Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[harley587]

Lol! Well, I only have the one male and female, so they're definitely the parents

Thank you! I guess I might have to wait until they feather out to know for sure, but a brown would be neat, not to mention totally unexpected!

Edit: If it helps any, these are the parents:

yep, the parents are definitely guineas! Love that lavender female!!

 

[duluthralphie]

I have all pearls. except some of the pearls have white feathers.....

 

[R2elk]

Guinea color morph genes are not fully documented, so unless you have proven breeding stock with proven breeding outcomes, it's very hard to predict the outcome of the keets when you have carriers of a color morph...

I wish I had more diversity, I ordered in some mixed ones trying to get some color diversity in my flock and have pearl, gray, pied, lavender, chocolate, white and cream adults, but all the keets I have hatched are plain jane pearls...

Actually all the ones you have hatched are not "plain jane" pearls. You most likely have a bunch of pearls with hidden recessive genes. If you can mate them back other colored parents (line breeding) you will start seeing different colors than just pearls. Even mating them to each other should produce 75% pearls and 25% other colors.

One thing that many people make the mistake of identifying is with white guineas. If it looks white or very light colored and has pearls (dotting) it is not a white guinea. A true white guinea has no dotting. If your white guineas were truly white guineas and they mated with your pearls you would have gotten 100% pied guineas from such a mating. The white color gene is not located in the same place as are the other color genes. A guinea with one white gene will be pied and a guinea with 2 white genes will be white irregardless of any other color genes that it may carry.

There are two scenarios that would have caused you to not get any pied guineas. One is that you don't actually have white guineas and the second scenario is that you do have a white guinea but it is either sterile or did not get to breed with any of the other guineas.

 

[MeepBeep]

Actually all the ones you have hatched are not "plain jane" pearls.  You most likely have a bunch of pearls with hidden recessive genes.  If you can mate them back other colored parents (line breeding) you will start seeing different colors than just pearls.  Even mating them to each other should produce 75% pearls and 25% other colors.

I understand that, but I don't have time/space to selectively breed guineas they just do their communal thing... My time and space is spent on chicken breeding, as there is simply no local market for guineas that would make breeding worth my effort...

Although on that note, ironically shortly after that post, I went out to collect eggs for the day and when I reached under a broody chicken (that I had stuffed some random guinea eggs under) I surprisingly pulled out a few keets, one that appears to be a buff? Either way my run of pearl only is over

One thing that many people make the mistake of identifying is with white guineas.  If it looks white or very light colored and has pearls (dotting) it is not a white guinea.  A true white guinea has no dotting.  If your white guineas were truly white guineas and they mated with your pearls you would have gotten 100% pied guineas from such a mating.  The white color gene is not located in the same place as are the other color genes.  A guinea with one white gene will be pied and a guinea with 2 white genes will be white irregardless of any other color genes that it may carry.

Guineas are not something I really inspect all that much, but I don't believe my white one has any dotting, but in that regard I have about two dozen guineas and who knows what eggs came from where as the coop floor is littered with eggs every day, so I very well might have never hatched one of the white's offspring...

There are two scenarios that would have caused you to not get any pied guineas.  One is that you don't actually have white guineas and the second scenario is that you do have a white guinea but it is either sterile or did not get to breed with any of the other guineas.

Both could be true, same for my existing pieds I guess...

 

[Victoria-nola]

SHIPPED EGGS
Hi. I've had chickens for 4 something years, and just incubated my first batch of chicks from our own eggs, they are 2+ weeks old now and doing great. I placed an order months ago for guinea eggs and they arrived yesterday.I let them sit overnight, now placed them in the incubator but have not turned on the egg turner. I've read about how the air pocket can be dislodged. However, on candling, I can't see any air pockets on ANY of the eggs.

1. Is it true that I should wait 3 days to turn on the turner for the shipped eggs? I realize there are a lot of opinions out there.

2. What's up with no air pockets? The other eggs I incubated are EEs, various shades of green and blue, and I could always see the air pocket. Is it that the eggs are light brown? Please enlighten me.

Thank you for being here.

 

[duluthralphie]

yep, the parents are definitely guineas! Love that lavender female!!

Thank you, I was not sure if the father was a guinea or a hyena, it can be hard to tell them apart sometimes...

 

[harley587]

Thank you, I was not sure if the father was a guinea or a hyena, it can be hard to tell them apart sometimes...

I understand the difficulty.... after all, they do sound alike!!

 

[duluthralphie]

How does genetics explain my Guineas with white Primaries and other wise they appear to be pearls?

I do have a mix of regulars and giants or jumbos or something. I have no idea how guineas genetics work, even though I have a basic genetics understanding. Do they need a gene to express white like C in chickens or E in dogs?

 

[guineapeeps]

That will never happen, Guinea hens are amongst the worst mothers in the world. If they were human they would have court ordered sterilization.

Guineas that grow up with a foster mother (chicken) have a 43% less likely chance of ending up in prison.

Maybe I just got lucky, but my most of my Guinea hens are great parents. Two of my 3 year old hens will only lay their eggs in a wheelbarrow in the coop and then lay on the eggs together once they go broody. Once the eggs hatch, they are great mothers.....fiercely protective! I've not had any hens that were not very attentive to their keets and never had any problem with them abandoning them either. Even my males seem to help care for the keets. I always heard what terrible parents they were but, luckily, have found just the opposite. I may not be so lucky with my one year old hens this year......I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[R2elk]

SHIPPED EGGS
Hi. I've had chickens for 4 something years, and just incubated my first batch of chicks from our own eggs, they are 2+ weeks old now and doing great. I placed an order months ago for guinea eggs and they arrived yesterday.I let them sit overnight, now placed them in the incubator but have not turned on the egg turner. I've read about how the air pocket can be dislodged. However, on candling, I can't see any air pockets on ANY of the eggs.

1. Is it true that I should wait 3 days to turn on the turner for the shipped eggs? I realize there are a lot of opinions out there.

2. What's up with no air pockets? The other eggs I incubated are EEs, various shades of green and blue, and I could always see the air pocket. Is it that the eggs are light brown? Please enlighten me.

Thank you for being here.

1. If I have detached air cells, I may wait a day before switching on the turner. If I have other eggs in there, I don't wait. I really haven't seen any better hatch rate from waiting.

2. Your failure to be able to identify the air cell is a good thing. It means the eggs are really fresh. The smaller the air cell is at time of shipment the less likely the air cell is to become detached. Also guinea egg shells tend to be thicker and much harder to see through.

The only resting time I give shipped eggs is the length of time that it takes for them to warm up. If you feel they need to rest, don't switch on the turner when you put them in the incubator. One of the many bad things that can happen to shipped eggs is being kept too warm during shipment causing the eggs to start developing. Too long a cool down can then allow those embryos to die.

I find that guinea eggs tend to handle shipping better than larger eggs do.

Good luck.