Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[duluthralphie]

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!

Good luck!

I am impressed to hear not all guineas took to the life of crime.

My Guineas will not even sit on the eggs. No matter how many there are. I did not pick eggs for 3 days (from the guineas because I had to be gone. I picked 34 eggs spread around a 3 ft wide circle. I am trying to figure out just how many hens I have, I may not have enough Boys to keep all the eggs fertile. Which would explain my poor hatches on them.

 

[pattyhen]

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!

Thats great I love hearing something possitive about the little hoodlums.

I love your avitar. I had to click on it to see what the guinea was wearing. A crown, sunglasses and a pearl necklace. Was that photo shopped or did she actually wear this? Halarious.

 

[R2elk]

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?

I vaguely remember reading something on the genetics relating to the white primaries on Pearl Gray guineas. The white primaries are not part of the white gene which determines whether or not they are white or pied. That white gene is located on a different site than the other color genes are. If a single white gene is present the guinea will be pied. If two white genes are present the guinea will be white. Because it is located on a different site, it can suppress both dominant and recessive color genes such as pearl gray, blue and buff.

It is not uncommon for Pearl Gray guineas to have some white primaries and they are still considered to be Pearl Grays. I know that my Chocolate male has a couple of white primaries.

Places to look for information on guinea color genetics are:

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/genetics/

http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page8.html

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/87/2/138.full.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/z4zdrtm

http://guineas.com/articles/genetics.php

Do not be surprised if some of the information is conflicting. Ignore the part about the woman who is trying to apply how white works in peacocks to how white works in guineas. There is also the white that has been developed in guineas in Australia that does not follow the behavior of the white gene in American guineas.

 

[duluthralphie]

I vaguely remember reading something on the genetics relating to the white primaries on Pearl Gray guineas. The white primaries are not part of the white gene which determines whether or not they are white or pied. That white gene is located on a different site than the other color genes are. If a single white gene is present the guinea will be pied. If two white genes are present the guinea will be white. Because it is located on a different site, it can suppress both dominant and recessive color genes such as pearl gray, blue and buff.

It is not uncommon for Pearl Gray guineas to have some white primaries and they are still considered to be Pearl Grays. I know that my Chocolate male has a couple of white primaries.

Places to look for information on guinea color genetics are:

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/genetics/

http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page8.html

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/87/2/138.full.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/z4zdrtm

http://guineas.com/articles/genetics.php

Do not be surprised if some of the information is conflicting. Ignore the part about the woman who is trying to apply how white works in peacocks to how white works in guineas. There is also the white that has been developed in guineas in Australia that does not follow the behavior of the white gene in American guineas.

Interesting. The flock I got some of the guineas from had both white and pearl, and then these white winged ones. He told me when he started getting little ones they came out partially white. Obviously he had some with the gene for the white primaries and did not know it and had little or no knowledge on Guinea genetics...

It was just a coincidence he got the white wings with the white birds...... Cool


Interesting to see Australia has some guineas with different genetics just like they do with turkeys..

I will get back to you after I read all this stuff and am an expert on guinea genetics...

 

[harley587]

Interesting. The flock I got some of the guineas from had both white and pearl, and then these white winged ones. He told me when he started getting little ones they came out partially white. Obviously he had some with the gene for the white primaries and did not know it and had little or no knowledge on Guinea genetics...

It was just a coincidence he got the white wings with the white birds...... Cool


Interesting to see Australia has some guineas with different genetics just like they do with turkeys..

I will get back to you after I read all this stuff and am an expert on guinea genetics...

Will there be an organizational chart so we can easily follow?

 

[duluthralphie]

Will there be an organizational chart so we can easily follow?

It will go something like this....



"Listen to what I say, any questions ask R2Elk, he will explain it"...

 

[Victoria-nola]

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.

Thank you very much for the help. I don't have any other eggs but I have no evidence for detachment. Glad to hear the no visible air cell is likely evidence of freshness. I bought them from Guinea Farm so I was hoping to get top notch eggs. Yay. I'll go ahead and plug in the turner.

Thanks a bunch. BYC is the best!

 

[Victoria-nola]

I have another question. We've been thinking it might be strongly in the best interests of the new keets if we buy some adult guineas so that they have experienced adults to learn about life from. We hope for the guineas to be mostly free ranging but will definitely do the thing of grain in the evening. I know that adults and keets have to be sequestered at least 12 weeks before you can hope they'll stick around at your place. Would it be a good idea to have adults too? We didn't know when we ordered the guinea eggs that we'd be able to buy birds locally, so we're doing this a bit backward maybe.

1. fyi, I have 36 guinea eggs in the incubator, with no clue about how many will hatch. If a good idea, how many adults would be a good idea?

2. If it's agreed to be a good idea, what type of separation would be required in the guinea coop/run? I will be using the MamaHeatingPad (MHP) method of brooding the keets, so they'll be out in the coop from day 1 or 2. Should I keep them in a fenced-off brooder just like with chicks for the first 2 weeks, then let the keets have portals/openings in their brooder space to allow them to go in and out of the main coop area on their own? My question assumes someone has knowledge of the MHP method, of course. But the main question is, if I'm sequestering new adults and new keets at the same time, will they blend as a flock ok? Any difference from chickens that would be good to be aware of?

3. And last, How much space should their coop and run have? Does someone have a link to a good discussion on this? As mentioned, we hope that they'll freerange and hopefully naturalize and reproduce on their own. We're trying to start off with a decent number that could help them with critical mass for success. Since we're providing them with a coop, what long-term factors should we be considering in design and placement? oh, fyi, we live out in the country on 29 acres with lots of woods plus a 13-acre meadow/pasture, currently fallow.

Also FYI, I've read the book Gardening with Guineas but the author seems to be so adamantly against free-ranging that I can't learn what I need to know from that book, which is why I'm asking here.

Thanks for your thoughts.

--Victoria

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

Keep us posted.... Thats where I have been planning on starting my flock from.... shipped eggs from Jumbos and some assorted Royal purple, Lavenders, maybe a bronze or two. grand total of about forty going to max out my bator.....

 

[duluthralphie]

I would not get older birds to put with the keets. They would just start them on their life of crime and debauchery earlier than they will learn on their own. By the time you get the adults to stay at your place the keets would be 3-4 months old. Not worth the effort. I hated bringing in older birds. The only time it worked was when I had older birds here for them to bond with and after months in a cage.

A guinea in a cage is a worthless guinea. They need to free range to eat bugs and ticks. Also they do not protect the other birds much from inside a pen.

I doubt you will have much luck getting them to reproduce on there own, but others say it happens. I think I just have neer do well guineas. They refuse to have anything to do with a nest.

If you want good Guineas (an Oxymoron for sure) Try to graft them to a broody hen. It makes for the best Guineas...