Found guinea in the garage; advice?

[LikeTurkeys]

Hi all!
Today we discovered a guinea in the garage. I don't know how long he was there, but we caught him and gave him some Flock Raiser (what we feed out chickens) and water. I think he's male based on his calls, but if someone can confirm that would be great! Asked my neighbor if he lost a guinea and he said that this was his only one that showed up about 6 months ago. (Just flew into his yard from somewhere and started living there). He didn't really want him back and said that we could keep him.

So I have some options laid out:
1) Put him up on craigslist
2) Keep him
3) Eat him
4) Let him go and see how he fares

I don't know if we're going to keep him, he is very loud, much louder than our rooster. If we do though, would he be able to stay with the chickens without fighting? My neighbor said that he was mean to the chickens, which makes me feel that the answer is no.

Anyone eat guinea here? I've heard that they're raised for both meat and eggs, so eating him is a possibility I guess.

I've also heard that they're very hardy, so maybe we could just let him go. I mean, he's already been this far and has shown exceptional flight capabilities.

Here is a rather blurry photo of him in the garage:

Never owned guineas so I appreciate advice!
Thanks.

 

[hysop]

If you want to eat him I’d fatten him up first and wait a few weeks to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him.

I wouldn’t throw him back on the street just because poor bird. He may have made it this far but probably not for long.

They can fly up to a gazillion feet up a tree. They are loud, but that doesn’t bother me.

What other birds do you have? You can keep him without getting more, not sure if he’ll get lonely so you can always sell him. I have guineas so I would keep him. I have 6 males, no females. All my females got eaten.

ETA: they’re really good for bug control, not sure if Southern CA is known for bugs, I never saw a bug problem when I lived there

 

[R2elk]

Hi all!
Today we discovered a guinea in the garage. I don't know how long he was there, but we caught him and gave him some Flock Raiser (what we feed out chickens) and water. I think he's male based on his calls, but if someone can confirm that would be great! Asked my neighbor if he lost a guinea and he said that this was his only one that showed up about 6 months ago. (Just flew into his yard from somewhere and started living there). He didn't really want him back and said that we could keep him.

So I have some options laid out:
1) Put him up on craigslist
2) Keep him
3) Eat him
4) Let him go and see how he fares

I don't know if we're going to keep him, he is very loud, much louder than our rooster. If we do though, would he be able to stay with the chickens without fighting? My neighbor said that he was mean to the chickens, which makes me feel that the answer is no.

Anyone eat guinea here? I've heard that they're raised for both meat and eggs, so eating him is a possibility I guess.

I've also heard that they're very hardy, so maybe we could just let him go. I mean, he's already been this far and has shown exceptional flight capabilities.

Here is a rather blurry photo of him in the garage:
View attachment 2058517
Never owned guineas so I appreciate advice!
Thanks.

My recommendation is to place an ad on craigslist to rehome it so that it can be with other guineas. Guineas are a flock bird and do best in large groups of their own kind.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

If you want to eat him I’d fatten him up first and wait a few weeks to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him.

I wouldn’t throw him back on the street just because poor bird. He may have made it this far but probably not for long.

They can fly up to a gazillion feet up a tree. They are loud, but that doesn’t bother me.

What other birds do you have? You can keep him without getting more, not sure if he’ll get lonely so you can always sell him. I have guineas so I would keep him. I have 6 males, no females. All my females got eaten.

ETA: they’re really good for bug control, not sure if Southern CA is known for bugs, I never saw a bug problem when I lived there

I wouldn't want him to get eaten so that was something I was considering as a last option. I'm thinking craigslist would be better. The only other birds I have are a flock of 18 chickens (counting chicks). Since I have chicks I think it wouldn't be wise to introduce him anyway.

My recommendation is to place an ad on craigslist to rehome it so that it can be with other guineas. Guineas are a flock bird and do best in large groups of their own kind.

Sounds good. I have no idea how old he is, but he looks healthy to me so maybe someone will take him. I'm not actually interested in raising guineas right now, so I think that would probably be the best option.

