Guinea talk.

[pattyhen]

My little guys love to cuddle

awww they are so cute. What color are they?

 

[alexa32]

I didn't know they would do that?! Good to know now.

My babies are white. I named them thing one and thing two cause I can't tell the gender.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Lots of catching up to do here on the Guinea Talk thread. Thanks everyone for the posts, entertaining stories and great pics! It puts a smile on my face when I read this posts. My husband will even hear me laughing out loud at the computer.

Patty - I can just envision the chest bumping and kung fu kicks that greet you every morning. I still haven't seen any chest bumping, and the closest I get to a kung fu kick is a jump straight up in the air. That usually happens when the bigger ones go after the little ones. Then the little ones fluff themselves up and go up on their toes as if to say, "huh, I'm not afraid of you and now, I'm the big cheese here". Sometimes I think they don't even know they are being picked on - just a way of life for them.

DMontgomery - can we purchase a pass to Nana Beth's Country Farm Day Spa? It would be a good Christmas gift. You gotta love that Elvis. What a handsome dude and he knows it! Looks like they have a great area for a dust bath. We're having to get more creative with colder weather. They seem to be interested in the plastic under the bed box I filled with sand, wood ash and wood chips. I'll need to work on getting something bigger in there to encourage daily hygiene.

Alexa32 - what a great mama hen! That bond will be good for your guineas. I was reading on another thread that those free ranging guineas that are raised by mamas rather than by hand seem to be more savvy when it comes to predators and vehicles and have a higher survival rate. Mine were hand raised and we've lost almost half of the original flock to vehicles / predators. It will be interesting to see if I notice a difference in survival rate when I have some that are raised by guineas - if I had a chicken mama, I'd try that, but at this point - it's only guineas.

Christy and James - how is it going with your gal that you removed the band? Any better assimilation? Sometimes they just never give up and live their lives on the outskirts of the flock. Let us know how things progress.

We have family coming into town for Thanksgiving starting Monday - actually celebrating a week early. I'll try to post some pictures of the grandkids with the birds. Anyone else up to posting some Thanksgiving pics with their birds?

Have a wonderful weekend.

She is getting there, but the other guinea hen we call Echo is a royal pain to Delta. Chases her with wings up and head lowered which is causing both males to do the same. But there is some progress she was playing with my white chicken hen today and she seems to like hiding under the Narragansett's James and I own. Echo and Charlie actually got into a skirmish today but as quickly as it started it ended with Charlie remaining head of the flock with Echo submitting to him with her tail between her legs so to say. James and I this week are building a safety box within the turkeys coop for the guineas and chickens as our temps here in WV are dropping. Last night we hit 16 degrees and that worries me with how my birds are. First time guinea and chicken raiser and I dont want to loose any to the cold, even if they have hay for a bedding I just want to be safe then sorry.

 

[GlennLee]

It is getting down the 30s tonight so we'll be turning the heat on. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Patty are you using the oil contained electric heater that you mentioned a while back? Do you have to block it off or put wire around it. The one we have gets hot to the touch and the coils would make nice spots for poop to build up and cook on! We just got an infrared heater for our basement family room that looks like a fireplace and NO, I'M NOT GOING TO PUT IN A FIREPLACE for them, but they do make infrared tower heaters that I thought might be a good option since they aren't hot to the touch, but provide a heat source. I probably would only use it here if or when we get a real cold snap where it's down below zero for a couple of weeks. They seem to tolerate the cold better than the hot here. I have some of them panting at 75 degrees! Happy Monday everyone.

 

[GlennLee]

She is getting there, but the other guinea hen we call Echo is a royal pain to Delta. Chases her with wings up and head lowered which is causing both males to do the same. But there is some progress she was playing with my white chicken hen today and she seems to like hiding under the Narragansett's James and I own. Echo and Charlie actually got into a skirmish today but as quickly as it started it ended with Charlie remaining head of the flock with Echo submitting to him with her tail between her legs so to say. James and I this week are building a safety box within the turkeys coop for the guineas and chickens as our temps here in WV are dropping. Last night we hit 16 degrees and that worries me with how my birds are. First time guinea and chicken raiser and I dont want to loose any to the cold, even if they have hay for a bedding I just want to be safe then sorry.

Sounds like a safety box is a good idea. I have hay bales that I criss-cross stack like Lincoln Logs with an opening and they can get in like a little cave area to hide. A lot of people don't provide any extra heat source and the birds do just fine. If it's a small area, their body heat will keep it warm - drafts are something to look for and plug up.

Do you have electricity so that you could put in a heater if necessary? I've also heard about people using hot water bottles or solar black tubing. At this point, I'm not providing heat, but am planning on it for a back up if needed.

You are taking such good care of your birds! Very brave to do both guineas and chickens at the same time as a newbie! I could only handle one and if it wasn't for the support of my peeps at BYC, the flock of guineas would have put me over the edge. I hate to say it, but I think some of what you're seeing is just typical guinea behavior - they are mean to one another and I have to watch for injuries to feet and faces on a daily basis. Even with a large flock, they sub-divide and there are those in charge and those that get picked on. The low bird in my original flock, just got picked up by the secondary flock so now she's not the lowest and she's picking on some of the females in that group! Crazy birds....

 

[GlennLee]

So I decided to tie a string around my Little guys feet to they can enjoy a little freedom. Don't like to see them in the cage all day. Can't wait to see them full grown my little thing one and thing two.

I'm sure they enjoyed their walk in the wild. They are so cute and fluffy and they look like they just adore one another. How old are they?

 

[Dmontgomery]

With the time change and shortened days, everybody is up on the roost by 6:00pm or so, which is nice. Why do the guineas keep squawking even after they are all settled in for the night? It isn't pitch black dark yet, but all the birds are peacefully on the perches and Ginnie will be standing up yelling about nothing at all!

 

[alexa32]

Sounds like it was a win-win situation for everyone. Very sweet story and hope that makes her feel better.

awww they are so cute.  What color are they?  

I'm sure they enjoyed their walk in the wild.  They are so cute and fluffy and they look like they just adore one another.  How old are they?

I'm sure they enjoyed their walk in the wild.  They are so cute and fluffy and they look like they just adore one another.  How old are they?

To be honest I don't know how old they are I bought them a few weeks ago. When we feed the hens, roosters, ducks, and geese, the want to get out of their cage. I have their cage in the chicken coop so when the get older enough to let loose they know where to go for feeding time and to sleep as well.

 

[guineapeeps]

With the time change and shortened days, everybody is up on the roost by 6:00pm or so, which is nice. Why do the guineas keep squawking even after they are all settled in for the night? It isn't pitch black dark yet, but all the birds are peacefully on the perches and Ginnie will be standing up yelling about nothing at all!

My guineas make a racket like that in the evening as well. You would think that instinct would tell them to keep quiet after dark so that they wouldn't call in predators, but mine don't seem to have gotten that instinct memo. Sometimes it almost sounds like they are calling in the fox, coyote, and raccoons, with the females saying, "din-ner, din-ner" and the males saying, "eat, eat, eat!"

 

[Dmontgomery]

That's kinda what I was thinking too. Like "ok, it's dark and we are all locked in this cage, we can't get out. Come and get us....." I understand why the babies don't survive in the wild very often.