How about a Guinea thread

Since this is the poultry and live stock forum Im going to add my new additions as of today! My Little guinea pair that I raised finally produced little ones today. Its very hard to tell who is a male and who is the female , so I was more than excited when one started a nest. After about 25 days with no results I began to wonder if maybe I just had a broody female and the eggs werent fertile. Maybe I had been mistaken about having a pair after all.
Today proved the happiest of news I definitely have a brooding pair of Pearl guineas!
Here is Papa " Cher-Peak" , pacing the fence line. He has been one lonely boy guinea for the past month with "Guin-Guin" on the nest!

Guin Guin hid her nest behind the Chicken house, and under as many Blackberry brambles as she could find. She then wallowed out a hollow in the earth and began laying eggs everyday for about a month. By the last count that I could see before she started setting there were about 20 eggs. So there is going to be a big surprise soon!

I read on the internet that Guineas can take up to 28 days to hatch! So this has been just agonizing waiting this long!
My big fear is snakes or possums getting the little ones before they finish hatching. I wanted to move her and the eggs into a safer place but she is a fierce little protective mama with one heck of a beak .
Today when I checked on her I saw egg shells around her nest.

The next few photos will show you the new babies! I have to look at the thumbnails to upload and I cant tell what is what but you will see them if you look really closely! Looks as if Im going to have some Pearls and some Lavenders. Here goes

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#4----- The last one you could only see a little eye looking out, in this one you can see the little Lavender , right in the middle of the picture.

This message was edited May 18, 2011 8:13 PM

#5-- You can see its fuzzy little Lavender back really good here. The speckles are the mama guineas feathers

This message was edited May 18, 2011 8:17 PM

#6 -- there it is ,, sooo cute! There are 4 so far. one has chipmunk stripes and 3 are grey to Lavender. I guess my parent birds were from mixed stock, that makes me soooo happy! color color and more Color!!

This message was edited May 18, 2011 8:21 PM

They're so cute, I wonder how many will hatch?

I'm so happy you can see something. I can only see mama. Thats alright, I take your word for what you see and rejoice as though I saw it also...Hay

S cute

I know Haystack...very bad pix , but I tried as hard as I could. Mama is a ninja in disguise and can shoot that beak out quicker than anything Ive ever seen or felt before! I didnt dare get any closer!LOL!
Hope fully today the little guys will be a little more willing to be photogenic. I spied at least 4 trying to get a good spot under Mama!

You do understand thatthis is totally unfair, don't you??

I have been very good at not adding species. But, how could I resist those little faces....

Guineas, I must now have Guineas.

LOL, we have Guineas, although I'm not sure how many because they live about 1/4 mile from here... but we get to hear every thought that goes through their little minds and every alarm they make!

Oh yeah! I only had 2,and they made enough noise between them to alarm the state of Texas! But I really like these little guys! they not only warn me of any danger or stranger, but Im now not going to have as big an isect, mainly tick, problem this year! I understand that they are not Scratchers either so they will enjoy the bugs in my gardens awithout destroying the plants!
the little babies are really cute but they out grow the cuteness really quickly! They become downright ugly critters. but if you raise them you soon fall in love with their antics and personalities. Which I will introduce you all to in this thread! I already have a story to tell you about the Male guinea that will crack you up!
I cant wait to get home and get more pix of the kids!

Came home to this!

follow the leader Mama First!

3 didnt hatch and 1 died right after hatching, that makes 14 running wild!

They are very fast but very tired too! Apparently Mama had them walking all day! They would go over to the nearest shady grass clump and just fall down asleep!

I caught 5 and took them over to a secluded compound and made Mama look for them. She did but only after she flew right at me and got me with her sharp toenails. OUCH!! But I would have done the same thing if I had been her!
Enough for tonight , I have to get ready now for my Atlanta Poultry meetup Group in Conyers, 50 miles from me, its already 5:30 and I have to be there at 7:00. See you all later with more pix!
Arent they adorable!!!!!! Bye

Tickled with my new little nieces and nephews.Happy dance .

