Newish to guineas

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guineagirl0124

guineagirl0124

In the Brooder
Sep 10, 2015
25
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Hi :) this is my first year with guineas, actually any bird besides a cockatiel. Is it possible to ruin a flock of guineas? I mean make them to nice? My guineas act more like over grown house birds than any outdoor bird I have ever seen. They like to bathe in my neighbors pool everyday (which does not go over well) they enjoy sitting on my shoulders when I'm cleaning out the shed they roost in, they flock around and enjoy getting pet while I'm feeding them...which they will only eat crumbles. No scratch, no corn, nothing but layer crumbles. I started out with 15, then they started not coming home for days on end, I found them roosting in the tree tops and getting picked off by predators. It broke my heart to start losing them and I started only letting them out supervised again. Everyone keeps telling me that they are supposed to be weary of predators and resilient independent birds, I think I somehow ruined my birds. Should I get their wings clipped and keep them in a run?
 
...Good lord. Are you totally sure you've got guineas? I can't even catch the things any time during the day, much less get them to sit on my shoulders or even come near me, no matter how good of treats I have.

Guineas do tend to have a somewhat high mortality rate due to their outdoor roosting - mine are 100% wild and still have this issue, so I doubt it's to do with their friendliness. A lot of it happens in the early morning, since they fly down at the crack of dawn when predators are still out.

If the birds are very important to you, then yes, pen them up. While they do use a lot more space than chickens, they don't need it, so there's nothing wrong with confining pet guineas. I personally keep mine for meat and their silly looks and watchdog tendencies, so I allow them to roost outside and just cycle hatchlings and new bloodlines through frequently. (I've had maybe 40 guineas through my flock over the last year and I have maybe only 3 that were here his time last year).
 
This is a picture from their first time outside :D
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We call them frootloops lol they all look so much alike that it was hard to tell them apart. Our white ones were the first ones to not come back. We have 9 left and I found one of my hens with bailing twine stuck all around her hanging from the tree in my front yard and haven't let them out of the run since. She's fully healed now and since its getting cold out and my neighbors havnt covered their pool yet I think I'm going to keep them in for the winter and just keep buying meal worms and crickets from petsmart along with their crumbles
 
I have the same luck as Queen Misha. BUT last years guineas I took a water hose or threw sticks to get them down as soon as they started to roost in the trees. After a week they went back to the coop I started them in and that they did stay in for awhile b4 having to use the hose. Also feeding them ONLY just b4 roosting and only in coop or wherever you want them could help.
 
I also work out of town. and once I got the guineas to roost back in the coop I left my doggy/chickie door open while gone. Coons or bobcats or something ate all 13 guineas and 17 chickens in a night. My Bantams in the trees lasted till spring. I started twice again this yr. I have 1 from Spring and 4 juvenilles.
 
They don't do as well as a chicken cooped up, but if you have a nice run they should be ok. I got a bunch of coons this spring and when I started losing my RIRs I got out the live traps. That got a few possums and coons. Something was getting out of them. I got some more new foot traps. Got some more coons and possums. And nice pics by the way.
 
Trapping or finding a neighbor who does could help you let them run freely. Unless it's owls doing it.
 
I think it might be coons I have their foot prints all over my car windsheild. Or owls, hawks, coys, fox' lol! I live near the taconic mountains in NY so we have a lot of predators. I'm building a bigger coop and run this weekend and I'm thinking about doing an open part to the runso they can get in and out on their own but I could lock them in as well. They are amazing birds and I never thought I would love them as much as I do. Next spring I'm getting 30 and a hand full of chickens and try to raise them together and hope that with the chickens wanting to stay close it will hopefully keep my guineas closer as well. I really want a few vulturine and see if I can get a few crosses between them and a royal purple :D
 

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