Vermont Poultry
In the Brooder
I have 6 guineas (2 male 4 female), which are 11-12 weeks old and they are quite the trouble makers. We raised them with our other chickens and had no issues until a few weeks ago, the guineas would viciously attack the chickens, the chickens (all except the rooster) are terrified of them. So I simply separated the guineas during the day. But getting the guineas in a makeshift coop in the garage is not easy, I got plenty of scabbed over scratches on my arms to prove it. Every night I have to herd them into a hutch cage and then grab one at a time and put them into the "coop", simple enough? Not really, every night I do that and put them in there they freak out and look at me like I'm some predator about to eat them, and since I have been doing this they are really scared of me, and peck at my hands when I pick them up. Tonight I put them in the travel tractor we use for chicks, and they went ballistic, screeching hollering and pacing frantically. They didn't want to go inside the coop so crawled in there and put them in and they screeched so loud it hurt my ears. Is their anything else I can do for these guineas to encourage them to sleep separate from the chickens. They are attached to the chickens yet try to kill them every chance they get, if it were up to me I would cull them and start over next year. Any advice on how to house them at night without handling and get them to trust me again (they used to be quite tame).