Question, Question, and yet Another Question! Please Read!!

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Question # 1
I have 7 guineas, they're kind of spoiled because I feed them treats alot on the backporch and I shouldn't have done that! Cause now they will not Free Range. They just sit on the backporch waiting for me to be feed. It doesn't help that it is like 100 degrees all day.
What should I do?
Question # 2
When do Guinea Hens Start to lay? How old? How many weeks/months?
Question # 3
How do you sex guineas? I know you can sex them by their call, and I am pretty sure I have heard both calls but am unsure which is which? Does anybody have a video they can show me of a Male & Female guinea calling? Mine are 3 months old. If I could figure out each gender then I was thinking about ordering Leg Bands for the guineas, the female could have Pink Leg Bands and the Males Blue. That way I could tell them apart!
Thanks for the advice!

 

[ColbyNTX]

Hello to West Texas. I'm a Red Raider! Stop feeding them there, they will go elsewhere but it may take a week or two because they are slow to change. They are seasonal layers and won't lay until next spring, late March to April and lay through July to August. They both make that anoying warning call but only the female can make the soft "buck-wheat, buck-wheat". Next spring you will be able to spot the males easy because they get a bit bigger than the ladies.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

The only time I give them food is when I lock them up for the night.

How old do they have to be to lay?

 

[robin416]

You're liable to find eggs in odd spots, like the middle of the driveway or out in the yard, by the time they are about six months old. Those first eggs are an unknown to the females. Make certain they have free choice calcium.

Stop feeding them treats on the porch. If you want to treat them do it closer to their coop, actually it should be done in their coop so they are more willing to return on their own at night.

Question of my own, you don't feed them until bed time? Are you saying there is no food for them to eat during the day? If so, then you need to fix that. They need that food especially now while they are still growing. My keets return to their coop at least once during the day to eat and then again at bedtime.

Physical differences are very slight and can take years of Guinea keeping to spot those differences.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
The treats I give them is their own food, Chick Starter.

Their coop is on the backporch. They go in and out of it all day long!
You don't understand, if they had feed 24/7 they would Never even leave the porch! They would never go chase bugs, they would just be fat and lazy guineas! I want them to go find their own food, not wait for me to give it to them.

 

[racuda]

At 3 months old there should be a noticeable difference in the wattle size between boys and girls. I have some 3 month old guineas too and it is very easy to tell the difference.

Here is one of yours, and it looks like a girl:

 

[racuda]

The one next to the post appears to be a male:

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
My MIL always said they say "pot lack, pot lack"

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

racuda: in the second pic, which one is the male? If I caught each guinea and looked at their waddles do you think I could tell their gender? If I did that I would also take a picture of each one to post on BYC to confirm genders!

 

[robin416]

You can not depend on wattles for sex determination. I have males that have what you would expect to see and then I have males with wattles that are in the opposite direction. The same with helmets, swooped back does not mean male.

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy, stop feeding your keets on the porch. Put their feed in the feeder in their coop. They will not hang on the porch full time and get fat and lazy that is not the way Guineas are wired. When they have full confidence in their surroundings they will leave the coop to free range. You might be encouraging them to hang closer to home because they are hungry.

My latest keets hung at their coop for about two weeks before they felt confident enough to roam. They began to wander last week and each day takes them to a new place to explore.