Look what I got today....

[PeepsCA]

perchie.girl :

Have you thought of getting a whole sale license for feed since you are a breeder? Or you could form a co-op with one of your other guinea breeder friends and get together an order for a pallet of feed which is about a ton.

Yah, I have and being able to write everything off would be nice too... it's just another thing to add to my to-do list, lol. I really did not plan on going this large scale with my breeding this year, it just all of a sudden went POW and here I am

Dealin' with workin' out the kinks as I go, lol. Next year will be more organized... it better be anyway, lol.​

 

[Balefire]

Quote:
Thanks Cindy and YES I was there yesterday and he has more keets and they need a rescue, look what Peeps wrote above about the food.........If you are lucky he will sell you the lavender or other out the other bin...........I only was able to get the Pied ones

 

[Cindy in PA]

Balefire, I thought that's where you got them. I wish I could get keets, but I was already up there last weekend & got 6 adults, so I'm full up for the year. He didn't have but 1 keet at the time, but was expecting some to hatch. He said he was about to turn the adults loose for the summer, but that he could sell me 6-8. He seemed nice, but not terribly knowledgeable. He showed me the Dumor 16% layer he was feeding. The girls were really beat up, but I figured that was from breeding. Took my husband & him 20 minutes to round 6 up. I stopped at 6, as I figured we'd done enough chasing. If he didn't supplement (& I don't know), I figure only 16% in that pen with no greens or bugs wasn't great. I probably should have left, but I really wanted some guineas! They were a bit smelly from the damp pen, but overall seemed OK. In the past 10 days they have really blossomed. The girls are growing feathers already. They are eating 20% Game Bird Layena, greens everyday, oyster shell & some Farmer's helper Ultra Kibble. They look a lot better. He said they were done laying for the year, well no wonder!!

Where did he house the keets & why could you only pick from one bin? He did say the hatch rate this year was not very good. Your keets are cute. How are the other 6 doing? I am glad I rescued the 6 adults anyway. Hope to get more next year for the big coop. Take care.

 

[Balefire]

@ Cindy
You are right, he didn't have a lot of knowlegd and he showed me the same bag lol. He told me, that the guys @ TSC told him, it would be ok, to feed the babies with it

and there was nothing in the bin, then food on the floor. He house them in the building across the pens and where I could pic from have been in a dogcrate, the other have been in a stealbin like @ TSC. But they don't have any daylight

. I wished I could take all home

, I feeled so horrible when I leaft. The adults are loose and they seems realy tame, follow us around. But when I want to leave, they were all around my truck AND that guy disapeared, I was realy in panic to hit one of the adults, but al went well.
Why I only could pic from that one bin? Because he want to keep the other colours to have a coloured flock for customer next year

.
My keets are doing good, after the peeps stopped caseing them, I was worried about the one little one, but it is fine. Today I was in Cressona and got some Gamebirdstarter ( medicated, but the label is so bad printed, that I can't read it

) What colours did you get? PICS?
Can't wait to have vacation, so hubby and I can build the coop and move the chicken and older guinnies out of the garage, they deserve to run in grass.

@ PeepsCA
Any advice to put the guinnies and chicken together, when the coop is finished? I'm planning to move them in nighttime and hope everything will work out. @ the moment, they are seperated, but can see each other

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
I don't have any Chickens, only Guineas, a Wild Turkey and a couple Peachicks... so I can't competently offer any advice here that I've gained from personal experience with integrating, but here's a few things I would do if I were going to integrate a mixed flock....

Make sure to avoid over crowding them, provide plenty of roosting space and hiding places for picked on birds to hide behind (but not get trapped behind), give them a LONGGGGGG side by side pen introduction period to get used to each other before letting them integrate, provide extra feeders and waters so nobody gets crowded out or bullied out from getting enough to eat and drink, let them free range as MUCH as possible to burn off extra energy, hormones and aggressions, and last but not least to be prepared and set up for any (aggression) issues that will arise, especially during breeding season (like a second or partitioned coop/pen if you'll need it!). Oh and I'd also start off with just short periods of supervised integration at first, the re-separated at night for a while until you trust everybody together. A silly but VERY useful tool is a baby monitor, so you can hear if there is squabbling or mayhem going on at night or when you are not around the coop!

Some people have no issues with their mixed flocks at all, some have nothing BUT issues. It all depends on how well you are set up for it, how you go about the integration process and how many bullies you have in your mixed flock!

Good luck!

 

[Balefire]

Thank you so much for your words, PeepsCA. The idea with the feeder is brilliant. The chicken and the guinnies are liveing side on side right now, they can see each other, but not harm. Hope that make it easier. The monitor will not work realy for me, but it's a brilliant idea too.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
OMG Cindy, HUGE kudos to you for rescuing the 6 adults, somebody needs to go educate that guy on how to take care of Guineas properly, wow (with a hammer maybe?). My jaw is on the floor after reading your post

 

[Cindy in PA]

Balefire... I got 6 pearl gray guineas, 3 males & 3 females. I think that is all he had except one white one. This is the color I really wanted anyway. So I guess pearl gray is the dominant color, if he got all th other colors from them!!?? No pictures yet. They are getting a whole lot friendlier & eating well.

PeepCA, The birds seemed to be OK health wise, but I don't really think they were cared for properly for breeding. One of the girls is pretty tiny. I want them to eat bugs, so I am not really worried about eggs. I just hope they are building themselves up eating better food. I am glad Balefire said the adults seemed friendly. They were all penned when we were there & rattled from being chased. I would have taken my catch net if I would have known he didn't have a way to catch them. They have adjusted well, going in the coop on their own after the 2nd. night. MY stray guinea is teaching them to go nuts over millet & wheat at night. I am blowing a whistle & calling before I throw it to them. Here's hoping they stay around when they are released in a month or two. I got the impression the guy threw them food twice a day & now they have all they can eat. They are really fun to watch. I paid too much, but I am really glad I got them.

 

[Balefire]

@Cindy
I saw some other coloured guinnies running around, one was limping. Did he had the goats already? I was shocked how the little one were haused. Like I sayed earlier, I wished I could take them all

.
He was so great, when he tried to educate me *Ironic out*. Too bad I was by myselfe, wished hubby was with, but he needed to work

Anyways, we rescued some of this sweeties and hope the will all turn out great.
It s so cute to watch them eating and sleeping. Think I need to take pics again

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

They are sooooo cute....Congrats. I am sure you will be the greatest mom...