South Carolina

[RedBugPoultry]

DH put a piece of metal roofing on my keet brooder hutch for me last night and some 6 mil plastic around the sides. What a sweety!

He made the hutch for me last year when I started to raise larger numbers of guineas. The hutch is 12 feet long and 3 feet deep and has 3 dividers so as the keets grow I can open another divider and give them more room. Also, I have a light at both end so I can put different hatches at both ends and as they get bigger open it up so they can mix. It is really nice to have and with the plastic sheeting, on really hot days, I can pull the plastic up and let them get a breeze. I have about 30 keets in it right now and will be putting another 50 in the other end this afternoon. I love Guineas!

Oh, but if anyone needs some keets let me know because I don't mind finding a few homes either. We have Pearls, Coral Blues, Lavenders, Buffs, Buff Dundottes, Browns, and what ever else comes out!

I left out that I also have Royal Purples! Oh, they would be sooo upset~

 

[WestKnollAmy]

OMG! Stop with the keets! I am loving the ones growing up here! Those lavs are so pretty I can't stand not to pick them up and kiss them. And I would love to have coral blue.

I really have loved about all the colors I have seen and find them fascinating. I am still watching that light one but think it may be a white as it is feathering out losing all the dun stripes.

Joy was kind enough to swap me out for a Guinea girl so now my Guinea boy has a new friend and tonight I will put her with him and when i open the coop tomorrow morning they should be able to roam the farm and Guinea boy show her all of his favorite eating places.
He is reluctant to go up in the coop at night with out her now but he does go. I hope she is more likely to follow him than him follow her off somewhere. She has been here almost a week now so I think she will stay once she is let out tomorrow morning.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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I want to say that your blog is so neat to read! Especially the parts about Big Daddy Roo. I was chuckling and looking for more of his story. That was too funny.

And to be an empty nester you sure have a lot of school work! Bummer!

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

Question for all my SC peeps....is it okay for me to switch my 4month olds to layer pellets. almost half of them have combs turned/turning bright red/pink and are squatting. Didn't want to give the extra calcium too early, but im thinking if i do it now it will help them go ahead and plop an egg out.

What ya'll think?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I live 2 miles from the big church and the Fire Dept. so as the crow flies it isn't very far and they shoot off fire works and have a community get together. We don't attend but sit here in the yard and watch the fire works over the trees.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

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Amy, if your keets had dun stripes they will not be white. Once they get their adult feathers they will have some color. Did they have a wide center stripe? Or just thin, light tan stripes? Wide stripes get dots and thin striped get what I call chevrons or just light tan.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

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Not sure what others do but at 16 to 17 weeks I start feeding my young hen chickens laying pellets every other day. Small breed get crumbles. I have not had any problem with this but other might have different thoughts.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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I would continue to feed starter and offer oyster shell. At this age they need the higher nutrients to keep growing bigger and stronger and layer is just a maintenance food. Starter won't hurt them for another few months and will actually be much better for them along with offering oyster shell.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Amy, if your keets had dun stripes they will not be white. Once they get their adult feathers they will have some color. Did they have a wide center stripe? Or just thin, light tan stripes? Wide stripes get dots and thin striped get what I call chevrons or just light tan.

I only had one white/light keet to hatch out. The others are easier to identify.

Here is a photo of the one no one seems to know exactly what color it will mature into.

Fascinating info on how the stripes work to ward adult patterns! Thank you!

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Amy, from the picture I would say you have a very nice buff dundotte! No, that will not be a white--it will darken up during one of its molts and get spots like the pearls but they will be tan or dun. They are beautiful! If I could catch up with one of mine I will take you a picture. I will see what I can do at feeding time this weekend. I have found out that there just aren't very many colors in guineas around here. I purchased over 100 different colored guinea eggs last year from a woman in Oklahoma and hatched out 85 birds. I sold all the pearls and kept the rest until this spring when I sold a few pairs. I love my guinea!

Humm, I was looking at your pictures again. If the keet is looking light now it must be a buff dundotte, but if the stripe down the middle is dark they can turn out to be a brown, which I only have one male of that color. Very pretty bird and he throws brown keets!