does anyone else's guineas act like this!?

[birdbrain5]

i have three guineas that i got as keets and raised up with my chicks. two are females and one is a male. well as ive read, they got to be real bullies with my chickens so i had to seperate them. i kept them penned up seperate for about a week, thier pen is accross the yard from the chickens. then i let them out and of course, right back to the chicken coop and trying to get in. so i kept them locked up again for a bit, then let both flocks out one day to see how things went, hoping they would all keep to themselves for the most part. nope, my guineas are obnoxious! right back to harassing my chickens and making a racket. id really like to keep them and i was hoping to add to my flock, and maybe if i got guineas that werent brought up with chickens and were more flighty they would venture off and range further and not hang right around the barn being obnoxious. any thoughts on if that might work? i know i created a monster raising them up with the chickens, i did that so they would come in and roost at night out of danger, but now they wont leave me alone!! i was really hoping to be able to have my flock of guineas and my flock of chickens out rangeing and have peace. i have large fields and thought the guineas would go explore and keep my ticks and fire ants down. my questions is, do i add more in hopes to keep my flocks to themselves, or get rid of my 3 and start over with guineas that havent been raised with chickens? or will this always be an issue reguardless?

 

[faykokoWV]

if its any consolatiojn I'm having the same issue. My male guinea keeps trying to mount the hens. I had a cover on my run, but it pulled down with the snow. Now I have to wait until I can get it back up to seperate them again. My plan is to lock them out of the coop and force them to roost in the trees .

 

[birdbrain5]

thats what im thinking ill have to do, because they wont go into thier coop now to roost. i do worry about owls because they roost on my roof in plain sight, but i guess theres not a whole lot i can do to change thier minds. still the problem will be that when i have my chickens out free rangeing they will be harassing them

do you think my theory of getting more would help make the venture out to the fields?

 

[Eagles_View]

If you let your guineas roost in the trees, won't be long and you won't have guineas.

I raised my 11 (did have 12, but thanks to a hungry now dead fox, only have 11) with my chickens...when the new chicken palace
went up, I seperated them...guineas have their in and out door. Inside they are seperated by a wire wall so they can't get to the
hens....Hens have their own door to go out into the run........hens and 3 little roos, and one big roo along with a male turkey and
his two girlfriends all live together on the other side.......no problems.

Guineas were brought to do their thing, run around, eat bugs, scare off snakes and stuff......hens lay eggs...I'd rather loose a guinea to free ranging than one of my laying hens. (course would rather not loose any).

I'm starting to see the guineas pair up...and have seen the male on the lookout...while hen was on the nest...so far, in a pile of wood, tucked up under it....but no eggs yet...this flock of guineas is almost a year old...I have 6 hens and5 males....will snatch up the babies as soon as they are hatched out to keep them safe....raise them inside a while before turning loose.

-Eagles View Farm
NE MO.

 

[robin416]

Your biggest problem right now is that you do not have enough Guineas. I've repeated this same thing many times, ten or more Guineas if you keep chickens. I can free range my chickens without any trouble but I also have a flock of 25 Guineas.

Having more than ten gives the Guineas sparring partners of their own kind. You have one male, that male only has the chickens to do what his genetics demand he do, be dominant.

 

[cgmccary]

My 14 Guineas were hatched in August and raised by my hens. Like you, I wanted them for tick and fire ant control. Like you, I wanted them to come in and roost safely from the G.H. Owl that lives in the woods by me (I hear it nightly) -- thus the reason I wanted the hens to hatch & raise. The Guineas come in every night with the chickens. However, they are starting to harass some of the hens. They still adore my roosters and their mother hens but are gharassing some of the others. There has been nothing serious yet but I don't want it to come to that. Reading your post and others on here worries me. Like you, I thought my open pastures, the barns and plenty of space free ranging would be enough to keep the Guineas busy & be enough to prevent a lot of harassing. For mine, they seem to be getting worse. I only see the males doing the harassing. If I eliminate all the males, will that solve the problem? I have 8-10 females and 4-6 males, it seems. They are pairing off as well. I can't maintain nor have time to train them to roost elsewhere. Should I sell the whole bunch? slaughter & freeze?

 

[tomingreeneco]

Yep, that's the problem - too few guinea's. Mine get along just fine with the chickens and the ducks (but ducks are the top dog). They pretty much stay together but do interact nicely when it it time to feed the flock treats. The other day they saved the whole flock from a coyote attack. They encircled the coyote and really confused him. This gave me enough time to get the shotgun and take care of business. No losses. Guinea's Rule!!!!