Pictures of New guineas-how old?

[Cindy in PA]

These are the 6 new guineas I picked up on 9/16. Lady said they were about 10 weeks and I thought they looked at least 12, unless they can grow faster. She said they were about 7 weeks younger than her chickens that she got in May. There is one male & 5 females in the group of six. Their wattles are totally not "girl" looking, but the one in the middle picture was butt cracking at the time and so is the one on the right of the first picture. I surely couldn't tell they are girls from the wattles & size. Can anyone tell me how old you think they are? Full grown is all I see. I may be able to call the place where she got them and see what dates they got guineas in. This picture would make them 11 weeks by her count and my guess would put them at least 13 weeks. Can guineas grow too fast? Thanks.

 

[PeepsCA]

I agree, they are older than 11 wks. I'd say they look closer to 13-14 wks, because their casques are well developed, their wattles are well colored, and they have their adult plumage... and I see no juvenile feathers at all. A little more mature looking than my batch of 10-12 wk olds that I've raised on 27% protein Turkey starter.

Did she hatch these Guineas or buy them as day olds... or were they maybe a week or so older when she got them? Depending on when she got them in May, and how old they were when she got them there could be at least a couple weeks discrepancy in their actual age.

Either way they look nice and healthy, and must have been fed high protein feed (which they should have been). High protein feed definitely makes them grow fast, but I doubt they grew any faster than the normal rate.

Those girls definitely have some big cupped wattles, lol.

Congrats again.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Thanks PeepsCA, I think too they look healthy. She got her chickens in May & then got the guineas about 7 weeks later. She got them as day olds at a feed store. I know the one & you have to order them ahead of time. Most feed stores get guineas mid June around here an even if she got them as late as the third week in June, they would have been 13 weeks last week & 14 now. I was expecting to see much younger looking keets when I got there. She said they were big & had been fed well. She gave me the remainder of a bag of feed and it looks like starter, which she said it was. Problem is I know the mill and it had no tag, so don't know if it was 26% turkey with Amprol or 20% chick starter. I went and got some 15 % game bird pellets to mix with it, as I thought 26% may be too much. Is that OK? If it's 20% the mix will be 17.5% & if it's 26% the mix will be 20.5%. They seem to really like the pellets. Even my two older males like them. I also have some Ultra kibble mixed in. When do they start getting their casques? I never would have guessed they were girls with the wattles, but I know they are. Only one in the whole bunch has flat ones. Thanks for your opinion.

P.S. They are going in the coop with no problem & two nights ago finally started roosting with the two males. Things are going well, considering I could not really integrate them properly.

 

[JLeigh]

Cindy, I have 6 week old guineas - I hatched them myself (Aug 10th) - and they aren't near what I see in your pictures. They have hints of wattles and little bumps on their heads where the casques are starting to develop. I'd be shocked if they looked like yours in four weeks.

But they do grow FAST, and this is my first time with keets. Yours look healthy and happy. Can't wait for mine to look like that. I'll try to get some pictures to post here later this afternoon so you can compare.

Congrats though on great guineas.

 

[PeepsCA]

Cindy, I'd go ahead and finish up the starter feed and game bird pellet mix... even if it's high protein starter feed, the extra protein won't hurt them. After that's starting to get low you can just wean them over to (slowly mix in) any normal layer feed for chickens containing 16% protein (which is probably cheaper than the game bird pellets), with a little Ultra kibble mixed in if you want. If your winters are harsh then a little cracked corn or scratch mixed in as well will help keep them warm thru the cold/wet weather (not too much tho, they don't need a whole lot of extra fat and starches to keep a good weight). 16% protein is as much protein as their adult bodies will need and utilize, they'll just pass the rest... so I would not waste your money on anything higher protein or anything pricey that says "game bird" on it after you use up what you have, especially if you plan to keep mixing in a little of the Ultra Kibble.

 

[jbirds2012]

mine are 10 weeks old and not that big, so i'd say maybe 14 weeks old

 

[Cindy in PA]

Thanks everyone. How do guineas do with layer mash?? I feed my chickens a local no-soy layer that has fish meal in it. Would guineas eat mash or not?

 

[PeepsCA]

I'm sure they'd probably eat it, but with feeding crumbles and mashes there's always a lot of waste with my birds... so I prefer pellets for my flocks, but that's a personal choice. Give your mash a try, see if it works out for your Guineas and their feeding routine. You can always switch to something else if it doesn't.