Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[Tikkijane]

There are five new guineas in total. Four females and one male. My current flock is five males and four females.

I suspect they may well be their own merry little band. Mine roost together {with the chickens} but once that door is open, they go off in their own little pods.

 

[Nickeyo]

Does anyone have pictures of the development of royal purple guineafowl? Like from day olds upto adult as I have adult purples and I had what I thought was a load of chicks of that colour but as they have grown they seem more like pied Pearls so does anyone also have pictures of pied pearls development aswell

 

[R2elk]

Does anyone have pictures of the development of royal purple guineafowl? Like from day olds upto adult as I have adult purples and I had what I thought was a load of chicks of that colour but as they have grown they seem more like pied Pearls so does anyone also have pictures of pied pearls development aswell

All of the photos that you are requesting can be found on the Guinea Fowl International color chart.

http://guineas.com/colorchart/

The adults are at the top with the keets lower down followed by the pied guineas at the bottom of the chart.

If you click on the images, they will open at a larger size so you can better see the differences. I right click on the images that I want to view and select open in a new tab so I can go back and forth between the images.

The main differences between pied pearl keets and royal purple keets are that royal purple keets have squiggly lines on the top of their heads which means they will be partially dotted. The pied pearl keets have more of a widow's peak with the center of it being solid colored. The solid center stripe on the top of the head means that it is fully dotted even though you will not see dotting in the white areas of a pied guinea.

There have been cases of people being sold pearl gray guineas as royal purple guineas because the sellers and the buyers didn't know the difference between royal purple guineas and pearl gray guineas.

 

[Kim Z]

I suspect they may well be their own merry little band. Mine roost together {with the chickens} but once that door is open, they go off in their own little pods.

My current guineas roost with the chickens at night as well. Just hoping the new skittish ones will integrate well with the guineas I already have. They have such different group personalities. I hope that when the newcomers realize that they are well cared for here they will calm down a bit.

 

[duluthralphie]

My current guineas roost with the chickens at night as well. Just hoping the new skittish ones will integrate well with the guineas I already have. They have such different group personalities. I hope that when the newcomers realize that they are well cared for here they will calm down a bit.

Guineas calm down????

... Guineas to calm down!!!

just a bit

As you can tell I find it hard to believe that will happen.

 

[harley587]

Hello everyone! Figured I would join the Guinea thread so I can learn more about them! I only have 9 Guinea keets right now but hope to get more! I have 2 whites and 7 pearl/pied! The whites are the oldest and one has decided to scream "buckwheat"! The other hasnt yet so I assume it a male. Or just a late developer. And the 7 pied/pearl are to young to tell yet lol!

My female white.

And a pied.

Welcome to the guinea peeps~!!!! You're keets are absolutely adorable ... but don't worry, I'm sure that they will grow up to be the proper thugs that they can be!!

 

[Kim Z]

Guineas calm down????

... Guineas to calm down!!!

just a bit

As you can tell I find it hard to believe that will happen.

I know, I know. Pipe dream. But there is still hope in my heart. They have actually mellowed a bit already with access to dust baths, plentiful food and the removal of their blinders. Now to give them time to heal their noses and clipped wings.

 

[charid]

I released the older babies. Well half. I hate them. They are doing dangerous things right now. I see broken legs everywhere. I don't know how exactly but 3 are on the coop roof. 1 is around the bottom. It's overcast and early owl time and no sign of these fools finding the door. I really don't remember my other birds being so dumb. Gah. I did the long arms move. They merely fly over me. I know if I keep at it I will lose an eye by the end of the night.

The baby is walking. Nothing short of a miracle. He doesn't last long on his new legs. I imagine it will be 6 weeks before he gains any kind of age appropriate strength.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I released the older babies. Well half. I hate them. They are doing dangerous things right now. I see broken legs everywhere. I don't know how exactly but 3 are on the coop roof. 1 is around the bottom. It's overcast and early owl time and no sign of these fools finding the door. I really don't remember my other birds being so dumb. Gah. I did the long arms move. They merely fly over me. I know if I keep at it I will lose an eye by the end of the night.

The baby is walking. Nothing short of a miracle. He doesn't last long on his new legs. I imagine it will be 6 weeks before he gains any kind of age appropriate strength.

A rake sometimes comes in handy, though I broke one trying to spear a guinea because they were pi$$ing me off so much.

 

[charid]

A rake sometimes comes in handy, though I broke one trying to spear a guinea because they were pi$$ing me off so much.

And that's exactly how I ended up getting them in. I swept them in with the rake, no eye contact.