vampire guinea .... Nosferatu !!!!! LOL

I've started naming my guineas. This one is Nosferatu. She is so ugly ... reminds me of a vampire movie. She's been sitting on 16 eggs for close to 3 weeks. We're getting eggcited for a hatching experience. Her nest is right up against the north side of our house .... pinched between a 15 gal tank of propane and a bucket full of AusTree sprouts (an Australian hybrid willow tree) that are rooting in water. So far a skunk has not come into the yard to disturb the nest (what often happens). Kelly

This message was edited Jan 17, 2009 1:47 PM

Hey, hey, hey ... today is the day after all! My guinea hen has 4 keets in her nest as of a few minutes ago. There are 2 Blonde keets ... just like their daddy ... plus 1 Pearl Gray and 1 Royal Purple ... all newly hatched today. Just 12 more eggs to hatch in the next 24 hours. My hope is that we can get a Buff or Chocolate to come from the cross of the Blonde roo with one of our Royal Purple, Pied or Pearl Gray hens. The 2 little Blonde keets will brighten up our flock. I suspect a Blonde X Blonde mix of guinea would provide more diverse colored offspring. I'm gonna let the hen be there tonight to continue through the hatch. We've not had any cat or skunk trouble in our yard this summer ... the cat attacks have been on the other side of the fence ... next door across the driveway in the adjacent pasture. My place is really well fenced and the feral cats can seldom find their way into our yard. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 17, 2009 1:52 PM

Better catch em up and put them and mama in safe place..Predator's will have them..Good luck.. Mine that hatched this year are now 5 weeks old.

Larkie

Congrats Kelly! Hope to hear of a lot more soon! Wow, 3 different breeds out of 4 keets. Those are going to be fun to look at!

Christy

Gratz Kelly. That is one evil looking bird. :) Post pics of chicks when you can

Well this morning ... just a few minutes ago I poked my 5 iron under the guinea hen with the keets. You can't get close too their nests without risking the hen coming right at your face with claws and flapping wings. There are now 8 hatched keets; 4 are blonde ... and now it looks like I have a pied in the the group as well. The pied I have had are very limited in white feathers; being just the 2-3 outside flight feathers. One pied keet appears to be 50% white. I'm not all that enamored with pied but the various colors of lavender, buffs, browns and whites are quite outstanding. I'd really like to have a few Lavender, Porcelain or Sky Blue guineas. My flock of a dozen have either stopped laying or have been laying their eggs away from our 3 acre fenced compound around the house for nearly a month. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 17, 2009 2:06 PM

Baby pictures please. I want some guinea hens just like my Grandma had. I am not sure the neighbors would like them though.

well if you must send the pied my way, they will have a good home here. Just kidding, waiting for pics. You do take very good pics.

Okay guys & gals ... I'll go click the digital camera. I am NOT a photographer. I've been replicating photographs digital or analog 99% of them from microfilm rolls for the past 20+ years. We've acquired about 12mil images at about 3mb file size so far ... in our archive storage lab ... think of Ancestry.com ... but privately owned ... ours is the US Census thru1930 hosted on-line by a 35 terabyte file server coming soon. I'm getting close to retirement. Wish us well. We built the file server last month and are now adding about 1/2 tb of storage space a week. Give me a few minutes please. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 10:39 AM

Ok Kelly, I am a member of ancestery.com. Yes you are the photographer. I just love you black and white photos. Looking forward to you new USFDC.

awesome Kelly!

congrats on chicks. i too, don't care for pied. butr some like it so they can tell their birds apart. you shouldn't have any trouble finding homes for extras. if nothing else, for 10 bucks you can join the GFBA... and list your keets for pick up only...

www.guineafowl.com

edited to add correct link:

http://www.gfba.org/

Kelly, you likely already know this, but thought i would post a good link for guinea colors, where they show the adult and the chick...

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/colors/

tf

Tia & all,

Well here's a photo of 6 keets. 3 of them are Blonde, 1 is Pearl Gray, 1 is Royal Purple and 1 is a tossup between Pied and Royal Purple with white flight feathers. Bad news is mother guinea has squashed 2 dead already. The keets sorta give guinea mothers a wide berth while she's hatching eggs. I pulled 4 eggs (put them under a Game Fowl hen) and left 4 in the nest to encourage mother to stay at home. An acquaintance of mine was a programmer at my competitors a few years back. He swears they have a stock value more than a $1bil but never had an IPO. I'd be delighted to retire with a thousand times less. Honestly; I posted a list of about 20 guinea colors on a separate thread a few days ago titled : Guinea Types. Next year with these few guinea roos running around ... I can trade guinea eggs with gentlemen who prefer Blondes. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 10:49 AM

Very pretty. Thanks for the pics. sorry about the loss. Hope the rest go good with the "new mom"

i love the blondes TOO!

