The latter part of 2016 I lost almost all my chickens to a chicken hawk and cancer (necropsy was done). A bobcat, along with the help of chicken hawks, reduced my Guinea population to four (the hunters across the way reduced the bobcat population). About three years ago we significantly enlarged the chicken pen and put a bird netting over it to keep out the chicken hawks. The birds were no longer allowed to free-range.
I replenished my chickens (hens) in February 2017 and I thought my remaining Guineas were all female because there isn't any discernible difference between the four of them. One or more of the Guineas has laid eggs several times a year and none have hatched, which is why I didn't think I had a male.
Imagine my surprise when I went to the coop to clean it Sunday morning and a little hairball was surrounded by all four Guineas. It's been so long since I had keet I had to check Google for pictures. Mother Nature definitely protects them with their coloring.
I initially brought the keet into the house and put it under a brooder lamp and it just laid there. No activity. Drat. It's a wild bird. I put it out with the Guineas, it hopped up with a happy chirp, ran to mama, and it's been with them ever since. Yesterday, Day 1, the Guineas kept stepping on the keet and knocking it onto its back. The little thing would trash its legs around until it righted itself and then just kept on going.
I was concerned about the keet getting enough food and water; but, it's a wild bird and it's still alive and thriving two days after hatch. I was really surprised all four Guineas stay close to it and surreptitiously keep it safe. The chickens don't bother it, which was another surprise. I think the Guineas laying claim to the keet immediately has kept the hens at bay.
Mama still lays on the remaining two eggs (on the ground) at night with the keet safely tucked in underneath her. I'm assuming she will do so until the keet is feathered enough to withstand the colder weather (if it ever comes). At that point I'll pick up the remaining two eggs since they would have hatched by now. We've been lucky with warm days and night temperatures still in the 50s.
For those of you wondering how the Guineas are taking to being in a pen since they are essentially wild birds - the first few months was difficult for them and they kept flying into the netting. Now they just accept it. It helps that the back part of the pen has a large mound of dirt that is covered with brush along with the flat area beside it (about 1,000sf of a rough brushy area). The two pens together (an initial front pen with a gate separating it and the back pen) are a little over 6,000sf) so there is plenty of room for my small flock. Then they all go in the coop at night. The Guineas have their roost and the hens have their hen house.
I replenished my chickens (hens) in February 2017 and I thought my remaining Guineas were all female because there isn't any discernible difference between the four of them. One or more of the Guineas has laid eggs several times a year and none have hatched, which is why I didn't think I had a male.
Imagine my surprise when I went to the coop to clean it Sunday morning and a little hairball was surrounded by all four Guineas. It's been so long since I had keet I had to check Google for pictures. Mother Nature definitely protects them with their coloring.
I initially brought the keet into the house and put it under a brooder lamp and it just laid there. No activity. Drat. It's a wild bird. I put it out with the Guineas, it hopped up with a happy chirp, ran to mama, and it's been with them ever since. Yesterday, Day 1, the Guineas kept stepping on the keet and knocking it onto its back. The little thing would trash its legs around until it righted itself and then just kept on going.
I was concerned about the keet getting enough food and water; but, it's a wild bird and it's still alive and thriving two days after hatch. I was really surprised all four Guineas stay close to it and surreptitiously keep it safe. The chickens don't bother it, which was another surprise. I think the Guineas laying claim to the keet immediately has kept the hens at bay.
Mama still lays on the remaining two eggs (on the ground) at night with the keet safely tucked in underneath her. I'm assuming she will do so until the keet is feathered enough to withstand the colder weather (if it ever comes). At that point I'll pick up the remaining two eggs since they would have hatched by now. We've been lucky with warm days and night temperatures still in the 50s.
For those of you wondering how the Guineas are taking to being in a pen since they are essentially wild birds - the first few months was difficult for them and they kept flying into the netting. Now they just accept it. It helps that the back part of the pen has a large mound of dirt that is covered with brush along with the flat area beside it (about 1,000sf of a rough brushy area). The two pens together (an initial front pen with a gate separating it and the back pen) are a little over 6,000sf) so there is plenty of room for my small flock. Then they all go in the coop at night. The Guineas have their roost and the hens have their hen house.