Super affectionate guineas!

[OccamsTazer]

DBF and I just got four more tiny wittle keets! These guys are so sweet and affectionate. They seem to really hate being alone. As I write this, I can hear them in the brooder, screaming their heads off! We've spent quite a bit of time today just sitting on the couch with them, and they *love* being with a mommy. They crawl up to my shoulder and hide under my chin, making happy little trills the whole time.
I did not really bond with the chickens I raised, since we were raising most of them for eating, but I'm trying a different approach with the keets.
I have two older guineas that I raised with the chickens, and they're semi-friendly, but nothing like these guys. I think the difference has something to do with the fact that the first two I got were several days old, and these four are barely dry!

 

[greathorse]

GEt back to us in about 3 weeks. I would be surprised if they did not start to freak out after they grow up a bit. I could very easily be wrong but they are suspicious little buggers.

 

[OccamsTazer]

Heh, yeah I know they'll never be perch-on-my-arm sweet, but I'm going to do everything I can to keep them unferal.
Besides, I have peepy fuzzbutts in the house, I have to gush to someone

 

[toredano]

hehe wait a few weeks..
then they think you are going to eat them.. they will fight nail and tooth for beeing picked up.

I think once their little pea brain kicks in they think the hands that come after them are going to kill them. I cant even hand feed mine right now. They freak out so bad sometimes I think they are going to have a heart attack..

 

[Cairina moschata]

I had some keets hatch out with my chicks this year and I couldn't tell the guineas from the chicks so I forgot they were in there until at about week 4 when I noticed these "chicks" charging at feathers and spinning around in circles. At that point I knew that I had some dingy guineas in there. They are just hard-wired to be weird and I'm guessing that in the next few weeks that weird switch will flip and they will start to treat you like the creature from the blue lagoon and flip out when you attempt to pick them up. But there are exceptions to every rule and I wish you the best in your quest to keep them tame. If you accomplish it, you'll have to post your method.

 

[annaserv]

Mine were so sweet and tame when they were little. Then one day I picked one up and it screamed bloody murder. Now I'm just happy enough when they hang out around my feet outside, forget inside their like wild caged animals in the coup... except if I have treats, then I have a couple that are suddenly my friend. (they seem to only like scrambled eggs for treats and that's kind of getting old making it for them.)

 

[txchickie]

Enjoy it while it lasts

Their guinea-paranoia and wierdness will soon take over and you will be their evil nemesis and no more sweet birdies....just big, helmet-headed, loud screaming goonies

 

[froggie71]

Not all guineas flip out. I just finished posting on another thread that my DS took his guineas to our county farm fair. Everyone was amazed at how he was able to just carry them around. My DS loves his guineas and they love him.

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
Honestly, that is impressive!

Very neat and good for him!!!!!! He obviously spent a lot of time with them and cared for them very well, you should be proud, Mama!

Can he share his guinea taming secrets with me?

I am a terrible guinea tamer!

 

[damselfish]

They're not all that bad. Ours are kind of in between...they don't want to be picked up, but a few will let us pet them a bit while feeding.

We had a couple semi-trained to perch on our arms, but they got too big and heavy, and those claws and beaks are pointy, so we quit doing that!