You learn something every day. I never knew they were anything but grayish. They are cute little things.

makshi,

My family was in Rockville, Parke County, IN back in the 1830's. They moved west to Des Moines, IA in the late 1850's. I'm gonna come visit and see the bridges ... like Madison county Iowa has. Kelly in Moxee

Well the guinea mom has decided to take her brood out for a walk. So what can I do but take a few photographs. Here they are. The colors are quite evident. I'm holding out hope that one of the Royal Purple keets will have a significant quantity of white. Kelly in Moxee

awwwwwwwwwwww to cute. You did good.

so darling!


now why do you want a significant amount of white???

Oh they are the cutest little things. You want to pick them up and hug and kiss them.

Guineas with a significant % of white. The Pied color is traditionally white and splotches of color. A bird with any part white is pied but ... just not necessarily pretty. Think of a Paint or Piebald horse. The colors are traditionally white and a bit of color. A Holstien cow is a good representation of pied. I was not being racist or anything. I'm fairly open to people of different backgrounds. I lived in Hawaii for 4 years while attending and teaching at a university and got to know people from all over the world. My wife is from across the pond. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 10:52 AM

raci-st LOL, wasn't even thinking that. just thought if you didn't like pied why would you like majorly pied? i don't want white because of overhead predators... and the neighbor has inbred guineas, most of which ar epied, so i try to stick to solid colors she doesn't have...

tf

LOL!!!

Kelly, great pics. I really love the one with mama and babies. The keets out in front watching mama's every move are the cutest ever! Congrats!

Christy

I'm wondering how many DG members have ever had a guinea hen hatch keets from a nest on their land. This is the 2nd time I've allowed a guinea hen to incubate eggs on a nest somewhere on the property. Last month we had 9 keets hatch under a Game Fowl in a portable nest box over in large shed full of equipment. The hen lost them or she was attacked at night and the keets died within 24 hours of hatching ... most likely to a feral cat. I've been much more careful with this smaller brood. I literally herd the mother guinea hen and the keets to a box at night to keep them safe from skunks and feral cats. The coyotes are much too timid to walk into our fenced yard since there's just one gateway in and if they get inside ... they likely wouldn't get out if I noticed. Coyotes seem to have a good sense of what they can do and what they ought not do. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 10:58 AM

Hey Kelly in Moxee!
I let all my guinea hens hatch on their own. I have always found they are good protective mothers. They will have nothing to do with the hen house. My peafowl are the same. The chickens do hatch out in the hen house, except for the game fowl. They are just a hair from being wild birds. My guinea fowl all hang together and there is one dominant male who is lavender. He attacks everything that gets close to his girls and keets. I think one of the reasons I have good luck with letting my fowl raise their own outside the hen house is my hounds. I placed their dog house right beside the feeding spot and hen house. They see the chickens as one of them LOL. When they were pups the chicks would climb all over them, but have also been beat up by the males(and hens with diddles) if they get too close. The peacock is the worst for aggression toward dogs and cats. I have had to "save" many a pup from being curious about the peacock.
George

George, You're so right about the Game Fowl being close to wild. My Game Fowl like the portable nest boxes (I hang them in various secluded places). We're about 90% able to keep the skunks and feral cats out of our fenced compound. Skunks and feral cats are the main threat to poultry since we do not have raccoons within 10 miles. With no natural predators in our area ... the guineas and ducks & game fowl are free to nest and reproduce at will (and my discretion). Ravens raiding the nests have been an issue in years past for the ducks but as long as they cannot see a nest ... the nest is safe. I constructed an upside down V shaped duck nest cover. If a duck wants to brood eggs in a spot .... I just cover the nest with the 2 sheets of plywood that are about 20" square. The ducks haven't minded being out of the sun either. The sun can be brutal here in the summer. I have this mutt looking Swedish Blue (she's actually black). She's 25% mallard. She has been broody twice every spring-summer for the last 4 years. She's hatched out a duckling or two every year. I don't let her hatch any of her eggs since she's a mutt. We have a few pure bred Swedish Blue ducks. Their eggs are twice as large as the eggs from the black hen. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 11:11 AM

