Keeping guineas makes me question my sanity!

[thasista]

Reading all this makes me want my guineas here sooner!

 

[terrilhb]

I am still waiting for mine to start laying eggs. UUUGGGHHH

 

[wildriverswolf90]

I am getting guineas in two weeks. And this thread has me wondering if I'm insane!?! But all your stories have had my crying with laughter. So I think the laughs will make it all worth while.

 

[The Red Rooster]

Lol! Thank goodness my guinea doesn't make to much racket... just a "buckweat" once in awhile.

 

[elevan]

We live on 5 acres and most of it is field for our critters...where I want the guineas to roam. All of our neighbors have "met" the guineas because the guineas are constantly flying over the fence to harass the neighbor's dogs or kids.

Thank goodness our driveway is situated so that it cannot be seen from the field, so visitors are safe from the guineas unless they venture into view of the fences...then the guineas start screaming.

If I let my dog out in the middle of the night the guineas start screaming in their coop...yeah, I should have built that facing the other direction.

My guineas do coop with the chickens and they do go in at night on their own though, so I'm thankful for that.

I do have a secret weapon against the guineas...my little East India duck drake named Hardy. Hardy keeps everyone in line when they're in the field. But Hardy is also a little love struck at the moment and thinks that the guineas should be his special friends...they think he's crazy!

 

[livenwpeeps]

Mine are the same way except it's the UPS truck, the mail man and an occasional jogger that they harrass. I had to get another farrier because the old one refused to come out again until I got read of the guineas. It never fails, the guineas cause a commontion and spooks the horse he is working on. It would be way to normal without those little buggers!!!

 

[BritinMO]

With the warmer weather here, my herd have decided that its time to get into the summer routine (sleeping in the big tree by the coop, instead of IN the coop where they spend their winter nights), but so far only HALF of them have made the move - so around 7pm when its bedtime and getting dark, there is an almighty row going on between the 2 differences of opinions of where to spend the night - I have the bunch in the tree screaming at the ones in the coop to join them - and I have the bunch in the coop screaming at the ones in the tree - its complete mayhem out there, I am thinking about getting earplugs for the chickens who are trying to get some sleep.

 

[NancyP1]

With the warmer weather here, my herd have decided that its time to get into the summer routine (sleeping in the big tree by the coop, instead of IN the coop where they spend their winter nights), but so far only HALF of them have made the move - so around 7pm when its bedtime and getting dark, there is an almighty row going on between the 2 differences of opinions of where to spend the night - I have the bunch in the tree screaming at the ones in the coop to join them - and I have the bunch in the coop screaming at the ones in the tree - its complete mayhem out there, I am thinking about getting earplugs for the chickens who are trying to get some sleep.

Same here. I have a bunch that want to roost in the trees by the coop ( bet my horrible neighbors love that! ) Bedtime is a joke. I have been throwing snowballs at them to get them out of the trees, but now the snow is gone ( big YAY ! ) and I am reduced to throwing sticks. Wind up having them hit me instead to the branch the guineas are on. I have a bad neighbor dog, so I really want them in at nite for their safety. I came stomping in the house a few nites ago telling poor hubby to get the chain saw..."I'll get them out of that tree". Of course, they will just fly to another one....seems to be the only time they remember they know how to fly!

 

[terrilhb]

I just love stories about Guinea's. Here are a couple of pictures I took of mine yesterday. The red hen you see keeps them all in line when they start fussing it is hilarious.The white one on top of the hole digger jumped up their cause the other ones decided to chase her. Silly birds.

 

[daylily]

I too have the chase the Ups man. I've never seen him run so fast!

Last fall My Mother in Law was dying and we had hospice come to the house to help out. My goodness there were so many people all hours of the day and night. Well, our guineas were still so new to the outside at that point that they would run to greet them and do silly things and then go off on their own. However when they decided to leave that was a horse of a different color! As soon as they started their engines, here came the flock squawking up a storm and would literally run in and out of their tires to make them stop!!!!! Good grief! Even we couldn't go anywhere in the car without a drag race down the drive to beat them.

So far this year they could care less about the cars or anyone coming to visit. They are too caught up in the egg game to care about silly cars.
Same with our dogs, the guineas will just hop over them or run them in circles. They are old little dogs and tire very easily so the birds are nice to them.

Now coming into the coop at night............. Frustration city!!!!!

But for the last two nights they have gone in very quietly and all I had to do was close the door! Phew!!!! I hate it when they head to the trees if I'm late getting out there! Nope there is no way to get them out, they just fly to another tree. However tomorrow is a 'nother day and who knows what will be in their little heads.