Starting with Keets
Your first time with guinea keets? Here is some helpful information about their care. When guinea fowl keets first hatch they are tired and will sleep a lot as most babies do. If you hatched the keets yourself, leave them in the incubator for at least 24 hours (up to 48 hours). They need to […]
Guineas Are Not Chickens!
Helmeted Guineafowl Chicken Many first-time guinea-keepers find guinea fowl to be frustrating, confusing, even dumb. Often, their frustration is expressed in comparisons with chickens: My guineas won’t go in the coop at night, or when it rains (like my chickens do). They don’t use the nice nesting boxes like my chickens do – they lay […]
Are Guinea Fowl the Right Match for You?
As much as we love guinea fowl, and as much help as they can be to the farm or homestead trying to find a natural control for many of the pests that we’d like to be rid of, guinea fowl are not for everybody. These days, most people get guineas for bug control or (in […]
Introduction
Across the US and in many other parts of the world, adding guinea fowl to your ranch, farm, hobby farm, or homestead is gaining in popularity. Although guinea-keeping lags behind chickens, turkeys and ducks, people are discovering the advantages of keeping guinea fowl as their sole flock or adding them to their existing poultry flocks. […]
Otago Game Services
Colors Available: Lavender, Pearl. Gray Location: Alexandra Central.
Washing Eggs Before Incubating
I have seen more arguments about this than about anything else over the years. Here’s what I have worked out based on numerous scientific studies that I have read, several books, and discussions with several incubation experts. My opinion is: always wash all eggs before setting. Eggs that look clean will still harbour bacteria, and […]
Splay Leg Repair
Splay Leg is a deformity of a keet’s legs, in which their feet point to the side instead of forward. This makes standing and walking difficult or impossible. Splay leg can be permanent if not corrected. Here is a treatment method for repairing splayed legs in young keets that has worked for several of our […]
Obtaining and Choosing Guinea Fowl Hatching Eggs
You can obtain hatching eggs from: Your own flock or a friend or neighbor’s flock of males and females – Without males the eggs will not be fertile. Having males is not an assurance, but an all female flock will not produce any fertile eggs. (They will still lay eggs, however.) Local feed stores and […]
Colour Genetics of Guinea Fowl
The genetics of guinea fowl colouring has not yet been researched thoroughly enough for me to make any definite statements here. All of the following information is based on what little reference material I have been able to find, interpreted through a combination of my knowledge of peafowl genetics and several educated guesses. If anyone […]
Can a Cracked Egg be Repaired?
Cracked eggs should not be incubated because they cannot retain the needed moisture and because that portion of the eggshell will not have the permeability needed for the developing embryo. Eggs with a section of the shell that is not permeable will often produce deformed keets. Tiny or thin cracks, especially ones that occur later […]
