What would you do?

muscovy94

Crowing
14 Years
Nov 11, 2008
912
15
289
Vicksburg, MS
*Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but i didn't put it in the guineafowl section because I figured this was a pretty general question that didn't specifically pretain to guineas.*

Anyway... We have a group of "wild" guineas that showed up on our property a few months ago. They are very skitish and don't let us get near them, but we leave food out for them every once in a while. Well a few days ago I was looking out my kitchen window and I see a momma guinea with twenty something keets faithfully following behind her (it was a very cute site) Well each day I would notice that she would have fewer and fewer babies with her. Predators are very bad around here. She had 8 babies yesterday. Today she only had 3 babies left. Well my sister's husband was cutting the grass this afternoon and spots a baby in front of him, almost running over it. The mother guinea was no where in sight. So he brings it inside to me and I put the keet in the brooder. So...My question is, would you keep the baby? Or would you give it back to its mother? I feel bad about taking him away from his mother, but I also don't want to give him back to his mother and him get taken by a predator like all his siblings have.

Any thoughts?
 
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Will wild guineas take back a baby once a person has handled it? Or are they like other wild birds and they want nothing to do with it after that?

I'd say keep it. If the mother wasn't around when it was found, it probably isn't looking for it.
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Guineas are terrible mothe's. I never let mine raise there keets just for that reason. And they never care if I take them. They just go on chasing bugs.
 
OOh just keep it if you want it to survive... you know it will die if you give it back to her....
She'll have more babies... trust me.
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What would I do? Collect the keets and brood them, in this climate the keets get hypothermia from the morning dew and die. I've never had Guineas successfully raise their own keets. I have had Mother Hens raise the guinea keets. And I have incubated the guinea eggs, add chicken eggs a week later to hatch together and raise a combined flock.

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I'd keep the keet. From what I've read Guinea mothers are terrible at motherhood, meaning many a time owners use hens as "incubators" for the next generation. I'm not sure if this is true but, if birds smell a human's scent on a keet it is normally rejected if the species is known for poor mothering skills....?
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