Chickens raising keets?

[HereChickChickChick88]

hi,

Long story short, I live in rural PA where ticks are a HUGE problem. We have free range chickens (9 after recent predators), and two broody hens. So I had the maybe not so bright idea to get my hands on some guinea hatching eggs and separated the girls into their own coops and placed some guinea eggs under each. After reading some info, my concern is guinea aggression. Will they attack my 6 yr old? My blind old Yorkie? Myself? My chickens? If a chicken hen raises a guinea, will it be less aggressive? Join the flock? Or should I hatch and rehome bc my dream of having a couple guineas as pest control is absurd?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for your time!

 

[R2elk]

hi,

Long story short, I live in rural PA where ticks are a HUGE problem. We have free range chickens (9 after recent predators), and two broody hens. So I had the maybe not so bright idea to get my hands on some guinea hatching eggs and separated the girls into their own coops and placed some guinea eggs under each. After reading some info, my concern is guinea aggression. Will they attack my 6 yr old? My blind old Yorkie? Myself? My chickens? If a chicken hen raises a guinea, will it be less aggressive? Join the flock? Or should I hatch and rehome bc my dream of having a couple guineas as pest control is absurd?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for your time!

I have used broody chicken hens to hatch guinea eggs. I do not allow the hens to raise the keets. Once they are hatched, I move the little ones to a brooder where I raise them by themselves in order to prevent imprinting. Imprinting causes the guineas to lose the ability to understand that the chickens are not guineas.

I raise and coop my guineas separately from my chickens. They know the chickens are not guineas and they can be allowed to free range in the same area at the same time as the chickens and both groups will keep to themselves without any problems.

As long as you do not try to make pets of the keets, they should not imprint on you which will allow them to grow up without thinking that people are strange looking guineas. In that case, I believe that it is unlikely that they would attack your child. When children are around animals, one should always be careful because it is impossible to always predict an animal's behavior towards people especially when the animal believes that it is protecting its young or in the case of a guinea hen, protecting her nest and eggs. Male animals when their hormones are raging in breeding can be dangerous.

Whether or not they may attack your dog will depend on factors that cannot be known at this time. My guineas never attempted to attack my dog but she was more likely to eat a guinea than to let one attack her. A person that I sold keets to years ago gets amused when her guineas chase after her little dog. There are old posts in this forum where people talk about their guineas that are friends with their dogs. You just don't know how things are going to work out until the situations arise.

The part about having just a couple guineas is the part that is wrong. If you need tick control, you need a flock of guineas, not just a couple. Guineas are flock birds and do best when there is a large group of them. It allows the guineas to use their instinctive behaviors on each other rather than needing to take it out on others. They care for each other. The flock as a whole will act en masse against a perceived danger.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[HereChickChickChick88]

I have used broody chicken hens to hatch guinea eggs. I do not allow the hens to raise the keets. Once they are hatched, I move the little ones to a brooder where I raise them by themselves in order to prevent imprinting. Imprinting causes the guineas to lose the ability to understand that the chickens are not guineas.

I raise and coop my guineas separately from my chickens. They know the chickens are not guineas and they can be allowed to free range in the same area at the same time as the chickens and both groups will keep to themselves without any problems.

As long as you do not try to make pets of the keets, they should not imprint on you which will allow them to grow up without thinking that people are strange looking guineas. In that case, I believe that it is unlikely that they would attack your child. When children are around animals, one should always be careful because it is impossible to always predict an animal's behavior towards people especially when the animal believes that it is protecting its young or in the case of a guinea hen, protecting her nest and eggs. Male animals when their hormones are raging in breeding can be dangerous.

Whether or not they may attack your dog will depend on factors that cannot be known at this time. My guineas never attempted to attack my dog but she was more likely to eat a guinea than to let one attack her. A person that I sold keets to years ago gets amused when her guineas chase after her little dog. There are old posts in this forum where people talk about their guineas that are friends with their dogs. You just don't know how things are going to work out until the situations arise.

The part about having just a couple guineas is the part that is wrong. If you need tick control, you need a flock of guineas, not just a couple. Guineas are flock birds and do best when there is a large group of them. It allows the guineas to use their instinctive behaviors on each other rather than needing to take it out on others. They care for each other. The flock as a whole will act en masse against a perceived danger.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thank you so much for the information - so helpful! I just placed the eggs on the 3rd so I have a few weeks to gather as much info as I can and make a decision. Could I let the chicken raise them for 4 weeks til mostly feathered so I don’t have to bring them in or still don’t recommend that? I can easily get an outdoor enclosure but I’m pushing the divorce limits of my husband with the constant raising of animals inside, haha! He had never had an indoor pet before he met me so I’ve already gotten away with more than he wishes...

To be honest I don’t want the guineas to be pets so that’s not an issue - one of the reasons we wanted to branch out to guineas is because they are less tame; the chickens are pets and they are constantly all up in our business while pooping on everything. Eggs are amazing, they are fun to watch, and the bug control is above what I expected... just all that darn poop everywhere!

Again, I appreciate your response and well wishes and definitely respect your advice! Hope all is well with you!

 

[Doublete]

I am in pa.
I have 13 (I think currently) free ranging guineas. They hang out in groups of 2-3 all OVER my 16 acres.
They were adults when I got them so I had them in tractors for two months so they learned this was home.

I terrified them when it came to dealing with them.
Now they accept me.

I think the point with imprinting you need to understand... take the chicks away as soon as they hatch... it is my understanding animals imprint at “birth”...
also I’ve been told guinea keets are susceptible to diseases and hard to raise.. best to raise inside on wire so it’s cleaner

I have 40 eggs in the incubator... 20 for my neighbor and the rest to replace any of my flock that may get picked off...

 

[peterinhungary]

hi,

Long story short, I live in rural PA where ticks are a HUGE problem.
Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for your time!

Are you expecting the Guineas to help with the tick problem?
We had a tick problem when we moved here (26 years ago) and we were told that the best way to reduce the tick problem was to reduce the numbers of the primary host. In our case the primary host is the field mice and the way we reduced the field mice population was to keep the grass / meadows short which reduced the hiding places and allowed the natural predators to control the numbers. It has worked. The (once) abandoned meadows are now grazed and cut and the grass around the house is kept short - and the big tick problem has gone. (We do put tick collars on the farm dog and cats)

 

[Doublete]

I have ticks here... I have a horse farm... grass is short and traps for mice and rats

No amount of managing can manage my tick problem so in my case guineas to eat even a few would help.

 

[HereChickChickChick88]

Thank you all for your replies and advice. I think I’m on a hamster wheel here trying to keep my daughter protected while simultaneously allowing her to enjoy her childhood outdoors. Growing up I never remember the tick problem being this bad! It drives me crazy! I really was hoping my chickens would raise these keets for me and they would all get along fine, but it’s sounding like I have to grab them and raise them myself - which will be interesting. I appreciate you all taking time out of your day to help - take care!