What did your guinea/s do today? 😁

[Pastel the Rooster]

Yesterday my favorite Guinea hen, Ridges, walked in after me into my chicken coop. I had the door cracked open while making sure that my new chicks were okay with their momma hen, and she just pushed the door open and strutted in. Luckily she is easy to catch, so I was able to grab her and toss her out.

 

[parsnips]

Fortunately for Lavender Dave this week's hatch included 2 more lavenders. Strength in numbers! They are 6 weeks apart but I don't suppose that will make much difference by the time they are all getting big enough to join the adults, hopefully they will be able to stand up for themselves.

I've got one late hatching which seems to have a pretty bad scissor beak and only one eye our adults are really quite wild and very skittish so I'm not sure it's going to be fair to have one that will need regular handling as that could be quite stressful for it. Will see how it looks in a few days (currently still in the incubator). Poor little thing.

 

[R2elk]

I've got one late hatching which seems to have a pretty bad scissor beak and only one eye our adults are really quite wild and very skittish so I'm not sure it's going to be fair to have one that will need regular handling as that could be quite stressful for it. Will see how it looks in a few days (currently still in the incubator). Poor little thing.

I would cull it immediately. You do not want it as part of your breeding flock.

 

[Sequestered Ridge Ranch]

Found out they don't like eating Goldfish snacks, mouse got in the box and figure see if they would eat them first. Nope into the compost bin they went.

 

[parsnips]

I got my husband to cull the crossbeak when he got home, couldn't face it myself. He's made of tougher stuff than me. But this morning we had another keet hatch, day 31... this one is absolutely fine and now in with the others


After the crossbeak hatched I thought perhaps I should have tossed the remaining eggs after day 29 as they were probably not hatching for a reason but it was worth waiting for this little guy.

This is the first year I've tried hatching my own so has been a rapid learning curve but overall pretty fun

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Fortunately for Lavender Dave this week's hatch included 2 more lavenders. Strength in numbers! They are 6 weeks apart but I don't suppose that will make much difference by the time they are all getting big enough to join the adults, hopefully they will be able to stand up for themselves.

I've got one late hatching which seems to have a pretty bad scissor beak and only one eye our adults are really quite wild and very skittish so I'm not sure it's going to be fair to have one that will need regular handling as that could be quite stressful for it. Will see how it looks in a few days (currently still in the incubator). Poor little thing.

When they are very young they are just like chicken chicks. I’m sure that the disabled one will be fine with you handling it often. If you don’t think so and you think that it’s suffering, you might need to cull it unfortunately. Praying that he makes it! And congrats on more lavenders!

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

I got my husband to cull the crossbeak when he got home, couldn't face it myself. He's made of tougher stuff than me. But this morning we had another keet hatch, day 31... this one is absolutely fine and now in with the others


After the crossbeak hatched I thought perhaps I should have tossed the remaining eggs after day 29 as they were probably not hatching for a reason but it was worth waiting for this little guy.

This is the first year I've tried hatching my own so has been a rapid learning curve but overall pretty fun View attachment 3631836

Sorry to hear about needing to cull the poor little guy.
I miss having meets! They are so cute! Hatching certainly has its ups and downs. The summer of 2022, I tried hatching four times with no one making it. Well, the fourth clutch I got eight. I got rid of five and kept three. My two girls that I kept died in the beginning of August this year. I was devastated. They died on the same day to Coccidoosis, one dying in my arms. Their brother is still alive but he’s been pretty depressed without them. Their other sibling are happy in their new home. I visit them occasionally.

 

[parsnips]

oh that's tough. We have had a very mixed bag this year, first 2 attempts were using a small borrowed incubator and of the first 7, only 1 hatched but it took forever to zip and never really thrived despite having a couple of chicks for company. Second time we got 2 out of 7 and they are now 8 weeks old and doing well. Then i bought a better incubator, bought some eggs that came in the mail but they were all duds, but out of the 14 i put in from our own guineas we have had 10 hatch (one being the crossbeak). so i feel encouraged for next year, it's the first year our girls have been laying so hopefully next year between all of us we will have more success

This all started as a bit of a joke but my husband is getting into it now and has suggested we build a new shed in the garden for raising the babies next year (i've had to keep them in our tiny house until they are old enough to go outdoors). Funny how things escalate

it's nice having a bigger group of keets together this time, although the general noise and irritation levels are multiplied (would you STOP trying to eat the paper towel!!) , they are a very cheerful and active little gang

 

[cvamoca]

I am happy with mine every day, and moreso now that my chicken raised keets (whose leader they decided for whatever reason, is my black showgirl rooster) have adopted their younger raised by me keets- all are sweet. I love that they chase the Silkie and NN around and listen to them when they call them. They also are happy to go to the barn and roost inside, like good little guineas. I freaking adore them. The Silkie and NN are Lenny and Squiggy.

 

[parsnips]

Mixed fortunes here. Young Dave and his (her) buddy are eating mealworms from my hand. Operation Tame Guineas has been moderately successful so far they are starting to grown their little horns and their heads are going bald. I feel quite proud of them, my first proper hatchlings

The 9 keets in the house are doing well, bit of a shame we can't keep them all really as it's been fun watching a bigger group grow up together.

On the downside one of the adult males has suddenly been bullied by the biggest one so I've got him in the house in a dog crate at the moment to recuperate. He was looking very sad huddled in the corner of their coop covered in mud, and all pecked and scuffed up, our adults are not tame at all but he was fairly easy to catch as he was so quiet. Bit of a problem to be solved later on but for now his crate is facing the keets so he has some company and he's eating and drinking so hopefully he will recover OK.

Our house is tiny (2 rooms downstairs, 2 rooms upstairs) and now it feels very full of guineafowl how did this happen to me!?