Raising keets and chicks simultaneously - in a coop with two hens?

[ahoward]

Hi there - We currently have two barred rock hens in a converted shed. They are free range and their door is open all day.

We also have six, six or seven-week (about) old guinea keets of undetermined sex. And we have eight, slightly younger laying pullets (probably five or six weeks old).

My husband divided off an area in our coop with scrap wood a couple weeks ago. He put in a barrier between the keets and chicks. The keets are eating game bird feed and the chicks starter/grower.

About four days ago the keets started roosting - at various times of the day - on the divider between them and the chicks. Since, they have been roosting, jumping down into the chicks place, and also jumping down into the main coop (just today I saw this last occurance).

They seem to be depleting the chicks of their food, and I was nervous today after seeing them in the main coop, that they will find the door and escape!

My questions:

Is it okay to feed both species chick starter/grower? Should I take out the divider?
What do I do with the keets now? I need to leave the door open for our two hens during the day.

I have heard it is a must to give the keets a small free ranging space before letting them go wild. How do I do this?

Thanks!

 

[Texas4T]

HI! Welcome to BYC.
I raise both guineas and chickens, and I will tell you my experience. You need to keep the keets separated. My one and only experiment with raising barred rocks and guineas ended in disaster when the half-grown keets began to bully, and eventually kill, the barred rocks.

When I free my guineas, I wait until they are big enough not to be owl-prey. Then I let them out one at a time, in a controlled area. I leave one out for a couple of days, then add another, then two more. In about a week-10 days- they are all out and usually roost right over their pen (I have a mobile guinea pen).

I have guardian dogs, so you may need a bit of a safer situation depending on your setup, but definitely separate chickens and guineas. Don't let the guineas grow up thinking it is "their" chicken house or they will bully your hens and possibly kill one.

Hope this helps.

 

[R2elk]

Hi there - We currently have two barred rock hens in a converted shed. They are free range and their door is open all day.

We also have six, six or seven-week (about) old guinea keets of undetermined sex. And we have eight, slightly younger laying pullets (probably five or six weeks old).

My husband divided off an area in our coop with scrap wood a couple weeks ago. He put in a barrier between the keets and chicks. The keets are eating game bird feed and the chicks starter/grower.

About four days ago the keets started roosting - at various times of the day - on the divider between them and the chicks. Since, they have been roosting, jumping down into the chicks place, and also jumping down into the main coop (just today I saw this last occurance).

They seem to be depleting the chicks of their food, and I was nervous today after seeing them in the main coop, that they will find the door and escape!

My questions:

Is it okay to feed both species chick starter/grower? Should I take out the divider?
What do I do with the keets now? I need to leave the door open for our two hens during the day.

I have heard it is a must to give the keets a small free ranging space before letting them go wild. How do I do this?

Thanks!

Everything that @Texas4T said is accurate except for the part about owl-prey. Guineas never get too big to be owl-prey.

I brood keets, chicks and poults together. They all get the high protein turkey gamebird starter. I have never seen any evidence that the high protein food has in any way hurt the chicks. On the other hand I have seen evidence that low protein food has hurt the development of keets and poults. However it is my opinion that your 6 to 7 week old guineas have had the high protein at the most critical part of their lives and are old enough to be switched to a grower feed.

 

[ahoward]

Texas4T, are you saying that my half-grown keets will bully and kill grown barred rock hens, or just the pullets? If it matters, our pullets are not barred rock. They are a mix of red and black sex-link and a couple leghorns.

What do you all put your half-grown keets in while they are growing? We have no place we can confine them from our other birds, unless we were to fence in an area of the coop totally so they could not roost and then hop out.

At what age do you begin to let them outside? Any tips on an enclosure for letting them out one at a time?

 

[Texas4T]

Keets will kill similar age/size chickens, doesn't matter the breed..sorry about that! My guineas aren't bothered by owls after they reach mid-adult size, even roosting in trees. I let mine out when they are 2 -3 lbs...bigger than a softball, smaller than a football? I use a hoophouse to separate. Cattle panel arched in a square bottom frame and a tarp over it, chickenwire front/back and a door. (Sorry I can't load photos from my tablet). I locate it where I want them to roost and just let them out, as I said, one at a time, as they learn. As I said, I have dogs free range guarding my whole property, so your situation may be different.
Hope this helps!

 

[Halloweengirl13]

We raised a few Guineas with our chickens and they stayed with them for a good while before we decided that maybe we were pushing our luck with the neighbors and sold them(they were really loud). They never messed with our chickens, they roosted in the rafters of our shed with our bantam chickens at night and dug around in the run with them during the day.

 

[alpacaroad]

Last year: My two adult male guineas and two laying hens (wellsummers) get along fine. They eat together and free range together and roost together. The Wellsummers were mature when we got the guinea keets. We kept them separate until the keets were about the size of the hens before we let the guineas free range. At first the chickens picked on the guineas and would not let them near the treats (mealworms) I threw out for them. Everyone shares the treats now.

This spring I got a dozen keets and 15 easter eggers. I brooded them separately due to the protein difference in the feed and the difference in age. We got the easter eggers about 3 weeks prior to the keets.

The easter eggers are now in the chicken tractor. By the time the keets are ready to move outside the chickens should be using the adult house.