Indigenous Guinea Fowl rescued keet

[R2elk]

So this is a good sign that the keet could possibly be integrated into a Guinea Fowl flock if it is showing submission to another of its kind?

Yes

 

[Ferretgirrrl]

View attachment 3738808

Picture from Jan 2022 of Guinea Fowl from our neighbourhood on one of their daily visits.

Wow - these guineas have head bumps much, much bigger than my guineas! (Australia) They're amazing! I have 25 who have their own protected perches outside (huge cage, high roosts). I have one guinea, LP, who runs around outside on acreage by day, and lives inside with me at night - watches tv , loves cuddles, his head hump is big, but not that big, and it's almost flat, pointing backwards!

 

[Gill-b]

I have one guinea, LP, who runs around outside on acreage by day, and lives inside with me at night

Thank you so very much for your post and in particular for sharing with me about this single Guinea, LP. He sounds so very sweet and adorable.

 

[Pookie Mum]

We have wild indigenous Guinea Fowl in our residential area, Cape Town, South Africa, and, along with occasionally having to help them out of tricky situations that they get themselves into in our neighbourhood yards, I recently rescued a day old keet which was distress calling from the next street on from our house. I just walked straight up to it and picked it up. I was surprised that the five adult Guinea Fowl did not challenge me, however they seemed to be more concerned with their 15-20 mobile keets and appeared almost relieved that their family group could finally move on.

I found the keet that I had picked up to be lame in the lower part of both legs. I did some exercises on the rescued keet's claws/feet which were folded in on themselves and within three days the keet was walking, albeit with a limp. At the time of this post the keet was 25 days old and running around like a normal keet.

The wild Guinea Fowls are still visiting regularly, however their keets have gone drastically down in numbers, I think mainly due to the abundance of crows in the area, so I am a little at a lose to predict what will happen to my rescued keet in the coming days; and very much hesitant to reintroduce it back into its flock.

I have questions about a Guinea Fowl's natural instincts. Is there a difference between domesticated Guinea Fowl and these wild ones? In other words, is the advice for domesticated Guinea Fowls relevant and applicable to this keet?

Now that the keet sees me as its family, following me around everywhere I go and "talking" to me, will it stay by my side if I should venture outside my yard? and stay close if it should see any of the Guinea Fowl family units in the area? And at what age will it wander away from the house without me?

I am doing a few hours of work in my garden each day to give the keet time to forage for seeds and bugs. Any advice will be appreciated on additional food.

The only thing I can predict is that it will eventually leave to find a mate after it matures - I will be okay with that.

Also, I will be happy to try answer any questions anyone might have about the wild Guinea Fowl in our neighbourhood if it maybe help to understand them better? I don't know ***shrug***

Hello! I just had a thought. If your keet is lonely - they just LOVE having a mirror - either in their 'Home' or somewhere they can look at themselves. Mine spend hours twittering at their 'friends' in the mirror. I am trying to keep them busy, until they are big enough to go outside into their accomodation, which will house them until they are big and wise enough to avoid the hawks and such. That system has worked for me with 5 lots of babies...

 

[Pookie Mum]

Wow - these guineas have head bumps much, much bigger than my guineas! (Australia) They're amazing! I have 25 who have their own protected perches outside (huge cage, high roosts). I have one guinea, LP, who runs around outside on acreage by day, and lives inside with me at night - watches tv , loves cuddles, his head hump is big, but not that big, and it's almost flat, pointing backwards!

I am in Tasmania - where are you located?

 

[Ferretgirrrl]

Hello! I just had a thought. If your keet is lonely - they just LOVE having a mirror - either in their 'Home' or somewhere they can look at themselves. Mine spend hours twittering at their 'friends' in the mirror. I am trying to keep them busy, until they are big enough to go outside into their accomodation, which will house them until they are big and wise enough to avoid the hawks and such. That system has worked for me with 5 lots of babies...

