chicks and guinea sharing feed

[robren]

Hi folks

I have batch of chicks and guineas -- 8 of each. They are being housed in the same coop and have been eating medicated chick starter. They are now 8 weeks old and I am changing feed to grower crumbles.

Any opinions or suggestions on difference in chicken grower feed vs gamebird grower?? I know in a perfect world they should get their own feed, housing etc., but mine is not a perfect world. They will be housed together and therefore also share a feed station. They do get to free range for most of the day.

Thanks for your thoughts.


o

 

[R2elk]

Hi folks

I have batch of chicks and guineas -- 8 of each. They are being housed in the same coop and have been eating medicated chick starter. They are now 8 weeks old and I am changing feed to grower crumbles.

Any opinions or suggestions on difference in chicken grower feed vs gamebird grower?? I know in a perfect world they should get their own feed, housing etc., but mine is not a perfect world. They will be housed together and therefore also share a feed station. They do get to free range for most of the day.

Thanks for your thoughts.


o

I frequently brood chicks, keets and poults together. I always feed all of them the turkey game bird starter (28% protein) that the keets and poults need. I have never seen any sign that the higher protein feed hurts the chicks but it definitely helps the keets and poults.

If they are all still together when I switch to grower then I use the turkey game bird grower or a meat bird grower since both are very close in protein content.

As adults my turkeys and chickens are together and both get 16% protein layer pellets with free choice oyster shell. I tried the housing of guineas, chickens and turkeys together and the guineas caused to much stress on the chickens and turkeys so my adult guineas are housed separately and as adults they get 20% protein layer pellets and free choice oyster shell.

Good luck.

 

[robren]

Thank you for your reply.
So I should start thinking about separate housing for the guineas? Do you think the chickens would be easier to re-home to a different coop?

I'll pick up the game bird grower and start thinking about housing......

Thank you again

 

[robren]

R2elk -- how do the guineas do with your winters? I'm in NH and we had a bitter cold winter last year.

 

[R2elk]

R2elk -- how do the guineas do with your winters? I'm in NH and we had a bitter cold winter last year.

We get sub zero temps here, last winter was -30°F. The cold isn't the problem especially if they have a protected place to be (coop).

I keep mine shut up in the coop when the ground is snow covered. The guineas need clear landing areas as they will not land on the snow. It has been theorized that all the white interferes with their depth perception. I went through one session of chasing guineas from tree to tree and finally building them a "landing strip" with scattered hay before being able to get them down and back into the coop. Now if there isn't any bare ground they don't get to come out at all.

I coop my guineas every evening since there are great horned owls that frequent the area and they think that guineas are delicious. I lost my entire first flock of guineas to owls before I realized what was happening.

As far as rehoming the chickens or the guineas it probably is easier to get the chickens used to a new coop but it isn't that hard to get the guineas moved also. The guineas simply need a longer period of time to get through to them that the new coop is now home.

 

[Michaelshamp]

I frequently brood chicks, keets and poults together. I always feed all of them the turkey game bird starter (28% protein) that the keets and poults need. I have never seen any sign that the higher protein feed hurts the chicks but it definitely helps the keets and poults.

If they are all still together when I switch to grower then I use the turkey game bird grower or a meat bird grower since both are very close in protein content.

As adults my turkeys and chickens are together and both get 16% protein layer pellets with free choice oyster shell. I tried the housing of guineas, chickens and turkeys together and the guineas caused to much stress on the chickens and turkeys so my adult guineas are housed separately and as adults they get 20% protein layer pellets and free choice oyster shell.

Good luck.

Thanks for the feed tips. I am new to chickens but like with most things I do starting slow is not happening. Going to build a 10' x 16' coop. Hope to pour footing after St. Pattys Day. Have 45 chicks and 10 keets coming the end of this month. With this ratio do you think the keets would be stressful to chicks? Ordered all dual purpose birds, 12 chicks are mix so I expect 6 or so roosters. Goal is for eggs and to harvest 50-75 birds a year for meat.
I want a self sustaining flock of 40 hens from four breeds: Light and Buff Brahma, Black Australorp and Buff Orpington.
Living in NW corner of Illinois I selected cold weather hearty dual purpose docile birds. I hope they All get along. All will free range in the surrounding woods and cornfields.
At what age should I turn them loose? I have a 6' wood fenced in back yard where the coop will go. Yard is 175' x 100'. This is where my 3 Rottweiler and 1 Pit bull poop currently. I will have to train them not to eat chickens. I plan to use this area as a run. Has 3 very large black walnut trees for shade.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks for the feed tips. I am new to chickens but like with most things I do starting slow is not happening. Going to build a 10' x 16' coop. Hope to pour footing after St. Pattys Day. Have 45 chicks and 10 keets coming the end of this month. With this ratio do you think the keets would be stressful to chicks? Ordered all dual purpose birds, 12 chicks are mix so I expect 6 or so roosters. Goal is for eggs and to harvest 50-75 birds a year for meat.
I want a self sustaining flock of 40 hens from four breeds: Light and Buff Brahma, Black Australorp and Buff Orpington.
Living in NW corner of Illinois I selected cold weather hearty dual purpose docile birds. I hope they All get along. All will free range in the surrounding woods and cornfields.
At what age should I turn them loose? I have a 6' wood fenced in back yard where the coop will go. Yard is 175' x 100'. This is where my 3 Rottweiler and 1 Pit bull poop currently. I will have to train them not to eat chickens. I plan to use this area as a run. Has 3 very large black walnut trees for shade.

