceptable to the cold up to about 16 weeks of age though.

I have four fairly youg Guineas and I find them in between two big butted hens on the roost most every night.

Each one seems to find a few that will treat them like babies.

 

[chseeads]

These four are the only guineas I've got, so as long as they integrate with the rest of the mixed flock, they'll be okay.....

They're still mostly doing their baby peeps so far.... Though they screamed like banshees when I caught them today...they never have liked to be handled. lol

 

[shelleyd2008]

They never do

I don't think your brownish one is a buff, it looks too dark. The first one could be sky blue, it's hard to say, those blue colored ones look so similar. But it is pied. I still think it looks like the pied coral blue keet I posted before.

Sorry you lost the one, I've not had that problem fortunately. The only keets I've lost were ones that I left with the mama, she lost all of them when they were about 4 weeks old.

 

[chseeads]

So you think the brownish may be brown or chocolate or whatever color they're called? lol

 

[Guinea Goonie]

The lavender and the pied are very nice. I have never had a sky blue guinea.

BE SURE to give your birds a place to go to get game bird feed. Keep them away from the rest of the flock to eat in a quiet part of your barn/coop.

They REQUIRE a high protein feed. I have four pretty much babies too. I fill a small feeder up with Penn game bird feed (26 percent) and put it down for the babies.

They are usually eating it within a minute. The others do get to it, but i know at least the babies get some.

I ALWAYS feed game bird to the Guineas during the winter months. It they are free ranging I do not worry about them, but when the cold come, the bugs go.

You babies should start "calling at about eight weeks.

I found another site:

http://www.guineafowlinternational.org/colorchart/

This may help in the color determination. Good luck with the babies, by spring they will be a vibrant, noisy and goonie addition to your flock !!

 

[allanimals21]

Guineas are great! I just had 9 more hatch yesterday. That puts me at around 60-ish? They are adorable when they are little.

 

[chseeads]

They are really cute babies.....and then.....they get a little grotesque...lol

 

[chseeads]

After moving into the chicken house, the guineas started out being pretty mortified at their new surroundings and all the gigantic bullys that live there, but they're getting more into the swing of things day by day. Been giving them some time alone shut up in the coop to let them eat in peace and stuff. They hardly come out of the coop any when it's left open so far...very little anyways.... But, they are coming around.

These pics are not very good, taken with the cell phone in the dark coop, but this was them trying to snuggle up with chickens tonight....


Two of them to the right of a white Polish pullet (the white patch to the far right is the pearl pied...that's another Polish sitting to the left).... They kept trying to crawl completely under her.

The other two, one on each side of a silkie pullet, trying to tuck themselves under her wings/feathers. The light colored one, on the left, is doing a good job of it, can barely tell it's even in the pic. lol