Considering adding guinea fowl

[ChicadOro]

Okay, I'm very new to chickens, (we just got some a few weeks ago) and now we're considering have some guinea fowl as the ticks and bugs in our yard is outrageous and, before we do, I have a few questions.

First, we are surrounded on two sides of our property with woods and a pasture beside us. The side woods and pasture do not belong to us. We also are fronted by a main highway. I am concerned that if we totally free range that I'll have a lot of dead birds on the road. I have to talk the the neighbors as both sides of us have dogs, and our one neighbor raises show horses.

Would the birds mainly stay in the yard, can they go in a tractor or do they not do well with those? Is there other ways I could encourage them to stay on the property and not roam? Also, and this might sound silly, but we have chipmunks in the woods and around our yard, they are not destructive to anything we are doing (yet), and I really don't want them gone, but we do have a large mouse population that I would like to see go. I'm assuming they would go after the chipmunks and kill them as well?

Should we be considering other things as well or that would work better? We are building our coop this week for the chicks that are almost ready to move from the brooder, and we could build a chicken tractor and have those chickens in it to move around the yard during the day.

I should add, we have hawks, vultures (lots and lots), coyotes, foxes, raccoons to worry about as well.

 

[Isadora]

I don't want to necessarily discourage you from getting guineas if that's what you really want, but they can be a difficult bird to free range. They love to wander. I have a small flock that free ranges my large property and, while I do have certain sections of it fenced off, they sometimes end up where I don't want them and I have to chase them back where they're supposed to be.
They are also much different than chickens. Very loud and flighty and love to roost in trees.
I don't know if you were planning on having the chickens in together with them but they also bully chickens terribly.
I haven't tried a tractor with mine so I'm not sure how well that would work. Mine are coop trained and go into their coop every evening.

 

[ChicadOro]

I don't want to necessarily discourage you from getting guineas if that's what you really want, but they can be a difficult bird to free range. They love to wander. I have a small flock that free ranges my large property and, while I do have certain sections of it fenced off, they sometimes end up where I don't want them and I have to chase them back where they're supposed to be.
They are also much different than chickens. Very loud and flighty and love to roost in trees.
I don't know if you were planning on having the chickens in together with them but they also bully chickens terribly.
I haven't tried a tractor with mine so I'm not sure how well that would work. Mine are coop trained and go into their coop every evening.

We weren't going to have the chickens with them, but I've heard that they are bullies towards chickens. It's mostly for the insect population. We moved in here about 1 1/2 years ago and there was an older couple who lived here who I don't believe ever went outside. They were here for 15 years - and in that time, there are just an inordinate number of bugs, of all varieties). I wish I could just free range the chickens, but the highway and loud trucks and motorcycles going down it already scare the chicks we have (I'm sure they'll get a little more used to it over time).

Is there another pest control bird that might not be so flighty that you could recommend? We can add to the chicken flock.

 

[Isadora]

We weren't going to have the chickens with them, but I've heard that they are bullies towards chickens. It's mostly for the insect population. We moved in here about 1 1/2 years ago and there was an older couple who lived here who I don't believe ever went outside. They were here for 15 years - and in that time, there are just an inordinate number of bugs, of all varieties). I wish I could just free range the chickens, but the highway and loud trucks and motorcycles going down it already scare the chicks we have (I'm sure they'll get a little more used to it over time).

Is there another pest control bird that might not be so flighty that you could recommend? We can add to the chicken flock.

If you're looking to eradicate ticks, guineas are the most effective, to my knowledge. I can speak from first-hand experience that when we got ours last year we stopped seeing ticks a few months after I started letting them out. And I used to do tick checks on my kids twice a day and would find several.
I don't know of another backyard bird that would do the job better or wouldn't bother the chickens.
Chickens do eat ticks as well, so maybe at the very least you could move them around in a tractor.

 

[Sydney65]

Okay, I'm very new to chickens, (we just got some a few weeks ago) and now we're considering have some guinea fowl as the ticks and bugs in our yard is outrageous and, before we do, I have a few questions.

First, we are surrounded on two sides of our property with woods and a pasture beside us. The side woods and pasture do not belong to us. We also are fronted by a main highway. I am concerned that if we totally free range that I'll have a lot of dead birds on the road. I have to talk the the neighbors as both sides of us have dogs, and our one neighbor raises show horses.

Would the birds mainly stay in the yard, can they go in a tractor or do they not do well with those? Is there other ways I could encourage them to stay on the property and not roam? Also, and this might sound silly, but we have chipmunks in the woods and around our yard, they are not destructive to anything we are doing (yet), and I really don't want them gone, but we do have a large mouse population that I would like to see go. I'm assuming they would go after the chipmunks and kill them as well?

Should we be considering other things as well or that would work better? We are building our coop this week for the chicks that are almost ready to move from the brooder, and we could build a chicken tractor and have those chickens in it to move around the yard during the day.

I should add, we have hawks, vultures (lots and lots), coyotes, foxes, rac

I don't have chickens, only goons. The resident Guru in here in general says that guineas & chickens housed separately tend to ignore each other while free ranging. I would hope that to be the case, bc I can see where my goons' idea of play would be traumatic to a chicken.
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Housing.I think most think of a "truck" or "tractor" as being a box about 3' tall. Mine is 1/2 coop,1/2 enclosed run on a 6' wide x 10' long base and tall enough for me to stand up in w/front & back doors. -I like to spend time with my birds. It has served us well but we are expanding this yr.
Staying in the yard....MINE tend to, until the females start nesting. If I keep the females locked up, no one leaves the yard. The males are perfectly content to stretch out in the yard and wait for the bugs to pass w/i striking distance, as long as the hen can't wander off.
Now..,there are fields btwn me and the woods, and mine will go about 20' into the field - but that's far enough for bad things to happen. I've not experienced what others have of long distance wanderers, they've all been homebodies who usually stay w/i calling distance of our & the neighbor's house.
If they think nesting area across the road is better, they'll cross it, and I have had a cpl hens get hit. One died, one got up & walked back to the coop. Hence locking them up during nesting season.
Some say they'll eat the plants in the garden.again, other than munching on chives and pulling up onions. I used to think Mama was eating the onions, but this year the boys are literally pulling them up and tossing them aside. I've also learned this year that they are awesome mousers.
All of those predators you mentioned are indeed their nemesis. This is why it's important to lock them up at night -and still expect to have a few snatched out of your yard in broad daylight w/o a trace.
They can't see in the dark, so are sitting ducks. They really don't have the mechanism to fight back against anything. Mine stayed in the trees for a cpl of days after seeing a coyote out in the field,& someone in the flock always keeps one eyed cocked upwards monitoring the sky for threats.