Meet Our Guineas
We acquired them as little keets the summer of 2011, to help with our very bad tick problem, since we live in a wooded area. The guineas free range during the day and come in at night to sleep in the secured run on the branches at the end. We have two of just about every color - pinto, porcelain, pearl, royal blue, lavendar, voilet, chocolate, buff dundotte, coral blue, and slate. We also have silkies, just because they're just so darn irresistable. Since they make great broodies, we thought that would work well if we decide to hatch some guinea eggs later.
Here are some pictures of our guineas: (the rooster in the front center has been sold)
A pinto guinea when younger:
http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/1/15/154f2cdc_firstwinterday.jpeg
http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/0/07/0708b2c1_indoorrecess.jpeg
http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/6/6a/6af111ad_winterguineas.jpeg
Guineas out in the first snow (see update below and use caution when releasing guineas after the first snow):
I regret to update that we had our first predator attack and lost one (of two) of our much loved pinto guineas. We let the guineas out two days after our first snowstorm and did not anticipate how afraid of the snow they would be. They flew up into some of the tallest, huge oak and elm trees on our property and only flew higher when we tried to get them down. Nothing we tried to do would lure them back to the ground and after dark set in we were forced to leave them for the night. We were out before sunrise to find one lavendar guinea injured on the ground. It's injuries do not appear to be life treatening and we are treating the wounds. Our pinto guinea was nowhere to be found. We found many coyote tracks in the snow around the trees they were in, and the tracks were followed to the point of attack on the ground. We are very sad for this loss. Fortunately by the afternoon, all other guineas were accounted for and lured back into the secured run with the help of some food and treats. We knew we live in an area that is very dense in a wide variety of predator and have built our run secure enough that we believe will keep them safe whenever we can get them to come back home.
You can view the coop/run here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/coop-page-7
and our silkies and showgirls here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/shaynas-member-page
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicks-hatched
Thanks for stopping by!
