Forgive my ignorance- Newbie here

[QHGirl]

Hi everyone,

I am totally new to the world of poultry and fowl. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I do not have any feathered roommates on my property yet I will have shortly. I am in the planning phase. My daughter wants chickens and so do I. BUT I am interested in guineas. I read that they are great for snakes. Is this true? We only have gardeners. I live in northern Minnesota and the temps are extreme cold to extreme heat. Can guineas handle these temp extremes? Also, can they be housed with chickens? If so, is there anything special they need?

I should mention that I am interested in eggs and my daughter is interested in hugs. I'm looking for hearty, accepting feathered friends. She's 11 and will be extremely kind to them so no worries about mishandling. We have 2 dogs and 5 horses on 54 acres (to give an idea of the environment).

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

Shannon

 

[Bailey1204]

We were all there at one time or another. Guineas, if raised with chickens will get along fine. I would not recommend guineas as they are very loud and will alert you to anything and everything, a rabbit going across the lawn, a car going up the driveway, ect. As for extreme temps, I'm not sure. For a good hardy chicken breed I'm not sure, although I imagine it will be a reg. sized bird not a bantam. Out neighbors have some Red Sexlings and they are very good in cold weather, I live in Wisconsin, so it gets very cold here too. I've also read that Rhode Island Reds are good too. Sorry about the lack of info, I'm a duck fanatic, I don't specialize in chickens. If you are looking for a very hardy bird I say ducks, but that's just my opinion. Anyway chickens can be quite biased when it comes to hugs, in my experience, they are more a bird for production rather than pets. Ducks are more affectionate and bond better, they'll also be very accepting to strangers. One good thing about chicken is that they will put themselves to bed at nigh, ducks won't.

 

[R2elk]

Hi everyone,

I am totally new to the world of poultry and fowl. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I do not have any feathered roommates on my property yet I will have shortly. I am in the planning phase. My daughter wants chickens and so do I. BUT I am interested in guineas. I read that they are great for snakes. Is this true? We only have gardeners. I live in northern Minnesota and the temps are extreme cold to extreme heat. Can guineas handle these temp extremes? Also, can they be housed with chickens? If so, is there anything special they need?

I should mention that I am interested in eggs and my daughter is interested in hugs. I'm looking for hearty, accepting feathered friends. She's 11 and will be extremely kind to them so no worries about mishandling. We have 2 dogs and 5 horses on 54 acres (to give an idea of the environment).

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

Shannon

The claim is that guineas will attack snakes. I raise turkeys and know for a fact that turkeys do a really good job controlling snakes. The guineas if given protection during the winter and shade during the summer would do fine in northern Minnesota.

I do not recommend housing guineas and chickens together. When raised together guineas and chickens can seem to get along well together until the guineas reach their first breeding season. The guineas have a different life style and it can make life very difficult for other poultry. I have had guineas, chickens and turkeys together. I now keep my guineas separate from the chickens and turkeys.

Guineas are very vulnerable to predators which is why I keep mine in their own coop at night. I lost my whole first flock of guineas to owls before I realized which predator was getting them. Guinea hens are ground nesters and like to hide their nests in secluded places making them very vulnerable to raccoons, skunks and other such predators.

Guineas like turkeys are seasonal layers so not the best choice to choose for egg production. Some people with much effort have managed to somewhat tame guineas but even those people come to realize that guineas are a look but don't touch kind of bird. They retain their wildness to a much greater degree than do turkeys and chickens.

If your daughter wants pets, get her some brahma chickens. They are reasonably good layers and very friendly chickens. The ones that I had were very cold hardy and excellent mousers.

My recommendation is to forget about guineas and stick with chickens.

 

[QHGirl]

Thank you for the great advice. I really appreciate it. I think I will go with your recommendation.

 

[red horse ranch]

Thank you for the great advice. I really appreciate it. I think I will go with your recommendation.

I usually agree with R2elk on most things. But we differ on having chickens and guineas together. My 16 guineas live in the same henhouse as my 36 chickens. One thing that is criical for having them together is plenty of room. And allowing them to free range. We have some pretty cold weather here in Wyoming so sometimes my birds are confined for days at a time. I imagine your birds would be confined even more since your winters are harder than ours. Build your coop twice as big as you'll think you need! 4 square ft per bird is recommended in most circumstances but when they will be confined for long periods then you need more space.

Guineas can handle the cold weather as long as they are in a draft free environment. I hang a heat lamp over the water when it is bitter cold. But it still gets down to single digits in the henhouse. The guineas and chickens have always done fine together during these periods of confinement.

Guineas are different than chickens. They roam farther and make more noise. But they are also real characters that give me a lot of pleasure just being around them. Chickens and guineas are able to coexist very well together.

 

[QHGirl]

I can't seem to find any local sources for them so I guess it's a moot point. How unfortunate.