Oh Good Lord, they can fly.

[PeepsCA]

IMO, 9 weeks old is kind of young for them to be outside on their own already, especially at night during the worst predator time of the year. They might be scared, and just huddle together on the ground thinking they are safe. Guineas have to be worked with and they have to be taught/trained to come back to the coop at night.

I suggest catching them (at night like Zaz mentioned), putting them back in their coop for a few more weeks and providing roosts of different heights in there with them so they learn to roost high. Then work with them about going in at night once you do start letting them out again. Predators will just keep coming back, so you will need to make the keets unaccessable to them in order to prevent further loss.

Being the French variety of Guinea Fowl should not make any difference in their ability to fly (bigger body, bigger wings)... maybe the breeder pinioned their wings as keets and they can't get any lift when they attempt to fly? I do see white feathers on one that are in the normal place that flight feathers are located tho...

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Yeh if they have been pinioned they will never fly. When they stretch out do you see flight feathers or is there a gap at the ends of their wings. If there is they have been pinioned. They do this as chicks at the hatchery. With something similar to fingernail clippers. They snip off the ends of the bones of the tips of the wings.

Some people request their guineas to be pinioned so as to keep them in the runs. Usually this will be commercial breeders. But any one can request it from a hatchery. You could have received a batch that have been pinioned by mistake.

 

[gambler]

Quote:
They do fly, but they can't get more than about 4ft high. I don't think the wings are clipped, and I bought them as keets from a feed store.
I will work with them (flying lessons, telling them they are cute). Also, there are no older birds to show them the ropes.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Y'all had me thinking I had SuperKeets for a minute.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:

 

[TarheelBirdy]

I'm CUUUUUTTTE!!!!!!!

I love when they see something on the wall and jump and jump to peck at it.

 

[wahoowifeandmom]

Uh-oh. I am thinking I would like keets like yours. My almost 2-wk-olds are in an uncovered brooder pen in our unfinished basement. Maybe I should get a cover on them.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL and soon. I found one of my one week old Keets napping on top of the waterer. Its only about three inches from the lip of the brooder.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

WahooWife.....I have learned that they are under control until they are about two weeks old. After that, all's fair in love and war.

 

[llrumsey]

This is all really informative since I have just started hatching out my eggs. I was given adults last year and really didnt like them, they laid a bunch of eggs I though what the heck and stuck them in the incubator and the older guines have all disapeared and now the yound ones are hatching. I think I do like the guines but only since I am raising them. the others would eat my other birds eggs and just cause problems in the chicken house, but these I'm going to do differently, so I guess I better get my tail in gear and get them their own house before they are running my home.