No eggs and very jealous..

[PeepsCA]

Yes, definitely kept them all! The two boys are in with our main flock, and one has been a dork and hooked up with a lavender girl so we won't get anything pretty from him. The other has claimed purple girls that have ivory underneath, so we'll see there. The two chocolate girls are in with our blond boy, and I'm assuming the blonde here is from them. These two keet both have squiggles on their head and completely white wings--can a buff have that? I haven't had buff, so I don't remember what it looks like.

I find it interesting how our chocolates range in colors as adults. One of the girls is so dark she can be mistaken for a purple in the right light, and it's only because of the beautiful penciling on her chest that I can always be sure of her. Can't wait to see how the new keets grow out!

All colors of the partially-pearled keets have the broken/squiggly lines on their heads, and white wings all the way to the shoulders (the particular colors of the head stripes and body stripes are of course what determine what the base color will be)... they lose all of the white on the wings as they feather in (unless they are Pied).

My Chocolates are usually pretty consistent, but I get a lot of variation in my Blondes and Buffs. Usually the Hens are always darker, but sometimes I get a few that don't follow that rule, lol.

Here's 2 Buff keets from last yr's hatches



2 different shades of Buffs and a Chocolate



A Chocolate and 2 different shades of my Blondes (the Blonde on the far right is Pied)



Another Blonde

 

[Country Chickens]

Okay, from those it looks like we have a blonde and a buff! lol Which is cool, I'll take them both and it would be fun to have buff since I don't have that yet!

What's hardest for me is telling the chocolates from the purples. We had one last year that we couldn't tell. Meaning, we put a little grid fence around the chocolate eggs when they were hatching, and we knew from the shells that seven chocolate eggs hatched (we only have four now 'cause we lost three in a sudden heat wave just after they moved outside) but the babies outsmarted us and several changed places, jumping over the little fence. And six of them we could clearly tell where the chocolates, but we never did know with the last. Do you have any tips for telling them apart? 'Cause my blonde and buff above also hatched with some babies I've been assuming were purples but it would be nice if I knew for sure!

 

[lemmerich]

I am so jealous live in Canada and can't find a chocolate at all not happy anyone can help me

 

[PeepsCA]

Okay, from those it looks like we have a blonde and a buff! lol Which is cool, I'll take them both and it would be fun to have buff since I don't have that yet!

What's hardest for me is telling the chocolates from the purples. We had one last year that we couldn't tell. Meaning, we put a little grid fence around the chocolate eggs when they were hatching, and we knew from the shells that seven chocolate eggs hatched (we only have four now 'cause we lost three in a sudden heat wave just after they moved outside) but the babies outsmarted us and several changed places, jumping over the little fence. And six of them we could clearly tell where the chocolates, but we never did know with the last. Do you have any tips for telling them apart? 'Cause my blonde and buff above also hatched with some babies I've been assuming were purples but it would be nice if I knew for sure!

The Royal Purple keets will have darker squiggly head stripes... typically a dark walnut to almost black color (very similar to the dark color on Pearl Grey keets' head markings), and the Chocolates will have lighter, softer brown squiggly head stripes.

The dark body stripes are usually darker on the Royal Purples (like their dark squiggly head stripes), but sometimes they can have a lighter tint or even a slight reddish hue to them which can be confusing (I've noticed that body stripe colors can vary on my Royal Purple keets depending on which bloodline they are from out of my flocks), so I always go by the color of the dark squiggly head stripes. The body stripes on the Chocolates are always a lighter, softer, redder brown than the Royal Purples.

Royal Purple and Chocolate



Royal Purple and Blonde



Also when they all start feathering out, it's pretty obvious who is which color... the Royal Purples start feathering in really dark brown like the Pearl Grey keets do, the Chocolates feather in a lighter softer brown color, the Blondes start feathering in even lighter and softer (with a slightly greyish tint to their color), and the Buffs feather in creamy light tan.

HTH

 

[PeepsCA]

I am so jealous live in Canada and can't find a chocolate at all not happy anyone can help me

Sorry lemmerich. I don't know of any Guinea Fowl breeders in Canada to refer you to. And I am not sure any of the US breeders are allowed to ship keets or eggs to Canada or not. Try contacting The Guinea Farm , maybe they can ship to Canada, or at least refer you to someone in Canada that breeds and sells Chocolates.

 

[Country Chickens]

So, I think I also have a chocolate! I'd wavered on him from the beginning, but thought I was just being wishful. Then today someone came to buy the lavs and purples and as I was pulling them out I noticed again that this guy was a different shade from the RPs and lighter on the head. I'm still not sure, but I kept him so I guess I'll find out in about six weeks here as his feathers come in! Thanks for all you help with this. If you hadn't been here I think I would have just sold my first chocolate as a purpil without even realizing it!

It would be fun to ship to Canada, and we are NPIP and test clean for AI. I wonder what their rules are for shipping eggs across the border? I'll bet Peeps is right, and guinea farm would know!

 

[lemmerich]

Thank u and hope that little guy is chocolate for u. I know they can be shipped I talked to them I just have to find the closest border to me is all.

 

[kuntrygirl]

it just isn't  right!    my incubator should be full
and cute little keats already eating as fast as they breathe...
found no eggs again . ..

I'm overloaded with eggs over here. :/ I think I have about 30 eggs under chickens and turkeys.

 

[critters]

where are mine?.....

 

[kuntrygirl]

  where are mine?.....

Soon soon soon. You will get some soon and you WILL be overloaded.

I feel the same way about my pea fowl eggs. I have been looking for pea eggs for 4 weeks now.