9+ weeks old, can they go out?

[featherz]

My guineas are a bit over 9 weeks old and they are ornery! They are in with chickens and it's getting quite crowded in the coop/run. The coop is only big enough for 15 birds, but they made such a ruckus we left them all together when small and there are 23 'teen' birds in there. Lots of roost space, but there won't be when full grown!

We DO have another coop we can rehome some to, but they are NOT happy when we try. They've been in this coop for seven weeks and out in the run, which is down to just dirt now. Anyone think we can let them out to free range a bit before dusk yet? They are getting bored and were pecking the feet of my GLW today - had to separate her out and blukote it.

They are in roosting by 7:30 every night so I am thinking of letting them roam the fields around 6 just to see what happens. We'll be there too, of course. Anyone think they'll come back?

I am hopeful I'll be able to identify splinter groups and maybe I can put some in the other coop soon.

I know you're supposed to wait until 12 weeks but not sure I can.

I just wanted to wait until they were big enough to scare my fraidy cat barn cats and as they are almost the same size as my full grown leghorns I am pretty sure the cats will steer clear. No dogs here.

 

[robin416]

Mine were out and about at one week. That wasn't my plan, it was theirs.

At two months they were in their coop for a week, then the door was opened for them to come out if they wanted. The advantage I have is that the pen is a room in my Guinea coop so it was home and they had adult company even though they were separated by wire.

 

[featherz]

Well, I'm going to try it. I warned my hubby we may lose a few to attrition already - but it's a perfect time to try. Hopefully my chickens won't run too far away as it would be impossible to let one out and not the other. Too many keets!!

 

[ColbyNTX]

I put mine out when they are about 6 weeks old but they are in a 6ft fence. Soon they start to fly over the fence and when they do that, they are ready.

 

[featherz]

Oh mine can definitely fly over a fence. I have a thin net over the fence to prevent them from flying out (they are locked up at night), which I plan on removing since they will free range during the day. They fly into the net all the time.. !

 

[featherz]

Well, they did fine. Never wandered further than about 5 feet from the coop. Took the top off the fence so tomorrow we'll see if they fly out properly. I wanted to keep the net on, but they kept flying into it! Not exactly safe.

They did return to the coop at the proper time and I locked them in for the night.

 

[robin416]

While they're that young they usually are not a problem putting up. They stay together, only something that scares one will make it scoot away but then it'll come right back. Its when they get about four months old that they might give you a bit more argument. For the first three months mine put themselves up by six every night.