I am almost done tryhing to keep guineas......

[Chickiemom25]

Seriously I dont know what more i can do... I must have raised up at least 30 keets over the last year and I think I am down to 7 or 8. usually I lose them to stupidity before they are completely grown.. like landing in front of a cat, or flying into the dog 's yard and not realizing they can FLY OUT. I was down to 11 for quite a few months... then I lost 2 last week. Last night we had that horrible storm.... I checked at sundown and no guinea had returned to any of the houses. Not the ducks, the chickens, or the guinea pen where they usually sleep. They will eat in any of the runs. We are installing a new shelter roof so I can remove the tarp and the new poles ( poles mind you.. that is all we have done is set 3 4X4 poles in the ground in front of the pen) and for the prior 2 nights I have had a time getting them to go into the run. Last night, they flew into the huge tree for the first time at night. So I went out and when I got home at 10:30... I could only see 2 in the tree still. Wind was whipping. I found one had returned to the run ( woohoo). her buddy was outside the run so I put a flashlight on inside and herded him in. then I found another set of birds under an apple tree on the ground so again, I herded them to the run, and a 3rd set of birds under another tree. When I went to bed there were 6 birds contained and 2 in the tree. #9 I didnt see.

This morning, I counted 5 in the run... possible one could have escaped as the tarp was flapping, or it could have been behind a bale of straw or something. One was on the roof of the house, one was in the tree. Short of locking them up day in and day out,, I am running out of ideas. I am thinking if they get the pole barn built this week, I will lock them all in the run for a few days to refresh their memories where home is. I do have a wire roof I can put back on their 10X10 run once the tarp is off. I have nest boxes for them in the run so I would prefer they lay in their run, rather than play guinea egg hunt. Then again, at this rate, I may be out of guineas very soon. So frustrated

 

[MillersFarm]

Sounds like you don't have a very secure set-up for your guineas, I've never raised keets, I bought all my guineas as adults and clip their wings so they can't fly away from me or out of their runs. My advice to you is Totally secure what they live in before you get anymore. Look up ideas on what to put your guineas in to prevent them from escaping, Something like this would do amazingly. (Notice how the top if covered with game netting)

If you free-range your guineas then you're just going to have to except that you're going to lose a few guineas here and there. Keep them in their coop with a covered run for a couple of months then let them out once they know where home is.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I raise keets. I start them in the house for a week. They get moved out to the back pen of my coop with whatever chicks they hatch with. They get raised in there until they are off of heat and fully feathered. The first couple nights I have to make sure they all get back in the coop.

But after that, I've never had any issues with guineas moving into the coop at night. We normally free range and they've always moved in at dusk by themselves. We had a fox coming up last fall so we put up electric poultry wire. The odd time some will fly out of the fence...but they come to the gate opening and wait there until we let them in.

Maybe mine follow what the chickens are doing? The chickens are pretty mellow.

 

[Chickiemom25]

They have been living in this covered run for almost a year. When there is bad weather or I make a change to the environment ( like adding some straw bales for winter warmth, or planting some posts outside their run) they freak out like they have no idea this is home and it takes a few days to get them back on track. Tonight there are 8 who returned to the run on their own and took their perches, which means one vanished in the storm.

Sounds like you don't have a very secure set-up for your guineas, I've never raised keets, I bought all my guineas as adults and clip their wings so they can't flrom me or out of their runs. My advice to you is Totally secure what they live in before you get anymore. Look up ideas on what to put your guineas in to prevent them from escaping, Something like this would do amazingly. (Notice how the top if covered with game netting)

If you free-range your guineas then you're just going to have to except that you're going to lose a few guineas here and there. Keep them in their coop with a covered run for a couple of months then let them out once they know where home is.

 

[TMChickens]

We started with 21 Guineas in June. They will not go into the coop. They fly up into a tree by the coop that they were raised in. It was about 4 months that they stopped going in. Now we are down to 4 losing almost 1 a night! We cannot stand it. We knew at first it was a hawk but its gone now. No evidence of what is taking them but we would love to find out! Another morning of searching and for them and It will push us over the edge. We’ve caught ever animal; possum, raccoon & skunk and related them 5-10 miles away. We have no idea but we can’t get them to go into the coop! So sad!

 

[Ms Biddy]

We kept our guinea cooped for 6 weeks before allowing them to free range and they have no problem going in at night with the chickens. We also don't let them out until 3pm. I'm not sure what's going to happen when the hen starts nesting though, or where she's going to choose to lay.

 

[TMChickens]

Thanks Ms.Biddy, We kept ours penned up for 6-8 weeks. We had one left from previous that was already in the habit of going up into a tree at night. We think the others just followed her lead. Why do you wait until 3 to let them out? We let our out at 0700 until just before dark. All chicks go into coop, the Guineas into that dang tree! I read someone on here clips their wings. No chance we could get that close to the Guineas. They are disappearing only at night. We feel so helpless! We stopped feeding them outside the coop to try to make them go inside and they will not go. We were going to order more but we are afraid they will follow the lead of the other 3 and go back into the tree at night! We love having them but don’t want to get more only to have them harmed. We are at a complete loss. Our coop is 8’ x 32’ and we have 13 chickens and the Guineas used to go in with them, think the coop is too small? We have 16 nesting boxes and about 40’ of perches with enough space for them all. Just not sure.

 

[Ms Biddy]

I'm sorry It sounds like they learned the habit initially from a bad influencer. I would have eaten that guy before it had a chance to teach the others. Ours have been raised with chickens and although they do fly up onto the roof, they've never been shown the possibility of roosting anywhere other than the coop. I think that's the root of the issue. They've been shown that roosting in trees is safe. Unless you can teach them otherwise, your only option might be to start fresh with an entirely new group. They're quite tasty if you'd like to fill your freezer.

 

[bbgranch]

I’ve had guineas for five years. I still have two from the original batch. They are free rangers but I try to get them in every night. They get white millet for a treat. Still have to herd some of them in. The stupid ones don’t last too long. But I think they are worth the trouble. Just had my flock chase off a coon from the poultry area. He won’t be returning and my chickens are safe. Oh I have27 of them currently. They can get very loud when the see a varmit.

 

[CedarFarms]

We started off with 6 and are down to 4. the two dumb ones didnt follow the chickens. No idea what got them but they are giant ass birds kills me they let a coon/fox who knows get them! and feathers right by their pen. They really are not the smartest bird but it seems they need to follow chickens to do anything of sense