Clipping wings

[Blodwyn0419]

Are you in Australia? I’ve read that Australian Guinea fowl are a bit different in temperament, being more willing to take on predators and snakes.

Yes, roads and guineas don’t mix, so I can see why you’d want to keep the guineas in your fence. I have not clipped their wings though, as they need flight to avoid predators. There are a few threads on this forum about wing clipping though so you might try searching on the forum. A few:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/25672346
https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/22382802

As for coop training - yes that’s indeed very important!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/20253882

https://guineas.com/articles/training

Let us know how it goes!

Yes, I am in Australia. I started letting them out, just 2 with the chooks. They have not strayed (or rather flown the fence), but I am unable to usher them back in. I rely on the 4:30 feed time I spent a while training them on.


Today was the first time I let 4 out, 2 are still in the coop. I keep going out to check on them and all is well so far.

It is winter at the moment, there are less winged and ground predators about and the run is dog and fox proof.

I think my bigger issue is no one sells sexed keets around here. I am starting to hear the wheat and buckwheat call..... I have at least 2 girls. I may have 1 more. So that is either a 3:3 or 4:2 male to female ratio.

How do I introduce more females without causing a problem?

I'll do a forum search later when the kids go to bed and I don't get I interrupted every 2 seconds. Haha.

Thanks so much for your comment. It made me feeL a little more encouraged that things might be OK!

 

[R2elk]

How do I introduce more females without causing a problem?

I have found it relatively easy to introduce new hens into a male dominant flock. I have a temporary cage that I put in the coop whenever I am introducing new guineas. Once the attacks at the wire stop, I start letting the new guineas in with the main flock, one per day.

FYI, no one sells sexed keets.

 

[Sydney65]

Reading comments, you're getting the best advice possible from experienced breeders. I also read a lot, & have found that in 4 yrs, very little I've read relates to my experiences.
I don't have chickens, but do spend a lot of time sitting w/my goons & learning from them.
Those who house their goons separately don't seem to have a problem letting everyone free range together.
Perhaps because the goons recognize that those birds don't roost w/them, so they aren't part of their flock. Not in my flock, not a threat to my status in the flock and not elligible as a mate. (Not my circus,not my monkeys)
Chickens don't rough house the way guineas do. They end up being injured,missing feathers,or worse. It's not the guinea's fault; if it has feathers & sleeps,eats, grazes w/me, it must be just like me. - and then you end up w/offspring that are sterile & don't live very long.
None of mine have had their wings clipped, and I'm on one acre surrounded by fields. Guinea are ground dwellers who usually forget they have wings. When they remember, they use them for short spurts-just enough to get away. It's one of the few defenses they have from predators. They can't see in the dark,can't hear an owl approaching, so where ever they are when it's dark, that's where they're parked,defenseless.
If you keep them locked in coop/run for several weeks, they learn that is home and normally return before nightfall.
Like R2, when I start taking my young ones out, I'm w/them,& I take them to the area I want them to be in. They won't always stay there; most of the time mine are patrolling the property & stay very close to the house,until the hens have the urge to build a nest, & that's when problems arise. I now have a large enclosed area,& hens have restricted free range during mating season. The males get to free range as usual, and they tend to stay near the hens. I also have a portable covered kennel that I can move around the yard. I can put the hens in it to give them a change, but still kept from wandering off to nest. Even when they did go off to nest, they stayed close, but even 10' into the field is dangerous for a goon.
Even in the garden, that short burst of flight will protect them, whether from each other or an intruder who found a way in. My arrangement is much as you describe yours, I just haven't got the garden part fenced in yet. I've never had a problem w/them eating produce. They do like to dustbath in the blackberry patch, which does disrupt the herbs planted at the feet of the berry canes, but I'm ok w/that.