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

[PeepsCA]

PeepsCA: They are beautiful what ever color they are, I agree they do look different. So of course you need to keep them

Is the chocolate male all you need this year? How come you don't get set up to be able to ship? I'd think you'd saturate the local area after awhile. Besides you need to send me some.

I have chicks pipping as we speak and I won a bid on ebay today for a used Reptipro 5000. Once I get used to hatching in it I will be ready to try my hand at the Guinea eggs. The sooner the better really, so they can get to growing.

I've started prepping for getting my flocks NPIP certified, it's just not THAT easy with 85 adult birds/5 flocks. And it can take up to 3 months to get all the way thru the process, so this season is already shot. I'm not sure what other states' certification process involves, but CA's is rather time consuming, and it's an ongoing program... there's the initial testing (all 85 adult birds for P-T and any keets that are over 16 wks old have to be tested, and then also 30 birds for AI), then there's coop/pen inspections scheduled on another day, then 6 months after the first testing date there's another round of AI testing on 30 more birds, then in another 6 months I get to do it all over again

I need to get it taken care of late this coming Fall or really early next year so I have a whole hatching season covered by the certification, because once I do it for a year I may not want to deal with all of it again, lol. Now that I am busy hatching keets, cleaning brooders and selling keets again already, going thru the testing process really is not all that appealing to me, I have way too much to do right now pertaining to birds as it is. I know, excuses excuses... but it's a huge burden on me, for the small benefit of maybe selling/shipping enough eggs and keets to cover the program and testing fees each year. I wish it was easier and less time consuming, because I'd love to spread my pretties all across the US. But it's not

As far as saturating the area... not that likely. I've had people drive 4 hours, 1 way to buy my keets. I advertise in a huge area, and the average customer drives around 2 hours to get here. There's just not many Guineas keepers/backyard breeders that have keets available in my color variety, and the only other option people wanting colorful flocks is to order keets or eggs. Not many people want to deal with the minimum order.The majority of people that have Guineas do not coop their birds, they let them free range 24/7 so keets and eggs aren't that available (I'm one of the few nuts that coops/pens their flock during the breeding/laying season so I can collect and incubate their eggs, lol). And then there's predator loss... needless to say I get a lot of repeat customers for that reason alone. I also have quite a few return customers that like to buy a few adult birds at a time for butchering. Eventually I probably will saturate the market, but by then I'll be burned out and no longer hatching/raising Guineas lol.

 

[PeepsCA]

Yeah, those do look pretty different--maybe you've hatched a new color! That would be cool. It seems like they color charts are always morphing and trying to catch up to the guineas but never quite managing it. I think they do that on purpose to keep us hatching!

Could be a new color, but I doubt it'll ever be included in any color chart other than my own, lol. There's a lot of variation in a couple colors that I've hatched like my Chocolates and my Browns, and even that little Blonde keet I hatched last month is different than what some charts show. It's funny when I first got interested in Guinea colors it seemed so cut and dried... this was this, that was that, because the chart says so (LOL). Then I bought some new colors and Pieds and started hatching more than just the 3 colors I had in my closed free range flock.... and all of a sudden the charts weren't all that reliable; bad pics, bad lighting, mislabeled keets and incorrect descriptions etc lol.

Egg laying is slowing down from the wet, rainy weather, looks like I may be taking a break from hatching eggs from this flock without having to actually attempt to practice some self control thru sheer will power alone... just in time for the laying explosion from my other flocks (happy happy joy joy). Have I mentioned lately that I am still burned out from last season? LOL

 

[Country Chickens]

Your NPIP sounds WAY harder than ours--and I'm intimidated at the thought of getting our guineas done! Crazy! I'm also sorry to hear you're burned out...but can totally understand, even though with us it's a much smaller scale. Right now we have only four little ones inside that are too small for the brooder in the barn, and it's soo nice! This weeked that number will have two dozen added, but they're a special batch so I don't mind. But, even as I shrug and claim to be thankful that our white silkie calmed down her egg laying a bit, I've been working hard to get the eggs from my splash girl fertile. So, I guess I'm a liar!

The color charts are funny, cause it's not like someone can make it so just cause it's been stuck on a chart. Guineas certainly don't feel bound to a predictable label of color! Still, they're useful for that beginning time when you're trying to figure out how the heck that strippedy little keet can grow up to be a lovely royal purple! Or why what is clearly a blue bird is called lavender!

Guinea coloring was meant to keep us on our toes, I guess.

 

[Zootopia]

Wow, now I remember why I live in Texas. I don't blame you for not wanting to go thru all that, what a farce.I hope those pretty

babies make you feel like it is worth

all the work you are putting in. I guess I'll just have to drive out and

smuggle some home.

