Its loud noise helps in keeping the rodents away from that area.
A Complete Guide To Raise Baby Guinea Fowl
Guinea fowls are very delicate birds. So you might have to put a little extra effort into raising their keets.
You can know Guinea Fowls as well as tips to bring-up baby Guinea Fowls by reading this article.
1. Types Of Guinea Fowls:
There are three species of Guinea Fowls:
Crested:Crested Guinea Fowls belongs to South-Africa. The character that makes it different from other Guineas is their blackhead plume.
Vulturine: It lives in East Africa. The name vulturine is because of its helmetless head, which makes it look like a vulture. It is more sensitive to cold and not raised in the United States.
Helmeted: These are the most common Guinea Fowls. They have a bony helmet on their heads, and that’s the origin of their names.
There are only three colors recognized up till now, and these and pearl, lavender, and white.
Wild guineas mate in pairs, but if you have Guineas at your farm. Then you need one male for four or five females.
Guinea hens lay more than 100 eggs per year. These eggs are a bit small than chicken eggs.
Guinea female broods 30 eggs at once. A good Guinea female lays one egg per day.And you can collect eggs from domestic Guineas daily without any problem.
The incubation period for eggs is 26-28 days.
If you wish to incubate the eggs by yourself, then treat these eggs like the chicken eggs.
There is a difference that these eggs have a thicker shell than chicken eggs. You can use the commercial incubators available for this purpose.
Comparison of guinea and chicken eggs
4. Diet And Nutrition:
Adult guinea fowls can feed themselves.They can fulfill all of their dietary requirements. They can forage in your garden all day long.
Guinea fowls feed on plenty of insects and bugs. They also keep looking for all other kinds of treats and goodies.
It’s not safe for baby Guinea Fowls to forage in the wild. So you have to provide them with good feed inside the brooder.
Scattering some feed on a newspaper will be worth it. And Guinea will peck on it for a long time.
Guineas also need to consume some greens to maintain proper digestion. For that, you can plant enough vegetation for them.
As the birds will consume vegetation, you should make sure that grit is also available.
Baby Guinea Fowls drinks water. For that purpose, you need to have a waterer in which they do not get drowned.
It’s essential to provide Guinea fowls a right home. That can protect them from predators and environmental changes.
You can build a little room for them in the outhouse. In the case of Baby Guineas, one can make usage of brooders.
What Is A Brooder?
Brooders are a protected space with its temperature controlled.
People use big plastic brooder in which Baby Guinea spends the first two to six weeks after birth.
Brooder use to bring up baby guinea fowl
While making a home for guineas, keep in mind that there should be enough room for each Guinea.
The more space they have, the lesser the stress will be.
What’s The Bedding Of Brooder?
The purpose of making bedding for brooder is to keep the Guineas comfortable.
You can coat the floor of the brooder with some newspaper. But you should avoid the non-toxic hemp bedding.
Try to avoid sawdust bedding because Baby Guinea might mistake it to be a feed. And as a result, their stomachs will get disturbed.
How To Keep The Baby Guinea Fowl Warm?
Baby Guineas are delicate, and hence they need a warm environment.
The temperature of the brooder should be around 35 degrees Celsius so that the keets don’t feel cold.
Brooder temperature to keep keets warm
If the Baby Guineas make a crowd together with their eyes closed.
It’s a sign that they are getting cold, and now there is a need to make the brooder warm.
A method that you can use to keep them warm is placing a heat lamp with a thermometer at the bottom of the brooder.
This way, the Baby Guineas will stay warm during the early days of their life.
You should avoid insulating the brooder because insulation creates moisture inside the place.
If moisture accumulates in a brooder, it can cause respiratory problems in birds.
How To Clean The Brooder?
The first thing you should do to clean the brooder is to move the Baby Guineas to a safe place.
It makes the cleaning process easier and faster. Cleaning the Baby Guineas brooder is quite an easy task. That’s because their droppings are dry and powdery.
You should remove the bedding and clean the interior of the brooder. Then reline the fresh linen.
You can use the droppings of the Baby Guineas as the fertilizers.
Is It Okay If Guineas Leave The Brooder?
Baby Guinea fowl grow so fast during their first two weeks.
It might be tempting to let them out of the brooder. But it is not recommended as it is not so safe.
According to the recommendation, Baby Guineas should stay inside their brooder.
The stay should be for the first six weeks.But they can roam around in the home if you are monitoring them with care.
Keets are offsprings of Guinea Fowls, which are younger than 12 weeks. Baby Guinea Fowls are exuberant and excitable birds.
Guinea fowls are itself so quirky and eccentric, and so are their babies.
Guinea fowls are not so good at taking care of their babies. So if you are looking to raise a baby guinea fowl, then this article will help you.
Though Baby Guineas are attractive to keep as pets, it is an unfortunate truth that adult Guineas are not good at parenting.
Female Guineas make their nests in some isolated places in the wild.And they protect it with anger from other birds and humans.
Mother Guineas are good at taking care of their eggs. During that time, they show dedication and commitment.
Once the eggs get hatched, then mother Guineas begin to lose interest in their chicks.They start to wander off and completely neglect their babies.
Mother guineas are not good at handling keets
Showing this negligence results in bitter truth. That even if the mother Guineas hatch 20 eggs, only 5-6 of them will make it to adulthood.
The reason is that the chicks are so vulnerable in the wild that they often get killed by the predators.
Some people adopt baby Guineas when they are a few days old. But if you want to take the baby keets, then you should be quite careful. The mother might get offended by this act.
7. What If Something Terrible Happens To Baby Guineas?
If the Baby Guineas get exposed to something terrible during their early life period. They might get more anti-social and lonely.
Baby Guineas will detach themselves from others and try to be more independent.
For instance, if other Baby Guineas bully or tease one specific Baby Guinea Fowl.
It will be more likely to be anti-socialized and depressed as an adult.The eventual result will be that the Guineas will be more prone to attack other birds or even humans.
8. Advantages Of Having Baby Guinea Fowl:
Guineas are healthy, secure, and disease-free birds. Based on the benefits one can get from Guinea Fowls, people keep it for different reasons.
Keeping Guineas is an effective way of pest control.Guinea Fowls are prone to kill and eat mice and small rats.
Guineas are organic pest control
Guineas can control the increase of wood ticks, grasshoppers, and flies. They are thus saving the garden vegetables and flowers.
Egg and meat production are the significant benefits one can get from Guineas.
The meat of Guineas is so tender and tasty, and it has essential amino acids in it.
Some people use Guineas as the farm “watchdogs”. Because they produce sounds to protect the farm. They will make an alarming voice to avoid something terrible from happening.
Raising Guinea Fowls can also beneficial if someone wants to earn money.
People can sell Guinea eggs as these eggs are edible like the chicken eggs.
Conclusion:
There are three types of Baby Guinea Fowls. These are named as Crested, Vulturine, and Helmeted.
Male and female Guinea fowls can be recognized on their size of helmets and sound.
Mother guineas are not good at bringing up Baby Guinea Fowls.
Guineas can work as organic pest control.
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I am a Blogger by profession. I have done a bachelor's in business administration. Birds are soul-comforting creatures, and I love to hear birds chirping, especially in the morning.
I am a Blogger by profession. I have done a bachelor's in business administration. Birds are soul-comforting creatures, and I love to hear birds chirping, especially in the morning.
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