RULERS of the Roosts and well suited to one another

[moxeeguy]

Most folks who own guineas...believe that the pecking order for their
poultry flock always puts Guinea Fowl well in front of chickens. In
most cases they'd be correct....but not all. I have American Game
Fowl...Kelso & Hatch lines with some other blood as well. The Game
Fowl roos are bigger and tougher than the Guinea Fowl roos. There are
a few brief scuffles and once the guineas understand their place in
line....they stay clear of the Game Fowl roos.

I used to NOT have Game Fowl. My chicken roos prior to that were mild
mannered dual purpose chicken roos like Orpington or Ameraucana and
several others. I too often notice my Guinea roo holding onto the
tail feathers of my Orpington roos and being dragged all over the 2.5
acres of fenced yard. The Orpington roo would hbe screaming his guts
out like he was being killed. This routing would go on for as long as
30 minutes....and far to many time for my comnmfort. I got rid of the
belligerent guinea roos and the wimpy Orpington roos. I managed to
have peace in the valley. Eventually I got the Game Fowl chickens and
learned that they tell the guineas what to do....and I still have
peace in the valley.

The Game Fowl chickens and Helmeted Guinea Fowl are perfectly suited
to co-exist. The Game Fowl hens hatch guinea eggs. The guineas don't
have to brood eggs so I get more eggs from fewer guinea hens. They
roost and wander peaceably together within the same area without
fighting and the Game Fowl hens raise the keets and show them where to
roost once they learn to fly high up to well sheltered roosts away
from predators.

Kelly

[moxeeguy]

I set 14 Game Fowl eggs a few days ago under one of my 2 Wheaton
colored Game Fowl hens. This is the same Game Fowl hen who failed to
hatch any keets in April and in a 2nd attempt in May got 6 out of 15
eggs. I could tell that 7 guinea keets would have hatched but one
died in the egg just a few days before the hatch due date. I
attribute her difficulty to the nest location. The eggs were not well
situated to deal with the cold weather. Now that June is nearly
here...the site is fine. I anticipate her hatching a dozen Game Fowl
by June 18th.

Yesterday I found a Game fowl chick...in a nest box with a hen that is
setting on 17 Guinea Fowl eggs. I apparently inicluded 1 Game Fowl
egg with her 18 eggs by mistake. Some of the Game Fowl eggs are very
close in size to the Guinea eggs. Some of the Guinea Fowl eggs are
not shaped like a triangle. As a result...I missed this egg and now I
have a chick that hatched a week sooner than the remaining eggs in the
nest.

Things happen...a little mistake. I'm hoping the chick is a hen. It
chirped like crazy for half the day missing mother hen but now is
content to be with the 5 guinea keets. I have the box with a heat
lamp in the front room next to the fireplace. In fact the heat lamp
is hanging from the hooks from which we hang our Christmas stockings.
Maybe I should call this hen Chrissy?

Kelly

[Peeps]

LOL maybe you should call it Chrissy??? What are ya trying to say Kelly? lol. You're the last person I'd figure would ever have keets in the house, let alone in your living room by the fire place... made me giggle actually lol. Congrats on the babies.

[moxeeguy]

Chrissy,

I thought since this chick is walking around under the Christmas
stocking hooks....why not? In this case I didn't want to retire a
Game Fowl hen from her hatching duties so I've got a relatively small
group of keets in a box. In years past I've kept keets outside most
of the times. This last week I lost a 3 week old gosling out of a
cage with 2 others in the cage with it. I thought it very odd. The
only animal that could have gotten inside is a mink by climbing up the
fence 4 feet. I would have thought a mink would have killed all 3
goslings. My next suspicions are...the Hispanic family across the
stream...what do you think? The next 1-2 Game Fowl hens will
eventually get these keets (as well the single chick). Oh yeah...and
I do know people named Chrissy...which is derived from Christ and then
there's that Christmas connection.

I usually separate the keets from the hatching hens for a few
days...at least all for a short while except for the last 1-2 keets in
a hatch. We're on day 4. I'll likely only allow 1 in 3 Game Fowl
hens raise keets this year...which allows me to further utilize the
other Game Fowl hens for their assigned egg brooding chores. If I
keep the keets away from a hen too long...they'll likely find it a bit
more challenging to figure out where they ought to roost (the ones I
do not sell). Clearly this summer I'm gonna sell and hatch more keets
than ever before. I have 70 eggs under hens at this moment with about
40 eggs to set immediately....10 days of guinea hen laying. I have a
Game Fowl hen ready to hatch a brood of keets right way and in 5 more
days I'll have another hen ready to hatch. Of course...in 5 more days
there will be close to 20 more eggs and in 10 days...40. I'm hoping
within 5 more days...I get another Game Fowl hen to go broody. I have
5 hens setting on eggs. My hopes are that a 6th hen will "go broody"
on her own in the mean time. I have 6 open nests...all elevated for
Game Fowl hens to lay in. I'll be adding a 7th and 8th elevated nest
for the Game Fowl hens today. I'll need 2 more broody hens for
everything to go smoothly during June and the odds are fairly decent
I'll get a few more Game Fowl hens to go broody this next month.

Kelly

[moxeeguy]

4 more keets hatched today under the 2nd hen set with 17 eggs. I
tossed a rotten egg 2 days ago from her nest. There are still about
10 more to hatch. Descriptions are as follows : 1 Brown, 1 Royal
Purple, 2 Pearls...but of them is a Teddy Bear Pearl. I've never seen
one here like it before.

Kelly