Baby Chickens, Baby Guinea Fowl, Baby Peafowl, and Baby Turkeys

July 25, 2023

Baby Chickens, Baby Guinea Fowl, Baby Peafowl, and Baby Turkeys

It’s always so much fun to watch the baby animals grow here at my Bedford, New York farm. Right now, the youngest residents include a number of turkey poults and keets, a peachick, and a chick.

I've been raising poultry and various other outdoor birds for quite some time. I love keeping chickens for their fresh, delicious eggs, but I also enjoy raising other birds and learning about the different breeds and varieties. Every year, we hatch many eggs to add to my flocks. I am fortunate to have the proper incubators and brooders where they can remain until they are big enough to go out into our "nursery" coop and yard, and then finally to the adult areas to join the others.

Enjoy these photos.

: Whenever we have baby birds here at the farm, my stable manager, Helen, who is very experienced in raising chickens, sets up the brooders with bedding, feeders, and proper heating elements in our stable feed room. This turkey poult is already very alert and curious to know who is visiting.

: At this stage, these keets, or baby Guinea fowl, are less than a week old and just learning to walk on their big feet and become familiar with their surroundings. Any baby fowl less than a month old, does best in temperatures around 80 to 85-degrees Fahrenheit.

: Baby birds need constant monitoring until they are at least four or five weeks old. Here they are checked several times a day. This room is also free from drafts.

: On the right is a week old turkey poult and on the left, a days old keet. All the babies get along well and are very social.

: Raising baby turkeys is a lot like raising chickens. Both birds need good quality feed, fresh water, safe living spaces, clean bedding, adequate roosting areas, and when older, nesting boxes.

: Once they are all about a couple weeks old, they move into one of my large bird cages. Here, the keets are a bit unsure of the visitors and prefer huddling together in one corner for safety.

: After each move to a new enclosure, every chick is personally shown where their food and water sources are, so they know where to find it.

: This youngster is very active, very curious, and very fast, even at just three weeks old. Hello, my turkey friend.

: Here is one keet and one turkey. These birds can be kept together, but whenever raising large fowl, consider their mature size and give them lots of room to roam.

: By nature, turkeys are docile, regal, and intelligent creatures. These two keep inching their way toward the camera.

: Turkeys are also quite gentle – with each other and with all who visit. Baby turkeys love to play and are not shy when visitors enter the room.

: At about five to six weeks, the keets are moved again to their first outdoor enclosure – a “nursery” coop and yard. Here is a group exploring the grassy run. It is very difficult to sex Guinea fowl at this stage. The best way to tell males from females is by their cry. When they’re older, the female Guineas will make a two-syllable call that sounds something like “buckwheat, buckwheat”. Males can only make a one-syllable sound similar to “kickkkkk kickkkkk”. The males also have larger gills or wattles.

: Guinea fowl enjoy being with their own kind and will always maintain their own social groups even when integrated into the coop with the adult chickens and roosters. And do you know what a group of Guinea fowl is called? The collective noun for guinea fowl is “confusion” or “rasp.”

: When young, poults should have a free-choice starter feed that is at least 28-percent protein.

: Here, we have one young chicken, one young peafowl, and a keet. Notice the corona atop the peafowl’s head. Both male and female peafowl have this fan-shaped crest on their heads. It may take up to one year for a corona to reach full size.

: With all this energy, these keets are already starting to perch and spread their wings. Here are three perched on the sides of their cooling tub.

: These birds will stay together for a couple more weeks and then get moved down to the chicken yard to join the others.

: And if well cared for, these Guinea fowl babies can live up to 15-years. Where one goes, they all go. If one gets lost it will call out until the flock comes to find it. And Guinea fowl are noisy. I can often hear them all the way from my Winter House.

: These turkeys are now about seven weeks old and very outgoing. Turkeys can actually make more than 20 different noises. And, only adult male turkeys can gobble.

: The Guinea fowl originated in Africa, so they are not too fond of the cold weather, but they are very hardy and can live well in nearly every climate. One Guinea fowl is the size of a large chicken and weighs about four-pounds fully grown. And do you know what a group of Guinea fowl is called? The collective noun for guinea fowl is “confusion” or “rasp.”