She did it!

[fledgling]

We have 6 free range guineas. We started with ten but lost four females due to predation. The last female, now named Penny, disappeared three weeks ago and we were down to five.

But, wait! She showed up yesterday with 23 keets! Her nest was cleverly made in the wooded area in our donkey's corral (he would chase away any sort of predator). I stole 12 keets and brought them inside for the brooder but left her 11 babies to raise. She told off our dog yesterday morning (funny as heck to see a big GSD running with his tail tucked from a small bird). She made it through the night with all 11 babies! How long until they can fly up high enough to roost? I'm going to keep the dogs in until the babies are old enough to fly. I really hope she can keep those keets safe!

She's lavender and the males are royal purple, lavender and pearl (I think the pearl is her main man). Are the babies all pearls?

PICTURES, of course.

This is yesterday right after she hatched them out:

This morning in the backyard:

And the house keets this morning:

 

[BorderKelpie]

Good girl!!!!

Smart move on her part to borrow the donkey's pen.
I know absolutely nothing about guineas except that they scare me to death (I think they eat people, I'm quite sure of that actually). She is a lovely color, I do hope you get all the colors you like from them.

(they are surprisingly cute when they are little. Funny, how something that cute can grow up into a purple people eater.)
Best wishes for them all!

 

[ColbyNTX]

The babies look like pearl from what I can see from the pics. Guineas usually make poor moms. Its like they loose interest and go on their walks and forget babies behind. They also take them out in the wet morning grass and get the babies wet and chilled. If they start dropping like flies, you may want to collect the rest untill they are a few weeks older or just let nature do its thing.

 

[chicmom]

Darling, just darling! Thank you for sharing.....I might just get some guineas one of these days, but they're sooooo loud! I do live in the country, but I have two neighbors and it might make them mad....

I could care less about the one neighbor because his lousy dog used to bark all night (until it ran away and was hit by a car). Now they've got another dog that has attacked one of my hens right in my own back yard...

Hmmmmm, maybe I SHOULD get some guineas!

They are so beautiful! And I love their crazy dinosaur looking heads....

 

[fledgling]

Her behavior this morning was commendable. She takes a few steps and "buckwheats" to her babies to keep up. When I walked by her, she hunkered down and spread her wings slightly so I couldn't see any of her babies. The boys act as early sentries and call out when anything or anyone gets too close to her. She cannot keep up with them so she is doing a much slower, shorter walk around the yard.

 

[kyle7630]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. I am missing a RIR hen. It would be great if she shows up, but I'm not holding my breath. Cool looking mom and babies though.

 

[Anianna]

That's awesome, fledgling, and they are soooooo cute! She sounds like a very good guinea momma.

Quote:
Those heads freak me out, but I love guineas for their tick munching goodness and their help notifying about or even running off predators.

Did you hold those neighbors accountable for the dog attack? In Ohio, you don't even have to bring the charge yourself, you notify the authorities and the county prosecutor is supposed to take care of it for you. Leash laws are pretty lax in Ohio in most areas, but you should check local ordinances to see if there are any stricter local laws. Either way, owners are still responsible for any damages caused by their dogs.

Ohio state dog laws

 

[kla37]

What a good girl! Congrats!

 

[fledgling]

A gang of 8-10 crows came by and attacked mama guinea yesterday. All the guineas were sounding off but I got outside too late. The crows flew away as soon as I opened the back door (I think someone has shot at them before so they know people are dangerous). I looked around carefully but did not see any keets. I thought she had lost them all to the tricky crows. Later, I saw 7 following her so she must have found a place to hide them during the attack. She lost 4. I took one more inside so she has 6 to watch over now (that was all I could snag without risking life and limb, LOL!). I did not know guineas were smart enough to hide their keets. She was standing up when I was searching for them after the attack so I know they weren't underneath her. I just assumed they were eaten. She is more clever than I thought. I'm very proud of her!

 

[PeepsCA]

Fledg, just to caution you... your keets that you've taken from the Momma really should be on paper towels, old towels w/o any loose strings, rubberized shelf liner or even coarse straw for bedding for the first few days, minimum. They can eat those fine shavings, fill up on them instead of their starter feed and die (they can get impacted crops or get clogged up further down).

The crows will be back, if something else doesn't get the keets first