Thank you, LP hangs out outside by day, running along the wire cage where his mother and father are (his dad and he are arch enemies), or alternately the parents are out of the run and LP is inside - again, he and Papa run alongside the wire for hours trying to get to each other. There are 4 teenagers, sometimes free ranging, sometimes inside their run - LP doesn't like them either (even though I bred them specifically to give him a girlfriend - it seems he doesn't want one!)
Sometimes LP is in the run with his mum - the only one he gets along with. And there are 11 ranging out over the property who never come into the house yard where the runs are. And 8 more youngsters growing in their plumage in a cage in the carport right next to the house - I have an abundance of friends for LP, but he is not interested, he just wants to fight with Papa. So at least he is with other guineas. A slightly funny incident, one day Mama saw her reflection in the hubcap of the wheel on my atv - she was trying to fight it, so I had to cover it up! I pick grass runners every day and give them to those who are caged - it keeps them busy trying to pick the strands of the long stems - that could be a useful tip for your keets ^_^

 

[Ferretgirrrl]

(I have had to cover the mirror in my bathroom when I have very young keets in there just getting their feathers on, because they fly at it!)

 

[Pookie Mum]

Thank you, LP hangs out outside by day, running along the wire cage where his mother and father are (his dad and he are arch enemies), or alternately the parents are out of the run and LP is inside - again, he and Papa run alongside the wire for hours trying to get to each other. There are 4 teenagers, sometimes free ranging, sometimes inside their run - LP doesn't like them either (even though I bred them specifically to give him a girlfriend - it seems he doesn't want one!)
Sometimes LP is in the run with his mum - the only one he gets along with. And there are 11 ranging out over the property who never come into the house yard where the runs are. And 8 more youngsters growing in their plumage in a cage in the carport right next to the house - I have an abundance of friends for LP, but he is not interested, he just wants to fight with Papa. So at least he is with other guineas. A slightly funny incident, one day Mama saw her reflection in the hubcap of the wheel on my atv - she was trying to fight it, so I had to cover it up! I pick grass runners every day and give them to those who are caged - it keeps them busy trying to pick the strands of the long stems - that could be a useful tip for your keets ^_^

Yes - we have access to endless lawn and paddock, so I am digging up shallow patches of it and putting it into their enclosure. They really love it, it causes great excitement, and it is reduced to almost nothing after an hour or so - along with much excited twittering.

 

[Gill-b]

Hello! I just had a thought. If your keet is lonely - they just LOVE having a mirror - either in their 'Home' or somewhere they can look at themselves. Mine spend hours twittering at their 'friends' in the mirror. I am trying to keep them busy, until they are big enough to go outside into their accomodation, which will house them until they are big and wise enough to avoid the hawks and such. That system has worked for me with 5 lots of babies...

I did use a mirror, but I only thought of it when the keet was nearly a month old already; and the mirror I employed, which was the only one I could use to reach the keets level, is a small one. So the keet didn't really take to it and was more interested in been as close to me as possible and following me wherever I went (because it is only one keet, and therefore easier to monitor than if there were more, it has always, since day one, had free range during the day - we spent a lot of time outside in the garden).

Now that the keet is sleeping on its own in a bird loft outside, I have been meaning to install a mirror there. The mirror I have in mind is on an old disused bathroom wall cabinet which is being stored in a box high up in the garage and is a two man job to get down. I will arrange to get it down this coming weekend and I will let you know how it is received by the keet.

Thank you so very much for thinking of us and for sharing your thoughts! It is truly appreciated.

Sometimes even a simply suggestion can make a huge difference - so please keep on sharing.

 

[Gill-b]

A slightly funny incident, one day Mama saw her reflection in the hubcap of the wheel on my atv - she was trying to fight it, so I had to cover it up!

At the beginning of each breeding season, when the Guinea Fowl move into the residential areas to nest, the males cause havoc wherever they can see their own reflection.

They attack sliding doors, constantly knocking loudly on them. They attack cars too, jumping and clawing at them; and especially if they are blue in colour. We use to own a blue coloured car and of all the cars that were parked on our street, ours was attacked the most, leaving scratches on the paint work. We have since sold that car and now our neighbour's black coloured car is the chosen target.

These attacks last for about a month until things settle down among the males; and it is then when tiny keets appear and we can expect piece until the next breeding season.

I must add that the male Guinea Fowl are not interested in attacking us during this time, only fighting with other Guinea Fowl, including their reflection. So when we go out to ward off the car attackers, we land up chasing them in circles, with their wings puffed out, around and around the car. To the outside observer it must look like a clownish circus act!