Actually, I would love to hear anyone's opinions on marking guineas in general.
I'm a first-time Guinea owner with 11 Guineas left (started with 16; 2 died, 3 flew the coop before I got netting over the run).
I'd like to mark them so I can know which ones are male and female -- I was thinking of banding them all, then noting which ones are female.
These are French Guineas that I got from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries; how do I know what size band to get for them? Will I need to replace the bands between now and adulthood?
I see that the general guidelines say a #10 band for an adult guinea, but I didn't know how much more to expect these to grow, and if the French Guineas (which, they say, weigh more than regular guineas?) are big enough to merit a bigger band size.
How do you go about banding them? Do you wait until they're asleep, or what?
Thanks!
Additional comments:
So far, I have only let them out in the run. I'm very pleased that they put themselves to bed every night, earlier than our chickens do. I hope to free range them eventually, but wanted to just let one or two out at a time at first so they don't all run off. I wanted to send males out first, since I won't mind as much if I lose them.
I'm a first-time Guinea owner with 11 Guineas left (started with 16; 2 died, 3 flew the coop before I got netting over the run).
I'd like to mark them so I can know which ones are male and female -- I was thinking of banding them all, then noting which ones are female.
These are French Guineas that I got from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries; how do I know what size band to get for them? Will I need to replace the bands between now and adulthood?
I see that the general guidelines say a #10 band for an adult guinea, but I didn't know how much more to expect these to grow, and if the French Guineas (which, they say, weigh more than regular guineas?) are big enough to merit a bigger band size.
How do you go about banding them? Do you wait until they're asleep, or what?
Thanks!
Additional comments:
So far, I have only let them out in the run. I'm very pleased that they put themselves to bed every night, earlier than our chickens do. I hope to free range them eventually, but wanted to just let one or two out at a time at first so they don't all run off. I wanted to send males out first, since I won't mind as much if I lose them.
