My keets! Color and Age?

[farmerChef]

I got these chicks 2 weeks ago at an auction. There was a pen of 5 buff? and a pen of 5 bronze/5 Lavender.
They are very skiddish, so the pics aren't that great. I tried to get a pic of them in the cage, standing, but they would stand still long enough.

The buff? I have 1 dark and 2 light, friend has the other 2. I read somewhere that the dark ones are hens? They are older than the others, they are starting to lose the fuzz aroung their necks, and they are about the same size as my 2 month old (chicken) chicks.
the darkest, cream colored with brown wings/tail

One of the light ones, cream colored, slightly darker around the wings/tails

Lavender, smaller than the buffs, but it looks like they(lavender and bronze) are 2 different groups, possibly a week apart.

And lastly, the bronze, 2 of them have white wings, does that mean anything?

When do guineas start to lay?

 

[livenwpeeps]

The bronze color one is what they call "Pearl" in color. The ones with white wing feathers are called "Pied". I never count on mine laying eggs until the following spring after they hatch. But it depends on where you are. Mine lay eggs from late March to early October. I'm sure someone on here can give you the correct age they will start laying.

 

[farmerChef]

I didn't know if they where pied or not because they only have white wing feathers

 

[PeepsCA]

Psttt.... Baby Guinea Fowl are called keets

The top keet looks like a Brown to me, it's too dark to be a Buff Dundotte.
The 2nd keet looks kind of like a Buff Dundotte, but again this one is kind of dark as well even for a Hen, so it may be what some breeders consider Cinnamon. Brown, Buff Dundotte and Cinnamon Hens will all be darker than the males, but the colors can easily be confused, depending on which sex they are. If you hear them buck-wheating they are Hens.
The Lavender keet looks like a normal Lavender (that was an easy one!).
And the 2 bottom pics are Pearl Greys. If there are no white chest feathers, then it's not considered Pied, it just has white flight feathers. It may develop a few white chest feathers as it matures tho (and then be considered Pied!).

From what I can see of all of them in the pics, and the tiny bit of the casque development (bump on the top of their head) they all look to be in the age range of about 6 weeks to me, but depending on what they've been fed they could be a little older (low protein starter feeds make them grow at a much slower rate). Keets usually grow much faster than chicks, so using chick size as an age reference isn't too accurate. Losing their neck fuzz isn't always accurate either, depending on if warm weather could be bringing on an early a molt. At around 12 weeks old they should lose all of their baby feathers and feather out into their adult plumage.

They can start breeding/laying as early as 16 weeks old, but like livenwpeeps mentioned, young Hens usually start laying the first spring after they've been hatched.

Cute babies, and nice color assortment, congrats

 

[farmerChef]

I dont know what they where feed before I got them, but they are eating 24% chick feed.
It's hard to tell who's making what sound when I walk over to the cage, they are start flipping out. I was skimming though the other posts and somebody suggested putting one in a cage, then setting it out of the sight of the others.

 

[livenwpeeps]

Quote:
PeepsCA, I love reading your answers to post about colors and such. You are so informative and you also post pictures to show the differences. I have learned more from reading your posts than any other and you are so nice about it too.

 

[PeepsCA]

Thanks livenwpeeps

I don't mind helping others with Guineas at all, in fact I think the more people know about Guineas the better (especially if they own them!), and as you can tell I love to help people ID their keets

The pics usually make what I'm trying to explain so much easier. (I can read something 5 times forwards and backwards and it still doesn't click, then as soon as I see a pic, bingo, I get it, lol).