What age can they be let out ?

[Stazia86]

Okay, i am still new to the whole chicken and guinea thing. I have a coop for my chickens(which are still incubating...lol) But i'd like to have some guineas also for the ticks we have around here. What age can they be done with the brooder? and will they be big enough to let out in the yard to free range? also can i house them with my chickens? Are chickens and guineas known to fight? or should i just let them be natural and roost up in the trees? when do they start flying?
sorry for all the questions, but thanks for all the answers in advance.
Stazia

 

[kcardella]

I put them in the pen where I want to keep them at night (chicken coop) as soon as they are feathered/nearly feathered. I keep them penned in the run/coop, but separated from the chickens, for six weeks. For the first week, I usually keep one or two in the coop so that the others will come back to the coop. They stick pretty close together, and will look/call for each other when separated.

The adult guineas sleep with the chickens, but the male guineas will pick on the chickens during breeding season, and the more dominant chickens will pick on certain guineas, just like they do with each other. If raised together, I don't think it's too much of a problem.

They do like to roost high, so I keep a high perch in the coop for them. I would not let them roost in the trees at night. They need protection from predators as much as the chickens do. Even though they can fly into the trees, when startled, they often fly to the ground and run, and I have lost a few to nighttime predators this way (when they did not come back to the coop at night). Except for breeding season when they may have a hidden nest, they will come back to the coop each night.

They fly very early (often before they are feathered), so be careful when you open the brooder!

All in all, they are easy keepers, and within two months of letting them loose, our tick problem was solved (we are surrounded by woods). We have had them for nearly four years now, and I cannot remember the last time I saw a tick.

 

[Stazia86]

awsome!!! i'm on 15 acres. 2 is grass in my front yard and the rest is woods. And there are ALOT of ticks around here not to mention the size of the bugs! I get grasshoppers every year that are 3 inches long! And i have a small fenced garden that they just destroy! So i'm hoping to "train the guineas" when they're old enough to go out in the yard for a few hours a day, to let them in the garden. Unlike chickens i've heard they eat the bugs off of the plants, instead of scratching the roots for bugs. I do have some fence to put around the coop for the chickens to have a little "yard" before i let them free-range completely, so if nothing else, i'll build a little coop for the guineas in the fenced area. Thanks for the info!

 

[kcardella]

They are great for bugs, but mine got a taste for tomatoes while patroling my garden! Of course, they only liked them ripe!

I figured it was a small price to pay! They patrol the edge of the woods where the ticks breed (in the bark of the trees) and will sweep across the lawn in a line looking for bugs.

They don't scratch up roots like the chickens do, but will dig holes in soft dirt and sit in them when it's really hot. They usually look for areas under bushes though, not in the garden.

They will never be tame, but they will come up for food, and are funny to watch! Good luck!