I no longer brood chicks and keets together. It is not because of their nutrition needs. I learned that keets get imprinted by the chicks. The imprinting causes them to lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between guineas and chickens once they are adults. They will all get along fine until the hormones kick in. At that time the guineas will begin their instinctive breeding behaviors. The chickens will not understand these behaviors and it can cause great stress to the chickens.

I brood and house my guineas separately from all other poultry. The guineas stick to their own kind as do the chickens. I can now allow them to all free range in the same place at the same time without any problems between them as each group keeps to itself.

You may find your wood fence to be a problem. The guineas will find the wood fence a desirable place to perch and like all poultry will invariably get down on the wrong side of the fence. After doing so, they will pace back and forth along the fence as they quickly forget that they can just fly back up onto the fence.

The keets will be old enough to be fully feathered and acclimated to the ambient temperature before being allowed to be out. You also need to gradually release them with supervision at first while training them to return to the coop. If you allow them to roost outside at night, you will eventually lose all of them to predators. I learned the hard way as I lost my whole first flock of guineas to Great Horned Owls at night. I haven't lost any to predators since I keep the current flock in a secure coop at night.

Do not expect guineas to venture deep into or spend a lot of time in the woods unless it is really open.

 

[Michaelshamp]

I no longer brood chicks and keets together. It is not because of their nutrition needs. I learned that keets get imprinted by the chicks. The imprinting causes them to lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between guineas and chickens once they are adults. They will all get along fine until the hormones kick in. At that time the guineas will begin their instinctive breeding behaviors. The chickens will not understand these behaviors and it can cause great stress to the chickens.

I brood and house my guineas separately from all other poultry. The guineas stick to their own kind as do the chickens. I can now allow them to all free range in the same place at the same time without any problems between them as each group keeps to itself.

You may find your wood fence to be a problem. The guineas will find the wood fence a desirable place to perch and like all poultry will invariably get down on the wrong side of the fence. After doing so, they will pace back and forth along the fence as they quickly forget that they can just fly back up onto the fence.

The keets will be old enough to be fully feathered and acclimated to the ambient temperature before being allowed to be out. You also need to gradually release them with supervision at first while training them to return to the coop. If you allow them to roost outside at night, you will eventually lose all of them to predators. I learned the hard way as I lost my whole first flock of guineas to Great Horned Owls at night. I haven't lost any to predators since I keep the current flock in a secure coop at night.

Do not expect guineas to venture deep into or spend a lot of time in the woods unless it is really open.

I am thinking maybe I should forget about guineas. I don't have time for a second coop. I guess if they become stressful to the chickens the guineas will be big enough to eat. I have not prepaid for them but I said I would take 10 and I will.

 

[R2elk]

I am thinking maybe I should forget about guineas. I don't have time for a second coop. I guess if they become stressful to the chickens the guineas will be big enough to eat. I have not prepaid for them but I said I would take 10 and I will.

Guineas are delicious. I would expect them to start stressing out the chickens next spring.

 

[red horse ranch]

I am thinking maybe I should forget about guineas. I don't have time for a second coop. I guess if they become stressful to the chickens the guineas will be big enough to eat. I have not prepaid for them but I said I would take 10 and I will.

In a perfect world guineas and chickens would be housed in separate coops like @R2elk says. But a lot of people don't have that option. My guineas and chickens and peafowl have always lived in the same building. In the spring when breeding season is in full swing there is some conflict between the guineas and the others. But most of the year they all get along fine together. If your birds will free range when grown that lessens the conflicts but if they are confined in pens together it will be stressful for the chickens during breeding seasons.