Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[PeepsCA]

I wish I could find info on colors. Like if you breed this to this you get this kinda thing. What colors produce what. I have searched the internet but not really anything that I have found.

Unfortunately there's not much, if any info out there about breeding Guineas or info about breeding for certain colors. All of what I have learned over the years is mainly based on my own personal experiences from breeding my own birds, hatching hundreds and hundreds of keets from their eggs (close to 2000 keets), knowing which genes are dominant and recessive and understanding how those genes work in different breedings/match-ups. I'm still learning and have a lot more to learn, but I can typically tell people what should or can hatch... but there's always hidden recessives that show up in the hatches too, especially when dealing with some of the more recessive varieties/colors. The fact that Guineas can carry so many hidden genes can really vary the outcomes of the hatches tho. I don't mind surprises, except when I am trying to hatch something specific, lol.

Hmm, if your male Guinea is obsessed with your Cornish Hen, then maybe he's not breeding any of your Guinea Hens at all and a Rooster has stepped up to the plate with the White Hen, lol. Can't wait to find out what you hatch.

 

[hobbychicken]

I have one keet that has hatched. By the pictures on the internet it looks to me like a royal purple but this is my first one to ever hatch. I am not sure it seems darker than the chocolate keet pics.

 

[PeepsCA]

I have one keet that has hatched. By the pictures on the internet it looks to me like a royal purple but this is my first one to ever hatch. I am not sure it seems darker than the chocolate keet pics.

Here are 3 Royal Purples (the top 2 are Pied) and 2 Chocolate keets from my last hatch, for a comparison. They are 5 days old now so their body down colors aren't real visible, but you can still compare the head stripes colors at least. Chocolates are noticeably lighter.


If your keet looks different try to post a pic and I can probably tell you what you hatched.

 

[hobbychicken]

It looks identical to the very top dark one. So it is a royal purple pied ? That's cool guinea genetics are crazy....lol

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Based on all that I have learned, I am going to start to try to free-range my birds and get them penned up at night. However, I have tried millet, and they don't care about it. I got it at a store that sells birds like cockatiels, parakeets, etc. What other suggestions do you have - things that your guineas really like?

 

[PeepsCA]

Sweet feed works for my birds. Not a lot tho, too much molasses will give them the squirts...

You could start off by letting them out hungry, not letting them have free choice access to feed all day and closing the coop when you let them out so they can't come and go as they please. Then at feeding/coop-up time they should be a little more willing to come running for feed when they hear you call them, shake the feed scoop or fill their feeder. My flocks all get food dish separation anxiety when I lock them out, and run right in when I open the gate/door

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Sweet feed works for my birds. Not a lot tho, too much molasses will give them the squirts...

You could start off by letting them out hungry, not letting them have free choice access to feed all day and closing the coop when you let them out so they can't come and go as they please. Then at feeding/coop-up time they should be a little more willing to come running for feed when they hear you call them, shake the feed scoop or fill their feeder. My flocks all get food dish separation anxiety when I lock them out, and run right in when I open the gate/door

I got some sweet feed this morning at the feed store. I'm going to start treat-training them and letting them free-range in the afternoons. I just don't like having some of them penned up all the time, it's starting to really bother my heart.

 

[JacqueOCS]

I got some sweet feed this morning at the feed store. I'm going to start treat-training them and letting them free-range in the afternoons. I just don't like having some of them penned up all the time, it's starting to really bother my heart.

We have 11 guineas and they free range all day. It's fun to watch them run as a group from the pasture to the yard to the chicken house. They all come back to the chicken house to roost at night. Yours will love to free range!!!

 

[TarheelBirdy]

We have 11 guineas and they free range all day. It's fun to watch them run as a group from the pasture to the yard to the chicken house. They all come back to the chicken house to roost at night. Yours will love to free range!!!

I know they will....and I want that for them. I just wonder if they will join up with our free-range guineas who roost in trees instead of coming back to their pen....and therefore become predator-bait. These are my breeding stock. Still, I don't want to see them stress any more, and I think it's due to a lack of free-ranging.

 

[Mmmaddie13]

Could you get some sort of movable fence? I'm thinking of getting "poultry fencing" from here for my chickens/guineas (when they're old enough) just so I can keep them within a certain boundary, but still let them out to play.