And then there were two. . .
Yesterday evening The Farmer and I saw a little white “chick-or-keet” when we threw out some feed. The Farmer commented it “looked different.” And it did. The legs didn’t look as long. I thought maybe it was getting more fuzz and/or feathers that just covered up some of the legs.
But then this morning I was looking out the window and saw TWO white heads bobbing through the grass in the main pasture. Well duh! That little keet looked different because it WAS different…. there are at least two of them running around out there!
We still have the original “chick-or-keet” that I took another picture of this morning when I went out to feed . . .
The original Chick-or-Keet!
Got to say, it still looks like a baby chick, not a keet. But the mama guinea hen is very protective of this little one, and chases away anyone that gets near.
But what about the other little head bobbing out in the pasture? I could see the original elsewhere, and there were some little brown keets with another set of guinea hens. And one pale one. . .
Definitely a second little white head bobbing around in the grass!
I couldn’t go out right then to get a closer look, because I was waiting for the Mediacom guys (AGAIN!) to come check on our intermittent service. When they had come and gone, I finally got to go out and do morning chores. The hens with the new keets didn’t come in to get some grain. I finally found them out in the llamas pen.
At first I didn’t see the pale one. There were some little brown ones running after the trio of hens, but no white one. However, I could hear the “peep, peep” of little keets left behind, and homed in on the sound until I found some more in the tall grass, including the white one.
Discovered, one little keet in the grass!
Now this one, I have NO doubt is a guinea keet. I’ve seen that coloration before. And even though the colors are different, you can see the same pattern on the head and neck as the brown keets.
Toby thought it was fun looking for hidden keets, and spotted one of the brown ones for me.
"Hey Mom, I found another one!"
You can see the same stripe pattern on the “regular” looking keet’s head as is on the light gray one.
The usual brown and black marked guinea keet.
So while the jury is still out on our original “Chick-or-Keet”, this latest pale one is definitely a guinea baby.
I know of at least one more nesting guinea besides this one!
Stay tuned… there are still more guineas like the one above sitting on nests!
