Uh oh... found an egg today! ... - A journal of sorts, from finding eggs to hatching them... Update

[daylily]

Thanks Peeps,

I feel very lucky to be able to hold the and pet them.

Well I did It!

I moved the other two guineas from their single cages into one. Charley and Mary are like love birds!

Also that very large crate happens to be their old baby coop, so the other guineas can see and be around them but cannot get to them. Sassy Sal has already flipped out and tried to fight Charley through the bars! Charley was so cool, he was puffed up and ready but was wasting for Sal to get his head through the bars!!!!

Charley already know his head doesn't fit without getting stuck! Sal does not!
Our white one, Pavi, has already tried to attack Mary before I got Charlie in and poor Mary was scared, Charley, who was Pavi's mate, chased her away!!!!

Yes!!!! He is so protective of her now. They have been making a lot of noise but they are where I can see them from the computer and I can get to the easier. As soon as I go out they start cooing and eating. Charley wanted his big old petting and Mary scooted herself into my hands to be held!
Awwww! So sweet! They can see me through the window so they are calmer now.This will be so much easier on my bad back!!!!!Also no more artificial lights. I hope to keep them in for the next couple of weeks before letting them out to free range. Also the novelty of their sudden arrival will have wore off by then.
Also found two new eggs in the old coop yesterday but this morning there were two new ones in the old nest! Can't have it both ways! All other eggs will be used for food, I'll let her keep the 8 that she has inside the coop. She did turn them and laid on them, but she moved them from the nesting box to another side of the coop. The other hen could careless! Mary doesn't care either about her eggs. It could get interesting in another couple of weeks.

 

[Country Chickens]

Daylily that is super fun your guineas let you handle them. Mine will only in duress, like if they're stuck in something or caught out in the dark in the rain--otherwise forget it! And good luck getting your girl to brood the babies for you. That will be so cool if she does it!

So I have tried several things to salt the nest, and what's worked best was either real eggs that were duds or handmade clay eggs. My girls will accept golfballs only once the nest is very well established. The clay eggs were what the snake took, and yeah, he probably didn't survive the experience...which while a bummer for the snake was kinda a point of pride for my egg-making ability!

We have taken to keeping the girls in til after they lay--our pied continued to claim the nest and try to brood her egg each day after she layed it, and was also keeping the nest unavailable for the other girls. They have adjusted better to staying in til after they lay then I thought they would--we do have a nice big coop with an inside part and outside part and high roosts.

Peeps, are the female keets generally darker than their male buddies? I'd only head that of browns, but I think you mentioned that as a possibility for a blonde? Just curious...on the of chance the babies this weekend aren't all pearls!

 

[PeepsCA]

Supposedly only the Buff Dundottes are the ones you can positively sex at hatch by their color, but not in my flocks.. All the mature tan/brown/buff color gened Hens that are in my breeding flocks are all darker than their male counterparts, and it seems to be the same with any of the keets that display the tan/brown/buff color gene so far as well. I'll know more as the keets that I'm keeping this season mature and feather out tho.

 

[Country Chickens]

That's really interesting--I've felt for awhile that the guinea coloring and genetics are hard to pin down. They seem true to guinea form--flighty and resistant to domestication! lol I'll have to watch for that in ours...if we ever get some browns.

 

[PeepsCA]

Hatch #9, 23 more keets


There's a really light Buff (male probably) and maybe a Blonde in there somewhere... (it's too dark to be a what I consider to be a Buff, but we'll see when it feathers out).

Doesn't seem like I'm only hatching once a week does it?

You guys gettin' sick of my hatch pics yet?

 

[perchie.girl]

Not sick at all Love them Keetsies.....

deb "battin down the hatches for rain"

 

[PeepsCA]

I feel like I'm hoggin' the keet spotlight

 

[perchie.girl]

Naww you keep giving us hope... I still havent got any eggs but I have a plan.... some ceramic eggs at the store and just bought some plywood for some modular walls. My coop is wide open north to south and covered east and west so the panels are two feet wide by either six or four feet long. the idea is to put some eye bolts in to act as hangers. Trying to make a hidey spot to put a dog crate in.

deb

I feel like I'm hoggin' the keet spotlight

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Nope.....expected you to get a start on it. I have some Guinea eggs in the bator to start hatching in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, look at these sweetie pies:

 

[daylily]

Not at all You just keep on showing us those adorable photos!!!!!!! You obviously enjoy what you are doing. Love them all in the basket! Too sweet

I just love them when they are small! You're making me want to get more! But I got my hands full with what I got.

I feel like I'm hoggin' the keet spotlight