My exotic Guineafowl

[casuarius]

The first 2 pictures are a subspecies of the wild Helmeted Guineafowls in Africa called Reichenow's Guineafowl. They have the largest helmets of all the helmeted Guineas. All the wild species of Helmeted have blue heads, and these are what common domesticated Guineas came from. This is a younger pair, the adults are too jumpy to get good shots of, but they're heads are darker blue and the helmets are twice the size of these.

These are my Kenya Crested Guineafowl. They are one of 3 subspecies of Crested Guineafowl in the wild, and have the most colorful facial skin, the polka dots are light blue in color, with blue bars running along the wing feathers.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Nice!
I love the Kenya Cresteds

 

[beesong]

I was surprised in Tanzania last November to see how tall (and colorful) the helmets are on the guineas there. And I was thrilled to be able to see some of the Cresteds there, too, which apparently aren't seen very often. Great fun to come home and tell my guineas about seeing their relatives in the "old country!"

 

[BarnYardBirds]

had no idea there were other types of Guineas out there.. WOW is all I can say and how pretty they are.. No makes me want to look into those types.. I am very interested in looking into them. Are they any different from raising then theother common Guineas...?

 

[featherz]

OoO! I want some of those poofy headed ones!!

Do you sell eggs?

 

[casuarius]

The biggest two things are price, and shelter from winter. They are not nearly as noisy as common Guineas, and only the Reichenow's make the same sounds, but in a milder way, not as loud and very rarely. The Reichenow's are fairly tough birds, and the keeping of them are almost the same as domestics, but they do at least need good shelter from the elements, especially snow and ice...but no heat required. The Crested's are a little more fragile to cold, but here I have never had to heat them in the winter, I just have shelters for them, and I usually lock them up so they can't walk out in the snow or ice...they will lose their toes to frost bite. I don't have Vulturines now, but they are by far the hardest to keep, very prone to frost bite, and lose their toes easily. They need heat in winter proof shelters, and it really needs to stay 50-60 degrees minimum, I have had them lose the tips of their toes in the past if it got under 50 degrees F. Sexing the Reichenow's is alot like domestic guineas, except they have almost no wattles, so for males, you look for the bird that is more upright and dominant, with a taller helmet, and longer legs. Also the hens do the same pad-racking sound as domestics usually before rain. The Crested makes no distinguishing sounds, but the males are slightly larger, and longer legged. They are also like any other male Guinea, and like to stand on their tip toes with wings raised, strutting around. These arent free range birds, and need large aviaries. They don't breed well in lack of space, and most of my aviaries have always been 50x50ft, and they seem to do well. I simply run wire along metal t-posts, and plant a large pole in the middle of the pen, maybe 12 ft high, and attach netting over the top. Also run electric wire around all my pens for predators, and never lose anything while its active. Due to the costs of the exotic breeds, no breeder sells eggs that I know of...they would probably be something like $200/$300 a dozen, which is a big price for the gamble of fertility. The Reichenow's are going for $500/pr, and the Kenya Crested's are around $850/pr and may keep going up because so few people are working with them, and they are slowly dissapearing in captivity. There are also a species of Crested called Zamezi or Mozambique Crested Guineas that are even rarer...I used to have those as well, but sold out for some reason. Now im looking to get some more, but they are $1000/pr or better, they are the tamest of the Guineafowl though, and very striking birds as well. I have known of the Crested, and Vulturines free ranging, but one guy never hatches any, and they are slowly being killed off by predators. For what these birds cost, it's not worth it...predators always choose filet mignon over hot dogs. Anyway, I hope this answers some questions.

Here are a couple more of one of my male Kenya Crested

This is a picture of the other species of Crested (Zamezi's), I wanted to show the difference between the species. These are the rarest in captivity, and I love the contrast of colors, how the blue bars on the wings stand out.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Quote:
Isn't that the truth?



I love your guineas, beautiful!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

OMG!! Thanks for sharing those pictures. One day I hope to be able to have some of those. They are the most beautiful guineas I have ever seen.

 

[casuarius]

Thanks for the comments, I never have trouble selling these guys when available. They seem to be in high demand in the exotic bird world. There are still a few species not in captivity that are pretty neat looking birds. Maybe one day someone will get some over here.

 

[flgardengirl]

Those are so gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing photos of them.