Guinea Keets Coming Soon...Have Arrived!

[DeAnzaJig]

The guineas are now a little over 3 months old and have been free ranging for about 2 weeks. Things have settled down a lot since free ranging began, so I haven't had much to post. They have been going to bed every night without fail.

The biggest news is that my dad took Big Fat Rooster to his new home today. The kids and I will miss him, but he was starting to crow and the guineas were leaving him behind on their rounds. It's time he takes over a new flock of chickens. Next spring we will get 6 female chicks.

The weather was very nice this Sat so I got out all the brooder equipment and washed it with a mixture of water and bleach.

I also dug up all the plants in my flower boarder in front of the house. The guineas marched by when I was done and took a dust bath! Big Fat Rooster was right in the mix!

I love watching the guineas march across the lawn and having them run down to me when I call 'Guinea! Guinea!' They will hang out around us, and even the kids don't seem to scare them off.

I think I have 4 males and 9 females. When they walk around the yard, the males seem to puff their wing feathers up higher on their backs. The females walk with a lower profile. There are 11 lavenders, 1 white, and one pearl.

Hopefully I can get my coop painted soon!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I read this the other day but didn't have time to comment. No news is good news, sometimes! I'm glad all is going well and everyone is still behaving. Too bad about BFC but hopefully his new family and flock are good to him. That (rehoming and the quality of the new home) is one thing I worried about with my youngest roo.

I have decided I am going to paint my coop green with white trim. I don't know if I'll get to work on it this weekend though. I didn't realize how busy these birds would keep me (and cost me lol).

 

[DeAnzaJig]

I think green with white trim will look lovely! Green is my favorite color!

You're not kidding about the cost! The price of the birds is nothing compared to all the rest!

 

[DeAnzaJig]

These past two days the guineas have been no where to be seen during the day, but appear as if by magic around 5:30 pm near their coop! They make the rounds of the yard, and by 7 pm are all roosting in the coop.

Both days my mom felt obligated to give me the "You Did Your Best" talk, but I wasn't too concerned. I know I have the most comfortable coop around!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

It's all a novelty still. Maybe they will hang closer once they figure out what's out there. What are your surroundings like? Neighbors, forests, fields, etc.

 

[DeAnzaJig]

Well we have a 2 acre yard area around the house. It's like a rectangle. One long side runs along the road (which is not busy) with a tree/bush boundary, the other long side backs up to our woods, one short side has a tree/bush boundary that separates us from our neighbor, and the other short side has another tree/bush boundary with walk through to our field and pond and a little more woods. Across the road is thickly tree/bush wooded area.

I think the birds go into the woods during the day when they are not in the coop. If it is sunny, they spend most of the late morning/early afternoon in the coop. If it is overcast, they are out somewhere. I want them to go into the field area, and have walked them down there several times, but they don't seem interested.

I haven't seen them on the road, and neither has my family.

On the weekends they are around the yard more, because myself, husband, and kids are outside during the day more than on weekdays, I think.

Today they were afraid to take millet from my hands because I had my garden gloves on!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

That's interesting that they won't go into the fields. We have a lot of wild turkeys around here and our 2 acres is surrounded by farm fields. When the fields don't have any crops they are full of the turkeys. I assumed guineas would love the fields the same as the wild turkeys do. Although perhaps they feel safer in the woods, and that's understandable, especially if you have any flying predators circling overhead (we do on occasion). That's good that you don't see them hang out in the road! That is something I have heard is common with guineas. My guineas have been real pains the past two nights, as far as going back into the coop at night. I'm glad to hear yours are still doing what they should and coming home. The neighbor that I gave six guineas to said his are roosting in the trees now.

 

[DeAnzaJig]

My guineas are 4 months old! They have been doing well putting themselves to bed every night after free-ranging all day. The sqwalking noise has slightly decreased, but I think that's because they spend most of their time wandering around the place.

When I am out in the yard they stay in my area. Not right next to me, but in the vicinity. If I move around the yard they will follow me. The best is when they take off and fly to catch up with me. I make sure to sneak out of the driveway when I go for my run or walk. A few will eat millet out of my hand, but I don't do that much because they peck so hard now.

I was gone for the beginning of Oct and had two local kids come by to feed and water the birds once a day. They weren't allowed to free-range, and only had access to the coop and their pen. My dad fortified the pen with 3 foot of chicken wire over the chain link along the bottom and laid another 1 ft on the ground. We put logs along the bottom edge. Since the coop door was open all the time, I wanted to be sure nothing could get into the pen. After 13 days of heavy guinea fowl traffic, the grass that was left turned black!

I love it when the birds fluff up their neck feathers. It makes me think they are wearing boas.

One huge thing happened today that very few non-fowl people would appreciate...my birds drank from my nipple water system!

After failing to get the birds to use my nipple water system earlier this summer, I decided to take it out and give it another shot, as it would be perfect for the winter. I removed their regular water font, and secured the nipple system to the wall, which I hadn't done the last time. I made sure to put it at eye level and start them with a drop. By chance I had some time to just watch the birds by myself, which is unusual. They went into the coop to check things out, so I hung out by the door. After a few minutes, Snow White went over and pecked twice. Then a lav did the same, followed by two more. I was so psyched. I felt like cheering.

Here's my bucket. It's hanging by a bracket and secured with the chain. The metal cone is fitted on top to keep the birds off the top.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Did you make that yourself? How many nipples does it have? I'm glad to hear they drink from it! I have been dreading winter and the thought of lugging water to the birds several times a day (I don't have a water hookup near the coop). I may look into setting up a nipple system and seeing if my birds can figure it out!

 

[DeAnzaJig]

I hoped to get the nipple water system working for the same reasons as you.

This was my dad's idea...still untested for winter. He attached 4 nipples (that I bought at Tractor Supply in a four pack) evenly spaced on the bottom of a 2.5 gallon bucket. Then he cut a hole in the bottom of a 5 gallon buck a little smaller than the 2.5 gallon buck and set in, so the nipples hung down. Come winter, we will put heat tape around the 2.5 gallon bucket and some insulation and connect it to my electric outlet in the coop to keep the water heated.