Having a problem with my guineas

[happydog]

I have 17 acres of pastures and woods and need help with tick control. I started out with 30 guineas three years ago and they totally eliminated the ticks, but over the last 3 years they've gotten picked off one by one. I suspect we lost all the females when they were setting on eggs. We have 3 left, probably all males.

The problem is, they won't go out and eat insects. The prefer to hang out in the barn, waiting for me to turn my back so they can eat the cows food. Or they hang out by the chicken coop waiting for a chance to sneak in and eat the laying pellets. Or they sneak up to the porch to eat the dog's food. They're like a gang of petty thugs, roaming around stealing and making a racket.

This year we fenced the entire property with field fencing, and we have two livestock guardian dogs that patrol. I'm sure coons and possums still get in, but with the dogs patrolling all night, barking and peeing all around, I'm thinking that the predator pressure is pretty low now.

We're starting to see a lot of ticks again and I need to either get more guineas or get some free ranging chickens. When I let my chickens out, they range as far or further than the guineas. AND they don't scream all day. I'm really loathe to get another batch of guineas so they can hang out in the front yard and scream at me all day. But my daughter found a tick in her ear so I need to do something. (My daughter free ranges farther than the stupid guineas, lol.)

I would prefer chickens, honestly. Just because they're quieter. I'm so sick of the constant screeching. And at least chickens will come running when I rattle a scoop of feed. The guineas just move a few feet out of reach and scream at me. Why won't the dang guineas go roost in the trees and free range and be wild? Are they just spoiled by the easy pickings?

I would love to hear any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[PeepsCA]

Yep, sound spoiled to me. Loafers... and I'm sure they've learned by seeing all of their flock-mates being taken by predators that it's a better/safer idea to stay closer to home. They are flock birds, so just 3 aren't going to be happy out foraging by themselves, so they stick close to the chickens and even the cows who they now see as "their flock".

Game Fowl may be a better solution for you... but IMO a good functioning flock of Guineas still wins hands down for tick control (plus I feel about the same towards chickens as you do towards Guineas, I am SO not a chicken person... ESPECIALLY roosters, lol). Personally I'd re-home your remaining 3 Guineas, start over with a new batch of 30 that are raised in a coop/pen closer to the area you want them free ranging in and controlling ticks. Keep them out of your barn and chicken coop and don't allow them access to free food anywhere but their own coop, or foraging.

 

[happydog]

Thank you peeps. I don't know anything about game fowl. Do they eat ticks and can you let them basically go feral and fend for themselves? Ideally I'd like a flock of birds that roam in the woods and pastures eating bugs and being pretty much wild. I don't want a flock of thugs at the house hopping up on cars and screeching at me whenever I go outside.

I'm not a chicken person either. I like my laying flock because they do their job. My cows do their job, the dogs do their job, the kids - well they're a work in progress, lol. I just need someone to do the job of eating ticks. I suppose I'm stuck with guineas then.

That makes sense that there are too few of them to be a real flock, so they try to hang out with the chickens. It also makes sense that I should raise them somewhere further from the house and barn area. And further from the chickens. These were raised in a barn stall and I tried to train them to come in at night. They flat refused, preferring to roost on the roof. So now I guess they think the barn is their home.

I guess I just need to figure out how to juggle distance with safety, so they don't get eaten up right away. Maybe I could put a coop at the far end of the pasture where they'd still be surrounded by the electric fence but not close to the barn. The problem is, they won't want to roost in the coop, they'll want to roost in the trees...

Thank you, it really helps to get some advice and input.

 

[KrisH]

We have 39 guineas in our flock, and they roost in the chicken house with the chickens at night, but during the day they patrol the 14.5 acres quite well. they mostly pair up boy girl, but sometimes pack up and hunt in a line. ticks are GONE! no more on the dogs or horses! we started with 14 and they did ok, but did not range as far, now they hunt everywhere. they have free access to the chickens and turkeys food, but they hunt all day, get a bedtime snack of flock raiser, then go to roost.

after they were about a year old ours quieted down tremendously. They still will alarm (they ran a fox off the other day) and they get a bit noisy when we lock up the chicken house, but otherwise they are fairly quiet. Our Turkeys make far more noise than the guineas.

RobertH

More in the bator now, about 25 coral blue "Smoke Alarms"

due in 2 weeks. (to me thats what keets sound like)

 

[happydog]

haha, smoke alarms. YES, that's exactly what they sound like.

KrisH, how old are yours? I've had a hard time getting my adults to come back at night. They start out fine but then one lovely moonlit night they decide they want to roost in the trees, and then there's no getting them back.

I was going to order 30 from guineafarms.com, but I wonder if I should get more? How do you decide how many you need?

 

[happydog]

I wonder how reasonable my plan is to let them roost in the trees. There's a large pond just below the pasture. I'd really like to naturalize them down there. I had a chicken get out and not come back at lock up. I was afraid she was a goner, but the next day she was right back. I think/hope that with the dogs on patrol we've eliminated the predators. It would be ideal if they just lived in the woods, wild and free. Or is that totally impractical and I might as well hang out a sign "All you can eat buffet!"?

We have 39 guineas in our flock, ... during the day they patrol the 14.5 acres quite well. ... we started with 14 and they did ok, but did not range as far, now they hunt everywhere.

This has me thinking. Maybe my problem really IS just flock size. I wonder if I raised a large flock in the barn stall, if they'd range further during the day and still come back at night. Although that's what I tried with my last guineas. They came back every night. Until one night when they discovered they could roost in trees. It's like they WANT to be free but they're too boneheaded to survive.

 

[PeepsCA]

When I am coop training a new flock of Guineas, I keep them confined to their coop/pen for a full 6 wks, consistently feed them treats each night at what the normal coop-up time would be for them (and from day 1 I always use a specific food call when I feed them and give them treats so they associate that call with yummies). I make sure they always get treats once they are in, and they start looking fwd to this. It also helps to have an attached covered run on the coop so you can work on the routine of herding them into the coop each evening during those 6 wks while they are contained and have nowhere to go and no choice but to go in. When I start letting them out I close up the coop/pen while they are out, so they cannot come and go as they please and they have no free choice to feed all day, so foraging is encouraged (they have a water source outside tho). And I give them no choice about getting up in the trees in the evenings, I make sure to get them in before it starts getting dark (when they'd normally start heading for the trees), and they always get treats when they come in. Occasionally I get a stubborn bird or 2 but I use whatever means necessary to get the bird down and into the coop... broom, long piece of PVC pipe, I've even climbed up and pushed a bird off a limb, lol. The key is to make a nightly coop-up routine for them right from the start that you stick with so they stick with it as well, and just don't let them make one of their own.

The reason I suggested re-homing your remaining birds before starting over with a new flock without rehoming your current loafers... is because you may just end up with a larger flock of loafers.

As far as game fowl... I have a couple friends that say they roam as far as their Guineas do, but they don't have a lot of land to cover so that's not really a fair comparison.