My babies raising babies.....

[WestKnollAmy]

Well, okay, they aren't really babies but I love my pair of free ranging Guineas and not long after the Guinea Girl came to live with my Guinea Boy she decided to hatch her clutch of eggs. I took 12 of them and put them in the 'bator and gave some to a few broody chickens but let Guinea Girl hatch some of her own. I am not sure how many actually hatched out of the 6 eggs that were under her but 2 came off the nest with her when the time came. I found shells and one did not hatch at all.
Guinea Boy has always been the proud papa and even grabbed the LGD by the rump hairs and hung on for a while as she ran away from those keets. She now gives the Guinea family a wide berth.

As do the cats.....

They bring the keets to the barn a few times a day for meals......

Obviously they are growing up well.

So, in the future if I can find a nest I believe I will leave some of the eggs for them to hatch and raise a few. Guinea Boy has been exceptional to help through all this. He covers his keets when danger is above or chases off predators as does Guinea Girl. However, she thinks the chickens are a danger so that shows her over protective self.

For the first few weeks Guinea Girl continued to sleep outside with the keets while Guinea Boy went to roost at night with the chickens. One night he even took the keets into bed with him but they did not return with him again. Now for the past 4 nights we have been getting rain and Guinea Girl is bringing her keets to the coop and they all sleep with the chickens up on the roosts.

I have enjoyed watching and learning about Guineas. I also now have a Guinea page on my website. I hope you will visit and enjoy all the photos. I will continue to update it as I learn more and more about them.

http://www.westknollfarm.com/Guineas.html

 

[chicmom]

They are so darling! I just love the look of those guineas with their tiny white dots and dinosaur like heads.....What color are they exactly? I'd love to get some next spring....

Sharon

 

[WestKnollAmy]

The parents are Pearls. I think the keets are a Pearl and a Royal Purple but someone else can correct me if I am wrong.
I only got into these this past May when Guinea Boy wandered up on his own to my farm. I had eggs in the 'bator from breeders and he must have sensed this. Then my friend gave me a hen to go with him.

Since then the eggs in the bator hatched and I have put the 4 Pearls out to free range while the lavs and dundotte are still penned. However, they are barn babies and the Pearls are staying in the coop a lot or with the ducklings and chicks in the grow up pen area, though the fence is barely 2 ft tall. They sometimes fly out and roam a bit but are soon back close to the barn.

 

[PeepsCA]

Yep, the 2 young keets with the parents are a Pearl Grey and a Royal Purple

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Awesome! Thank you for letting me know I am getting something right. I keep trying to study up on the colors but it is hard to study all the different colors, patterns and breeds of birds at the same time.

Now to figure out what those Teddy Bears are all about.......

 

[lcw1995]

those r wonderful pics
love them
i just set 9 in the bator and left 5 with my hen
she laid another today so now she has 6
shes not setting yet
but i brought the 9 in bc it got down to 38* here last night

great pics once again