They are really cute. I showed them to my son and he said the aren't much bigger than the gum/sticker balls that are on the ground near by... LOL I was thinking the same thing when I first saw the second round of pics of the mom and babies. You had a pretty nice hatch of guineas. You aren't going to have to worry about bugs or ticks this year...your going to have a fabulous garden guaranteed!

They're really cute, I should hope you don't have any bug this summer with that bunch!

Now get a coupla turkeys to warn you of snakes .
Ever catch the last one ?

Nope cant handle one more breed of Poultry! I looooove Turkeys but just cant manage one more thing now!
No I didnt catch the big ole king snake , but I lined the outside of my nesting boxes with bird netting and so far she hasnt been back! I just wish she'd concentrate on the mice eating the feed instead of the eggs in the nest!

Talking about snakes, I just saw one yesterday swimming in the pond out back...Dang if it wasn't a king snake (actually mine was a different version of king snake called a milk snake because it had redish/rust rings around it). Shoot, now I'm going to have to protect against those now too.

Edit - I'm not so sure it was a king snake now that I've read up on them. I'm thinking it was some sort of water snake...there are several varieties that show up in my neck of the woods. Defiantly not a water moccasin because it had rust coloring.

The snake was a good bit away from the coop, but if there is one I see then there is probably 10 more I don't see.

I still need to get some roosts put up for the chickies to get them up off the ground and I've got some time to get the nest boxes done. I can't procrastinate to long on those...

Hope the baby Guineas are doing well today and watch out for those claws!

This message was edited May 20, 2011 9:39 PM

I stopped on our road today because there was a huge turtle sitting in the middle. I got out to escort it off to the side. It wasn't a slow moving box turtle but a Snapper, OMG, the hissing! It's head was the size of a man's fist. Glad it scooted away and I didn't really have to touch it.

If you ever really need to move a snapper, find a big stick, thick and long. No, not to beat it with *G*. Put it near the mouth (but you stay waaay back) and let it get a good bite. Then drag it where you want it to go.
Oh, don't try to get your stick back.....

Good advice. I found out that picking them up by the tail wasn't effective.

I used to do the tail grab with snappers and softshells, until I learned just how long their necks are. Seemed to me my hand was in serious jeopardy...

I haven't seen a big softshell in 60+ years .The Trinity river used to have a lot of big ones around Kilgore , Longview .

OK Eufaula, I can see them now. Love it, they are so cute, wow, you got fourteen live ones. That is a real tribe...Have fun...Hay

I think id I can't scare snappers in the direction I want them to go, I'll just leave them alone. The size of their head are amazing, the jaws too. I like my fingers too well to get in the way of them.

Have you named amy of the babies yet ?

Really cute keets!!!

Sounds like that turtle would have made a big pot of soup!

Just got in from my Mom and Dads! Could hardly wait to get back and make sur the babies were okay! I rounded them and Mom up Friday and put into a big Dog Kennel. Then I surrounded it with Bird netting to keep the Keets in. I asked a neighbor to watch them while I was gone to make sure the little escape artist didnt get caught in the netting. sowhen I got home they were still just fine and Dandy!
So glad I finally got some photos good enough for all of you to see them! Haystack you need about a dozen of these little noisemakers!! LOL!!!
digger, havent named any and probably wont! There are so many of each color and they become identical to one another, so naming them wont work. Although there is one little brown/buff one with white wings that just might stand out! Ive already staring calling it "Patches"!

Here it is , I finally got it still long enough to get some photos! Its the only one with this coloration.

I had to use the zoom so the flash couldnt reach them. It is very shady where they are so the photos arent very sharp. But you can see the little white wings and stripey brown chipmunk head!

Do you have any idea what color it will be as an adult? They're so cute!