The Middle Tennessee Thread

[Oramman87]

I was told you can sex them buy the different noises they make when you pick them up. You can look it up on YouTube.

i have maybe 30 keets to add in the flock.....problem with grown birds VERY hard to relocate. going to put them on CL maybe someone wants some for meat. I am keeping a few for the colors. my new flock is way more colorful. lavender, coral blues, buff wyandottes, piers then I will keep a few whites a lavender and any females pearls I can find.

if someone know HOW to sex these things let me know.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: i have maybe 30 keets to add in the flock.....problem with grown birds VERY hard to relocate. going to put them on CL maybe someone wants some for meat. I am keeping a few for the colors. my new flock is way more colorful. lavender, coral blues, buff wyandottes, piers then I will keep a few whites a lavender and any females pearls I can find.

if someone know HOW to sex these things let me know.

Sexing them by sound is easiest. Google guinea sounds and it'll be obvious which is which once you here it.
Don't keep too many, they reproduce like bunnies.
We sell them on CL all the times for $3 each when they are under a week old.
I really hate the noisy things, but with the severe tick problem we had when we moved here I can't complain about how well they've gotten that problem under control.
But I swear they are broody and hatching oodles of chicks all the time... we had one who sat on 54 eggs this summer.
And they are none to picky about where they lay... they like to hide their nests.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Redpulletmama, do you have the crate of babies in the big pen with the others? Will it fit in the coop at night? They need to live side by side for a while. You could try putting your big wire cage in the run with the others so they can all see each other but not get to each other. Treats help too. If they are busy gobbling up yummies they tend to leave the babies alone. The big chickens will peck up the littles when they mix. They shouldn't draw blood though. The babies need a place where they can get away from the big chickens, but still mingle.
Good luck!

 

[DMRippy]

none of my guinea were broody. they also laid in the pen so finding the eggs was easy.

not sure I can pick them out by sounds. when you pick them up they all make the same alert sound.

 

[RedPulletMama]

Redpulletmama, do you have the crate of babies in the big pen with the others? Will it fit in the coop at night? They need to live side by side for a while. You could try putting your big wire cage in the run with the others so they can all see each other but not get to each other. Treats help too. If they are busy gobbling up yummies they tend to leave the babies alone. The big chickens will peck up the littles when they mix. They shouldn't draw blood though. The babies need a place where they can get away from the big chickens, but still mingle.
Good luck!

Ever since I got the babies I put them in an extra large dog house with one side completely cut out and covered with chicken wire. I pushed the dog house right up to the side of the big girls run and that is where it has stayed. They can all see each other and smell each other, but it hasn't helped much. I can fit the crate into the big girls run though if that would work better. Its just a lot smaller than the dog house.

 

[Penny Hen]

Sexing guineas. Other than telling the difference in their vocalizations when they get to be about 2 month old I don't know.

I am still trying to get a friend of mine to convince her nephew to teach me how to sex chickens by their pelvis width. He can do it without error but he just doesn't want to give the secret away. I have got to figure something he might find worthy of that skill that he would trade for. Theoretically, it might be possible to do that with the guineas too. But it is a subtle difference and takes a sharp eye to measure in the small increments that are the difference. Of course you can take the scientific approach and get a small metal metric ruler and measure chicks and record the ages until they grow enough that you get definitive proof of the sex and then you would know the "score spread" for males and the "score spread" for females.

You measure between the two pointy bones on either side of the vent.

 

[Goose and Fig]

If you send the guineas to me they will instantly all be boys! Every. Flipping. Time.

 

[DMRippy]

If you send the guineas to me they will instantly all be boys! Every. Flipping. Time.

haha. if you need eggs in the spring let me know. if I keep the few girls maybe they will show the youngn's where to lay in the run so I can find them......fingers crossed on that one for sure.

 

[Penny Hen]

How long does molting usally last?Thanks!

My Olive Eggers seem to have molted out of their juvenile feathers just to go into the fall molt two weeks later. The roosters finished first and are chasing the pullets and are running from them (mostly Rufus, the red duckwing, Long John Silver is too cool to chase them). They are have been crowing for a month now. Both are stunning but I favor Long John because I like his personality. Rufus is a red neck though a very intelligent bird. That and Long John has a broad chest to die for. He is a silver duckwing with red leakage. True leakage is usually considered a fault (I guess because it requires more skill to eliminate it) but with it he is a very colorful swashbuckling kind of guy, hence his name. He even has a Blackbeard. They are Marans/Americana cross with pea combs. The girls are Cinder (slate blue), Chicken Little (slate blue), and Raven (black copper). Still are finding loose feathers from the girls. I am wondering just when I will get my first eggs.

 

[BKPUCKETT]

Is there a trade day anywhere this week end??