I've started prepping for getting my flocks NPIP certified, it's just not THAT easy with 85 adult birds/5 flocks. And it can take up to 3 months to get all the way thru the process, so this season is already shot. I'm not sure what other states' certification process involves, but CA's is rather time consuming, and it's an ongoing program... there's the initial testing (all 85 adult birds for P-T and any keets that are over 16 wks old have to be tested, and then also 30 birds for AI), then there's coop/pen inspections scheduled on another day, then 6 months after the first testing date there's another round of AI testing on 30 more birds, then in another 6 months I get to do it all over again

I need to get it taken care of late this coming Fall or really early next year so I have a whole hatching season covered by the certification, because once I do it for a year I may not want to deal with all of it again, lol. Now that I am busy hatching keets, cleaning brooders and selling keets again already, going thru the testing process really is not all that appealing to me, I have way too much to do right now pertaining to birds as it is. I know, excuses excuses... but it's a huge burden on me, for the small benefit of maybe selling/shipping enough eggs and keets to cover the program and testing fees each year. I wish it was easier and less time consuming, because I'd love to spread my pretties all across the US. But it's not

As far as saturating the area... not that likely. I've had people drive 4 hours, 1 way to buy my keets. I advertise in a huge area, and the average customer drives around 2 hours to get here. There's just not many Guineas keepers/backyard breeders that have keets available in my color variety, and the only other option people wanting colorful flocks is to order keets or eggs. Not many people want to deal with the minimum order.The majority of people that have Guineas do not coop their birds, they let them free range 24/7 so keets and eggs aren't that available (I'm one of the few nuts that coops/pens their flock during the breeding/laying season so I can collect and incubate their eggs, lol). And then there's predator loss... needless to say I get a lot of repeat customers for that reason alone. I also have quite a few return customers that like to buy a few adult birds at a time for butchering. Eventually I probably will saturate the market, but by then I'll be burned out and no longer hatching/raising Guineas lol.

 

[PeepsCA]

Hatch #7... 32 keets. The last 6 need to catch up before they can be in the bigger brooder with the rest. 2 of the last to hatch had crooked toes, so they're wearin' little tape shoes to help fix the problem.




Yay, some Buffs (3)! And check out the lil dude in the middle! Finally, a Chocolate keet!!!! (Looks just like the other 11 Chocolate keets that I hatched during the past 2 seasons

)

Here it is again, with a Royal Purple for comparison.

Here's an updated pic of the 2 keets in my previous hatch that might be Chocolates...
(I guess this is what normal Chocolates look like, just not my normal Chocolates, lol). The keet in the middle is a Pied Royal Purple.

 

[Country Chickens]

Woohoo! You got your chocolate!!!

That is great, and they are all a beautiful bunch!

Funny thing on the blondes--I am always accidentally calling our blonde boy a buff because I'm used to saying that name from silkies, so my husband is now determined to get some buff so I will stop calling the blonde by the wrong name! lol

We candled our big bunch from the pile of found eggs and collected ones--they will all hatch in about two weeks. There were probably five or six that were infertile or duds, but we still have another dozen plus! And this time, they are from our white and our pied and are being fertilized by our blonde and ivory males. Maybe we'll get to keep some!

 

[PeepsCA]

Lol yah, finally a Chocolate keet! I was beginning to think I was crazy and all my Chocolate keet pics from the last 2 seasons were just bad pics with the colors way off, lol. Whew, glad to know that I'm not totally gone yet

I'm going to take a break from setting/hatching for a while... I still have more 3 batches incubating, but I want to slow it down a while and sell off what I've got left over, make some room for more then start setting eggs again (that's the plan any way, lol). I'm starting to go thru starter feed like water, but I have 2 decent sized sales pending for this coming weekend so that should help. I just set batch #10 the other day, but since then all eggs have been going in the fridge. And I gave my Mom 6 dozen!

Yay, over a dozen developing Guinea eggs for you!!! Can't wait to see what hatches. I'm anxious to see some Ivory keets! What colors are you hoping for to keep? I'd be happy with a couple more Chocolates and a Blondes, but like I've said before I really don't need any more colors, lol. I am looking fwd to seeing how my Blonde keet turns out tho. You should post a pic of your Blonde guy for me!

 

[Country Chickens]

You asked for pics? I have pics!!!
Here is the blonde boy as an adult--he was about six months in this pic I think, and has darkened up just a little since then but not a lot.



And here he is as a keet with his ivory buddy.


This is the ivory boy, bottom right, with the white female up above for comparison and another of the blonde boy looking much darker than usual cause of camera and shadows. It person it's easier to tell ivory from white--she's shiny and he's matte, but in the pic it's harder to see.


They are super fun, and we actually plan to keep anything that's not pearl or pied pearl--I'm just barely willing to sell those! Good luck with your sales--I hope they go well both for your sake, and cause the sooner you sell your extra keets the sooner you'll start hatching again! lol

 

[PeepsCA]

Handsome Boys! (And gorgeous White Hen too of course ) And wow Mr Blonde was so golden when he was a keet. Has me really wondering how my lil guy or gal will feather out now. Hmmm... I've seen a couple of those pics somewhere else a while back lol, deja vu!

I have a hard time capturing how my birds and keets really look with the camera too... the sun, clouds, shadows, the flash all make the same bird look like a different bird in every shot, drives me bonkers sometimes!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

May I join the fun? I lost all of my Lavenders and alot of my juvenile keets I hatched out last year to predators. They broke into the coop killed 6 Guineas and a chicken. We found, coon, bobcat, and all kinds of tracks going from the Guinea coop and back out into the pasture. Lovely!!

Anywho I have 5 Guineas left, 3 juvenile females from last year that have not started laying, and then my adult pair. My female started laying about a week ago and I've gotten 5 eggs so far. 4 of which are in the incubator. I'm going to save up somemore eggs and then set them in about a week. Really excited. I really miss having a large flock of noisy, goofy, guin-guins (as I like to call them).

~ Aspen