Jimmy the Guinea... about 2 weeks old now I think?
This one shows how he's feathering now on his wings...
My unnamed guinea... I was waiting until I know what sex they are before naming them, the only reason Jimmy has a name is cuz my roommate named him already... lol He's just a bit bigger than Jimmy, possibly a little older, it looks like he's feathering just a bit more than Jimmy.
One of my turkeys... I have no idea how old they are. I at least knew what day the store got the guineas, so I could guess on their age, but no clue on the turkeys.
This one really shows how much they're feathering...
I was looking up info on guineas and turkeys, I had found something about leg rings to put on them to tell them apart... but then read something else that says turkeys will attack other turkeys that look different from them, and if they see that another turkey has a different color leg ring on, they'll attack it because it's different... So... guess that would go for painting their toenails too... glad I didn't try that! lol It said you can use a sheep marker and mark under their wings where the other turkeys won't see it... I dunno if I'll bother doing that though.
I should be able to tell what sex they are at about 8 weeks. By then the guineas will have developed their unique noises, males will have a one syllable noise, and females will have a 2 syllable noise. The turkeys should look different at 8 weeks and I'll be able to tell male from female then.
Been pricing out incubators... lol because I want to order some eggs of other kinds of birds, and other breeds of guineas... I think it'd be neat to hatch them myself... and that's a whole lot cheaper than ordering in the breeds I want after they're hatched.
Thanks Phil I had just posted on a guinea forum I joined asking if anyone could tell the age of the turkeys, then I saw this.
Hm, guess I could try that with the leg tags... There's only one turkey I can tell apart from the others, they all have a black spot right at that little bump on the top of their heads, but one doesn't have a spot there. And with the guineas, they have slightly different markings on the right side of their head.
My roommate said to name one of the turkeys "Turquila" lol
Was wanting to go ahead and name them, guess I could come up with some gender neutral names... although my roommate already named Jimmy, I hope he actually is a boy cuz I've gotten used to the name lol
I'm such a dork, these nights I haven't been able to sleep, I sit and research info on guineas and turkeys lol I spent I don't know how long trying to find something to figure out how old those turkeys are, figured there'd be pictures or something showing at different ages or whatever, couldn't find anything.
400!!!!!! Geeze Louise, Phil, my grandparents had what they termed fryers, bakers and layers. They sold every Sat. to customers in town and to some small grocers....of course, that was before such strick FDA regulations. Even at that.....400!!!! I was rolling off my seat at the thought of you out there with 400 peep, peep, peeps! ONLY because, it is not that unusual for ANYONE trying some new venture, as this, to go into full steam. Like AA's saying "one day at a time" it stand to reason "a little bit at a time" usually works a little better. I have been down that road too. My first garden....18 tomatoe plants of varying kinds. Weeded, tended ect. It was also the same summer I got a sunburn so bad it warranted dr's. care. We had almost perfect weather....but after the burn I didn't have much desire to be in that garden. Weeds gotta away from me BUT that didn't stop those tomatoes from bearing and bearing and bearing and BEARING! At the time.....it was just me and my husband. I can't believe that I can even look at a tomato today.
By the way, Captain Morgan? Wasn't he a sailor? LOL Forgive me for being a smart ass, but don't sailors usually do their work on or in the high seas? Then again, suppose you were in deep. LOL Wanda PS. I do thank you. I love it here in the country and God only knows what fond memories I have of my grandparents' farm, gathering the eggs, nesting the coops, ect. They took us right along with them doing those chores and allowed us to help. Didn't care much for scoopin' poop from the dairy barns though. LOL Again thanks!!!
Lisa, I am sorry. I got so tickled at Phil's story....forgot to tell you your little ones are so cute! I don't know if there is any truth to this or not but the "Tom" of turkeys, aren't they prone to like flog and throw hissy fits when they are older? I think my mom told me they had turkeys when she was young and at home. That anytime one remotely got close it would go into a sort of attack mode and they had to watch out because their beaks are sharp and they are stronger that they look. Maybe I just dreamt that..... I don't know anything about turkeys other then they taste sooooo good at Thanksgiving. Considered peacocks, yet? They are so beautiful! there was a couple, now long deceased, that lived at the edge of town and a few short blocks from the grade school I attended. They owned a pair of them. On that end of town one always had to watch where they drove as these birds roamed free. And NO BODY minded. There was little studying when those birds roamed about the school grounds. LOL Love the pics.!!!
LoL phil, I want to jump into it full steam, but I'm not quite that insane! lol I've got 9 babies, that's enough! Well, for now anyway... lol Just brought home another guinea from my friend's farm... he jumped out of the box on the way home... had to stick him in the bra top of my shirt and keep my hand over him for the hour drive! hahaha...
My friend is totally insane with all the babies she bought... but she has a whole section on her chicken house set up for babies... the day she got mine, she bought 60 ducks, 300 chicks, half a dozen turkeys, and a couple of guineas... since then she's bought I don't know how many, but has way more than half a dozen turkeys now! lol I took pics of them while I was there, but had to leave the camera there with my roommate.
I was telling my friend I wanted other kinds of birds... well, she has a friend who has a couple of peacocks that they might be willing to give me or sell! So she's gonna check on that for me. :) I had been hoping to hatch my own peacocks, along with other kinds of birds... but I was told it's really hard to artificially hatch peafowl... so... suppose I'll get them already hatched.
Learning, I don't know a whole lot about turkeys... I've been looking up info online, but more about the guineas than turkeys... I kinda favor the guineas lol But my roommate had a Tom that was really tame, he said they make pretty good pets... guess we'll find out... But geese on the other hand... that's one bird I won't mess with! lol I'm scared of them. I thought I was going to get attacked by my friend's geese last night, they came in to the chicken house hissing at me... roommate told me to stay still and as they walk by slowly move away from them... lol nope, don't want any of them.
I had just posted on a guinea forum I joined asking if anyone could tell the age of the turkeys, then I saw this. 