Downsides of Guinea Fowl?

[southwind00]

Hey Joev1973 I'll throw my 2 cents in even though I barely have it. Probably 50% of the various threads here are about adolescent guineas,which shows they are a problem. There biggest problem is they have brains the size of the tip of your little finger, plus they are scared of everything. You have to look at them like they are teenagers,they look a little like adults but have no experiences to know anything. In a natural setting (Africa) there are adult guineas to follow around to learn from. I'm on my second year of guinea life and my adult guineas are bullys to my younger ones at the start of everyday, by midday they are all together and the younger ones I suspect are learning from the older ones. A lot of people on here get guineas for tick control, like me. But guineas have to learn to like them and find them like all the stuff they browse on. I see my younger ones in the bushes of honeysuckle and briars way earlier now than my older ones did when they were young and dumb, thats because they see the older ones there. Guineas like all animals adopt to what they learn,they don't automatically do what you want them to do.They need to build confidence,like Mixed Flock says, which is a slow process with out any adults around. My advice is to not be in any hurry for them to act or be any more then they are,young and dumb! If they stay alive, next year you will have adult birds that pretty much are 100 degrees opposite on what you have now. Here's a vid I took just to compare the way young birds act versus adults. Yes, they bully but the adults are confident and the adolescents are screaming their tiny brains out.

 

[Joev1973]

I have a pen 60x20ish the chickens running back and forth all day to avoid the guineas. They cant relax. Half my guineas are going WAY up in the trees while the other half stay on the ground and look up lol. As soon as they all learn to fly way up in the tree i may wean them off the coop all together. Every evening i feel bad and let then in at dark. And as soon as i do they go in and raise heck. All the roosting chickens come off roost flying all over the coop to avoid them.

These birds wont let the chickens relax ever. Im going to keep letting them roam and hope when they get older they mellow out

 

[R2elk]

I have a pen 60x20ish the chickens running back and forth all day to avoid the guineas. They cant relax. Half my guineas are going WAY up in the trees while the other half stay on the ground and look up lol. As soon as they all learn to fly way up in the tree i may wean them off the coop all together. Every evening i feel bad and let then in at dark. And as soon as i do they go in and raise heck. All the roosting chickens come off roost flying all over the coop to avoid them.

These birds wont let the chickens relax ever. Im going to keep letting them roam and hope when they get older they mellow out

The guineas will not mellow out as they age.

I raise and house my guineas away from the chickens and turkeys. I have no issues with my guineas ever bothering my chickens because they understand that chickens are not guineas. I can let them free range in the same area at the same time and the guineas keep to themselves and the chickens keep to themselves.

I raised and housed them with chickens before. They caused the chickens extreme stress. It gets worse during breeding season.

 

[Joev1973]

Well yesterday i had enough of the guineas. I had them out all day and at dusk they came to the pen gate and i (like always) felt bad and let them in. As soon as I did they started chasing a buff orphington rooster all over the pen in circles. I got mad enough to enter the pen and kick them out.

They stood in front of the gate wanting in and I ignored them. Finally right at dark I saw one fly up into a hickory tree and one by one they all followed.

I woke up this morning and they were all alive and well roaming the yard. I did it again tonight. Just ignored them and they all went to the same hickory tree and one by one flew up to roost. Problem solved. Chickens are alot calmer now and get to eat/drink when they want and no bullying or feather plucking. Guineas are on their own now. I will feed and water them in the yard. I have them trained where to eat. But they are not going in the coop or pen no more. Guineas are from africa which is a tough place to live for a bird. Im sure south tennessee they will make it lol

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well yesterday i had enough of the guineas. I had them out all day and at dusk they came to the pen gate and i (like always) felt bad and let them in. As soon as I did they started chasing a buff orphington rooster all over the pen in circles. I got mad enough to enter the pen and kick them out.

They stood in front of the gate wanting in and I ignored them. Finally right at dark I saw one fly up into a hickory tree and one by one they all followed.

I woke up this morning and they were all alive and well roaming the yard. I did it again tonight. Just ignored them and they all went to the same hickory tree and one by one flew up to roost. Problem solved. Chickens are alot calmer now and get to eat/drink when they want and no bullying or feather plucking. Guineas are on their own now. I will feed and water them in the yard. I have them trained where to eat. But they are not going in the coop or pen no more. Guineas are from africa which is a tough place to live for a bird. Im sure south tennessee they will make it lol

I agree that cooping guineas and chickens together can be very stressful for the chickens. That’s why our coop was split into a guinea and a chicken section. I have heard that guineas are easy prey at night without a coop, especially once a great horned owl finds them. However, I do know people who let them roost in trees without atrocious losses; they replace every year as needed. Best of luck with both of your flocks.

 

[Joev1973]

Your right. You gave me another idea which will take some more training. God knows there are owls here. Im in the mountains and my town name is german for "high forest" already lost chicks to hawks and caught fox in broad daylight in the yard as well as coyotes and raccoons.

Way out back we have a barn thats empty and we dont even go in it. Im now thinking of making a roost in there way up top and waiting till dark and placing the guineas in there after dark. Im thinking after a few days they will start going to roost on their own.

At least they would have shelter from the weather and out of sight from the owls. It's better than the tree tops.. What do you think?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Your right. You gave me another idea which will take some more training. God knows there are owls here. Im in the mountains and my town name is german for "high forest" already lost chicks to hawks and caught fox in broad daylight in the yard as well as coyotes and raccoons.

Way out back we have a barn thats empty and we dont even go in it. Im now thinking of making a roost in there way up top and waiting till dark and placing the guineas in there after dark. Im thinking after a few days they will start going to roost on their own.

At least they would have shelter from the weather and out of sight from the owls. It's better than the tree tops.. What do you think?

View attachment 1951664 View attachment 1951665 View attachment 1951666

I think that it would t take a lot to make that owl resistant. However, you might need to lock them up, or with a run of some kind, for several weeks or longer to convince them that this is their safe roosting home...

 

[Chicken Heel]

I had a buddy years ago that let his chickens run loose and most roosted in an old building very similar to to the pictured one. One night he and I went out to check on things and there was an owl sitting on a roost pole right beside the chickens. To this day, that remains one of the stranger things I have ever seen. We scared the owl out of the building and spent the rest of the night cobbling together a pen to keep the chickens protected.

 

[R2elk]

Your right. You gave me another idea which will take some more training. God knows there are owls here. Im in the mountains and my town name is german for "high forest" already lost chicks to hawks and caught fox in broad daylight in the yard as well as coyotes and raccoons.

Way out back we have a barn thats empty and we dont even go in it. Im now thinking of making a roost in there way up top and waiting till dark and placing the guineas in there after dark. Im thinking after a few days they will start going to roost on their own.

At least they would have shelter from the weather and out of sight from the owls. It's better than the tree tops.. What do you think?

View attachment 1951664 View attachment 1951665 View attachment 1951666

Close it up and coop the guineas in there for at least a month and they may learn to view it as "home". Feed and water them in there also.

You could start by training them to herd (one long stick for each hand), go slowly. You have to do it during the daylight. They will not go into a dark place.

I don't recommend putting them in after dark, do it while it is light.

 

[Joev1973]

Oh trust me they know how to herd. Except with a fishing net or my arms. Tonight after all the chickens went in i herded them into the coop. Tomorrow I will go out and see what i can do in this barn for them to roost. Should be easy