Zonnendal area (Cape Town) Guinea Fowl

[CombNWattles]

What a cool thread!! I’m a chicken tender myself but maybe I’ll have guineas someday.
Here’s a (domestic type) guinea I drew (I love their crazy little faces!):

 

[Gill-b]

Here’s a (domestic type) guinea I drew (I love their crazy little faces!):

Thank you for sharing. Your guinea portrait adds a nice touch to this thread.

And thank you for your compliment; I am so glad that you enjoyed going through this thread.

 

[Gill-b]

I recently rescued a day old keet which was distress calling from the next street on from our house.

I found the keet that I had picked up to be lame in the lower part of both legs.

At the time of this post the keet was 25 days old and running around like a normal keet.

Today marks my first anniversary of my joining the Backyard Chickens forum website. One Year... wow. It has been a wonderful year of exploring, learning, getting to laugh, having to cry, and, best of all, meeting amazing people who aided, shared and encouraged. You are so so awesome!

THANK YOU to all of you.​

 

[tranquiliti]

Happy 12 months! So much has unfolded in that time… thanks for being an energetic contributor to BYC

 

[CombNWattles]

Happy BYC anniversary!!!

 

[kikiruru]

Today marks my first anniversary of my joining the Backyard Chickens forum website. One Year... wow. It has been a wonderful year of exploring, learning, getting to laugh, having to cry, and, best of all, meeting amazing people who aided, shared and encouraged. You are so so awesome!

THANK YOU to all of you.​

Happy 1 year anniversary

 

[Gill-b]

This morning I was visited by both Hop-a-long, Two-toes and the rest of their family unit. I have not seen them in a few weeks so their visit was very welcomed. Both Hop-a-long and Two-toes are looking good; and the four keets are all grown up, looking like adults. The two things that now set the four apart from the other adults is that their helmets are grey in colour compared to the darker yellowish or redish brown of the more mature adults; and that they are still making keet like chirps.

 

[Gill-b]

The Guineas have been visiting on almost a daily basis now; always in the morning, just after first light of the day.

I have been observing Hop-a-long and I am so impressed by how good a member of the flock he is. He takes care of the keets (who are now nearly full adults with their heads turning to colour from grey) better than any other member and the keets stay close to him. He eats quickly and then moves to the edge of the flock to stand guard while the others eat even though he has not eaten his full yet. I know he is on guard because he stands to his full height and watches the street corner and also opposite along the road towards the play park. He waits for the other Guineas to finish eating before returning to peck at the scraps. He also chases off any intruder Guineas as best he can on his crippled leg.

This morning there were two "rival gangs" that showed up at the same time. It was like West Side Story with the two sides facing down one another. There was feather pulling and zooming around. Poor Hop-a-long got a bit overwhelmed and was chased off to the sidelines, but Two-toes, being the biggest, was something fierce to behold. He was doing the most chasing and squabbling. I am thankful that Hop-a-long and Two-toes are "best friends". Normally I talk to the Guineas, but this morning I just stood there and watched the action.

 

[Gill-b]

This morning I witnessed my very first Guinea cock fight!

The usual flock were mulling around my gate when I spotted a flock I had never seen before running across the play park. This flock then changed direction, still running, and headed towards us. Males from the usual flock started towards them, meeting the new flock halfway along the street (Hop-a-long stayed back with the keets). Next, two large Guineas were jumping into the air at each other, claws flailing, grabbing, wings flapping, hitting one another! Other Guineas grouped round, and I can now imagine them yelling, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The violent clash lasted only a few seconds, then the new flock all turned as one and galloped off towards the play park.

I have seen many Guinea squabbles, one chasing another, showing dominance, but never an outright fight. It was a magnificent sight!

 

[Gill-b]

Just a few photographs that I snapped this morning of Guineas on a moon morning...

The above three pics are of the female Guinea Fowl, Comma.