I am a little late to this forum but my wife and I are new moms. We have slowly watched our guineas dwindle from over 30 to 4. The last 8 months or so, we would have 9 guineas, then 8, then 9 again, (then 8, then 7 then 8 again), and that pattern has continued with one hen setting somewhere and once in a while returning for a few minutes or so to eat with the others. Too many predators to have a good chance of sitting for 28 days. One finally made it. We thought we only had 3 guineas left and then Saturday my son said he saw 4 so I went to look and they had 15 keets with them. All 4 watch and protect the babies. The first night my wife and I tried to get them into the hen house. One attacked my wife and scratched up her face a little. Last night they actuall went into the hen house on their own after spending the previous night out of the coup area. I think I have 13 now. I know a hawk has been tormenting them. They all hollor and try to get under something. I am knew at guineas, less than 2 years. How can you tell a rooster from a hen? Do they have spurs? I guess guineas use the village method of raising young where as chickens prefer the one mother method. Take care, Mike

Hi excel--This is a great site for sexing guineas--it has links to the different sounds that hens and roosters make.

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/sexing/

excelrealty, You had best gather up the keets into a safe enclosed brooder cage given the mortality you mention of your larger birds. I only have 4 teenage guineas remaining out of the 8 younger keets that I had running around with their moms 2 months ago. We have a feral cat or a few of them running the young guinea fowl into the fence and catching them. I 2 missing in 2 weeks ago. The older guineas are too big and strong and more prone to fly over the fences better than the juvenile guineas for the feral cats to catch them. I have sold a couple guinea fowl lately but am hoping I will have at least 10 through winter. I have begun to set the conibear & live box traps and dispose of the skunks; etc. Adult guineas are able to take care of themselves and I have very few losses once the hop fields nearby are harvested. During the months of July, August & September the coyotes are able to ambush the guineas using the lush vines as cover. Your problems are quite a bit more severe as far as the threat of death. I started with 10 guineas 4 years ago .... I still have more than that and I have sold or given away a few. Your keets will NOT make it unless you get them inside a brooder ASAP. It is the wrong time of year for keets to be out and about. Predators will be even more determined now than in the summer as their food sources begin to hibernate. My experience is that guinea fowl hens do NOT share their keets. You have one solitary hen with keets and the others are part of her normal flock. Best wishes. Kelly

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 11:16 AM

Thanks for the tips and links. They have a better survival rate if I put them in a brooder, but I really do not have the time to feed them everyday and keep it clean. I hope not, I may lose them all, but I would like them to have older guineas looking after them rather than them being taught by me and then turned loose like my previous sets that I incubated from eggs. I originally got guineas to help with grass hoppers and stuff in my garden, but they spend most of their time on the Iris farm next to me. Thanks again, Mike

Catscan, that is a wonderful link. I have heard both of those sounds distinctly. I guess that is why I have keets. lol Now I just need to watch them and pay attention to who is making what sound. I find the female sound relaxing, but the male annoying. Thanks again, Mike

Hey Mike!
My guineas do make nest together and raise the whole bunch of keets as a unit. My males even guard the nest site. Now I have hounds also who keep watch on the birds so knock on wood I have only lost 2 birds, chickens included and those were owls. We live deep in a wooded area on 100 acres that is all surrounded by woods also.

I do have the same concerns as photo that you may lose the keets to cold weather. My guinea hens and roosters are very protective of the babies. When I have attempted to catch the keets I always have someone there to fend off the birds while I catch them. Give the mothers and fathers a chance if your time is limited. You can always buy more adults in the spring. If they are going into the coop at night you could always not let them out on colder days. Mine refuse to go into the coop. They all roost in the trees right beside the coop, but also right by the hounds houses also.
George
I just noticed you live in TX. So maybe the cold will not be a big deal for you. Good luck with your keets! I know I will never be without guineas. They are too valuable for the insect and snake population here. They also are my "guard" birds at night.

It gets very cold here, It dropped down to the mid fifties for three days straight last winter. lol Just kidding, it gets a little colder than that, but I ain't too worried about the cold. They have a 10'x10'x8' insulated building with a bathroom vent and heater installed. I turn on the heat when it gets very cold. I would just like it if the guineas would take their babies in every night. I have two american escimos that would eat a chicken or guinea if given a chance. The female will not hurt babies before they have feathers and will even go after the male when he tries, but as soon as they have feathers, even she thinks that they taste like chicken. If I had time, I bet I could take a baby and put it with the female every day and maybe she would not hurt it even when feathered, but no time and not sure. I think it is neat that the hounds will guard them.

WOW! I just saw this post. She is SO UGLY that she's cute :) Or as my drummer (or dummer) would say, "a face only a mother could love". Drummers have BAD egos, thought.

I think she's cute and such a good mommie. Can't beat that. And of course, the babies are ALL little darlings. COngrats!

~music