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Going very well still.
They got very close this morning, and actually let me approach a little closer without fleeing.
Not sure how much of the feed the keets are eating. It stays around their coop, so they always have access to it, but they wander all over. I put it in their coop when I lock up at night, and take it out in the morning. I figure that's all I can do.
Mine are doing well too!! Actually yesterday evening I had all mine locked up in the pen and I looked outside and saw an adult guinea wondering around outside the pen. I only have one so I was wondering how the heck she got out?!? Then realized she didn’t and was like oh wow some of my lost ones didn’t get killed and came home!!! I let it in the pen and could hear another one coming up from the woods and let it in too! However after looking closer their necks are more a purple than my pearls and their feet darker sooooo I don’t think they are mine there’s a couple people 1.5-2 miles down there road from me with guineas so maybe theirs....
Mine are doing well too!! Actually yesterday evening I had all mine locked up in the pen and I looked outside and saw an adult guinea wondering around outside the pen. I only have one so I was wondering how the heck she got out?!? Then realized she didn’t and was like oh wow some of my lost ones didn’t get killed and came home!!! I let it in the pen and could hear another one coming up from the woods and let it in too! However after looking closer their necks are more a purple than my pearls and their feet darker sooooo I don’t think they are mine there’s a couple people 1.5-2 miles down there road from me with guineas so maybe theirs.... View attachment 2259722
Awe, I hope they are yours that finally came home. You could always ask neighbors if they are missing any. But if everyone around you free ranges and doesn’t coop them, then there is no way to know whose they are. In that case....I’d keep them if they stay
Awe, I hope they are yours that finally came home. You could always ask neighbors if they are missing any. But if everyone around you free ranges and doesn’t coop them, then there is no way to know whose they are. In that case....I’d keep them if they stay
If they are the one neighbor’s I don’t think I’d go knock on their door... never seen them before and not to sound too judge mental but....!!!! They definitely don’t coop them at all.
If they are the one neighbor’s I don’t think I’d go knock on their door... never seen them before and not to sound too judge mental but....!!!! They definitely don’t coop them at all.
Maybe it’s better to keep them then.
I think people that fully free range (no cooping) tend to not batt an eyelash at missing birds. Just chalk it up to predators and replace them when the flock thins out too much.
Mine are doing well too!! Actually yesterday evening I had all mine locked up in the pen and I looked outside and saw an adult guinea wondering around outside the pen. I only have one so I was wondering how the heck she got out?!? Then realized she didn’t and was like oh wow some of my lost ones didn’t get killed and came home!!! I let it in the pen and could hear another one coming up from the woods and let it in too! However after looking closer their necks are more a purple than my pearls and their feet darker sooooo I don’t think they are mine there’s a couple people 1.5-2 miles down there road from me with guineas so maybe theirs.... View attachment 2259722
They could change a bit in skin pigment and color over several months. I’m not sure that a neighbors totally wild birds would be so likely to wander into your pen... Worrying about them leading your others astray seems a very valid concern. You would need to really retrain these two to cement where home is...
They could change a bit in skin pigment and color over several months. I’m not sure that a neighbors totally wild birds would be so likely to wander into your pen... Worrying about them leading your others astray seems a very valid concern. You would need to really retrain these two to cement where home is...
I’ll keep them locked up for a bit and then just let one out at a time. So far this has been working great for me. I feed them some in the morning then wait until the evening and feed them again and I can heard the ones out right back in.
Keets are 8 weeks old now.
When I wait too long to get them into their coop, they roost on top of it (despite the open door) and go to sleep. I feel bad rousting them, but they gotta go in and it is kinda neat to be able to touch them. They're so heavy now! It's very hard to hold them and get them through the opening. I can press the wings against their body, but they kick and struggle, and I don't even try to restrain their legs (both because legs are a guinea's weak spot, and because their flailing claws are terrifying).
Sunday was the day for moving birds out of the house...
Lavender keets (4 weeks old today) went into the coop I had the pearl grey keets in before. The Guinea troop came by to inspect them and moved on just like the adults did when the other keets were younger. They're curious, but they have Important Guinea Things to do.
I had some black Jersey Giants and 3 barnyard crosses (now 7 weeks) and Buff Orpingtons (6 weeks) out already, and tried introducing some Silkies (also 7 weeks) and GLWs (going to be 5 and 4 weeks tomorrow) to them. The smaller / younger birds got picked on... so my girlfriend suggested moving them in with the keets. I reminded her raising them together was a bad idea, but she wasn't hearing it so I complied.
The Lavs huddled in a corner and screamed. They kept at it for a while, so I grabbed an outdoor brooder I'd made for some Rouen ducks (now 8 weeks and free all day) and put the Lavs in that, and they calmed down. I'm not sure anyone picked on them, but they really, really did not like the foreign invaders.
I would have liked to keep them in the coop instead, but it's 5 keets vs 19 chicks. The outdoor brooder is still bigger than the one I had them in inside the house, at least. And there's no chickens in there. Aside from the standard downside of raising them together, I wasn't too thrilled thinking about how much gamebird starter those things would have gone through.
Hopefully the adults will take a shine to them, too. Can't wait to hear them try out their big kid calls.
Question to the more experienced guineafolk - what age do they start to settle on their preferred mating partners? Does that only happen in their first mating season? I'm assuming my two adults will continue to be a couple... but is the 5 week age difference enough to keep the pearl grey keets from getting interested in the lavenders? Or will they all start mating around the same time? Will the long period between now and their first mating season make all of the keets see each other as potential mates, or are they likely to pair off within their subsets?
I'd like to hatch more lavenders next year... but I don't intend to keep them separated or confined to do it. Just wondering where to calibrate my expectations. I want to hatch more guineas period, but it'd be nice if it weren't all genetic lottery over generations.
there’s a couple people 1.5-2 miles down there road from me with guineas so maybe theirs....
