Can Guinea Fowl Survive 100% on there own in Ohio?

[speckledhen]

To a degree, yes, however, if you don't afford them some night time protection, they will be picked off by predators and you'll have to "restock" them periodically. A quarter horse farm down the street from me started with 20 guineas about a year ago. They are down to 3 now, mainly because the guineas love to get into the road and are always hit by cars, but also from our large predator base here.

They won't find much to eat in winter, though.

 

[Newb]

So they can or cannot survive in an Ohio winter living in a mature forest with plenty of oaks, everygreens, and other trees? I am not worried about them getting him by cars and it sounds like they can possibly stand clear of predators. Yes I will loose some but maybe the remaining can repopulate.

 

[speckledhen]

I lived in Dayton, Ohio for 12 years. With 25 below zero plus snow and ice, the prognosis would not be good, in my opinion. I wouldn't even expect them to live through a winter here in the Ga mtns without some supplemental food and night time shelter. They will have serious trouble finding bugs and greens in an Ohio winter.

 

[robin416]

Quote:
Yeh, can you imagine taking anything that is straight out of some of the hottest land in the world and expecting it to survive in an OH Winter?

I've been biting my tongue on the cruelty of the idea of expecting them to survive with nothing as support.

 

[racuda]

The only established colonies of wild Guineas that I know of are in Texas, which perhaps comes closest to their native habitat in Africa. Is anyone aware of any self sustaining flocks further north?

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Yeh, can you imagine taking anything that is straight out of some of the hottest land in the world and expecting it to survive in an OH Winter?

I've been biting my tongue on the cruelty of the idea of expecting them to survive with nothing as support.

Yeah, that's the problem. They're hot climate birds. Africa is their native land and the midwestern/northern U.S. is about as far from Africa as you can get, climate-wise.

 

[Katy]

Mine survive pretty much on their own all winter here in central Kansas. The only time I feed them is during the winter if there is a lot of snow cover. I throw out some scratch for them then. They roost in the cedars during the winter and the elms during the summer.

 

[speckledhen]

The only positive thing would be that they don't have combs to freeze, but I'd imagine they'd get frostbitten toes at the least. A run-in barn with high roosts would be a good idea, at the very least. We don't have many cedar type trees here in the south. I can't recall what is in Ohio. The more evergreens the better, I'd think, for cover. They would be picked off in groups here where almost all the trees are deciduous and they have little cover.

 

[Newb]

Quote:
So it sounds like there may be hope after all. I have plenty of nice evergreens on the property that they could roost in. Maybe if I put up a tall 50 gal feeder that only birds could access that would help. I was also considering building some boxes up on steel poles for roosting. The steel poles wouldn't allow racoons or bobcats to climb in their roost.

 

[speckledhen]

Katy also has cattle and other animals and her guineas can glean feed from the spillovers. I think that makes a difference.