1 guinea with 13 chickens?

[NicInNC]

I have never had a guinea but would love to try keeping one. I live in a neighborhood but other neighbors have chickens and roosters so I don't think it would be too much of a problem. If it doesn't work out, I have a friend that lives on a farm that would take it.

Would one guinea be lonely with 13 chickens? Do they socialize with chickens? Can they be let out to free range during the day and put back in the run at night? If they free range, do they usually stay where their sleeping quarters are? What do you feed them? I'm switching all my chickens to flock raiser for a couple of months since I have such a wide variety of ages at the moment....can guineas eat that?

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

in my experience guineas are as if not more social than chickens and they prefer the company of other guineas not chickens, they'll hang with chickens and do fine being house together, but I'd get atleast a pair, not a single guinea.

If you get them young, keets or 'teenagers' and house them for a couple weeks in the coop and run then let them out with the chickens, they should stick around. They may prefer sleeping on top of the coop or in a tree by the coop instead of the housing though, cause guineas like to roost as high as they can, if your coop has rafters up top, then very likely the guineas would go back in at night and roost up there, but if not they'll probably pick the nearest tree.

P.S. Guineas can be LOUD and much more annoying sounding than any rooster to people who aren't used to them. I can hear the neighbor's guineas when they are down out in the woods or the field which is a good 500+ feet from my house, but I can hear them when I'm out on the porch.

just keep it in mind.

 

[NicInNC]

Quote:
That's why I've made sure that there is a safe and loving home they can go to if things don't work out.

 

[corancher]

I have had guineas and chickens together for years. They do fine together, roost in the same coop, & eat the same food. The guineas do roost up high in the coop and prefer to stay with their own kind when free ranging. I would say also to get a least two. I brood the guinea keets with my chicks and grow them up together so both chickens and guineas see each other as normal.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Ditto

 

[NicInNC]

I got two so I'll update you in a couple of months to let you know how things are going. Right now, they're in a brooder INSIDE of the coop. That way the chickens can see them and get used to them. I tried letting them roam free with the chickens, but they were getting picked on way too much. One is grey and one is the brown striped kind.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I have 10 guineas that are about a month old now, and they've had 6 baby chicks in there with them since they were biddies and they sort of bonded with the chicks so when I let them out they just kinda hang out w/ the chooks.

 

[joedie]

Someone gave me 6 adult guineas a few months ago. I kept them in a coop for 2 weeks and let them out. THe females took off the first day but the 3 males have stayed. They prefer to roost in the tree next to the coop. They stick together but do follow the chickens alot. The chickens don't mind them being around and the guineas go into the chickens coop to feed. They're really neat to have around but noisy. I wish I had kept them in the coop a little longer, maybe the girls would have stayed around.

 

[Siler]

I found the answer to my question, but cannot delete this post.