 

[Galeann]

Hi all!
Today we discovered a guinea in the garage. I don't know how long he was there, but we caught him and gave him some Flock Raiser (what we feed out chickens) and water. I think he's male based on his calls, but if someone can confirm that would be great! Asked my neighbor if he lost a guinea and he said that this was his only one that showed up about 6 months ago. (Just flew into his yard from somewhere and started living there). He didn't really want him back and said that we could keep him.

So I have some options laid out:
1) Put him up on craigslist
2) Keep him
3) Eat him
4) Let him go and see how he fares

I don't know if we're going to keep him, he is very loud, much louder than our rooster. If we do though, would he be able to stay with the chickens without fighting? My neighbor said that he was mean to the chickens, which makes me feel that the answer is no.

Anyone eat guinea here? I've heard that they're raised for both meat and eggs, so eating him is a possibility I guess.

I've also heard that they're very hardy, so maybe we could just let him go. I mean, he's already been this far and has shown exceptional flight capabilities.

Here is a rather blurry photo of him in the garage:
View attachment 2058517
Never owned guineas so I appreciate advice!
Thanks.

Is he so loud that you aren't able to sleep at night? If he isn't hurting your chickens or humans, and since he's been able to survive on his own with a little help from human friends, could he stay until he's ready to move on?

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Is he so loud that you aren't able to sleep at night? If he isn't hurting your chickens or humans, and since he's been able to survive on his own with a little help from human friends, could he stay until he's ready to move on?

We only found him today, so I don't know. That's a possibility, I don't know though if he would hurt the chickens (that's also kind of something I asked).

 

[Galeann]

We only found him today, so I don't know. That's a possibility, I don't know though if he would hurt the chickens (that's also kind of something I asked).

Could you tolerate him roaming around your property being a guard Guinea? I hear guineas make great guards of property, flocks and humans.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Could you tolerate him roaming around your property being a guard Guinea? I hear guineas make great guards of property, flocks and humans.

Possible. We'll see though, just found him today. I read that unless the guinea is raised on your property they are not likely to stay so I'm not sure how much of a guard he'll be. I think my neighbor kept him cooped up.

 

[BeautifulCreatures]

Hi all!
Today we discovered a guinea in the garage. I don't know how long he was there, but we caught him and gave him some Flock Raiser (what we feed out chickens) and water. I think he's male based on his calls, but if someone can confirm that would be great! Asked my neighbor if he lost a guinea and he said that this was his only one that showed up about 6 months ago. (Just flew into his yard from somewhere and started living there). He didn't really want him back and said that we could keep him.

So I have some options laid out:
1) Put him up on craigslist
2) Keep him
3) Eat him
4) Let him go and see how he fares

I don't know if we're going to keep him, he is very loud, much louder than our rooster. If we do though, would he be able to stay with the chickens without fighting? My neighbor said that he was mean to the chickens, which makes me feel that the answer is no.

Anyone eat guinea here? I've heard that they're raised for both meat and eggs, so eating him is a possibility I guess.

I've also heard that they're very hardy, so maybe we could just let him go. I mean, he's already been this far and has shown exceptional flight capabilities.

Here is a rather blurry photo of him in the garage:
View attachment 2058517
Never owned guineas so I appreciate advice!
Thanks.

I have several different breeds of birds and many are allowed to be together just fine. I have ducks and chickens that free range around each other. Turkeys, peacocks, and guineas that have a huge pen together. Plus, as you know, guineas fly very well so when one escaped it made it's way across the farm and got in with the chickens! It apparently likes it there and we've had no problems with fighting.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

My recommendation is to place an ad on craigslist to rehome it so that it can be with other guineas. Guineas are a flock bird and do best in large groups of their own kind.

We rehomed him yesterday. The people who took him have a female guinea, so at least he'll be with one other of his kind.

I have several different breeds of birds and many are allowed to be together just fine. I have ducks and chickens that free range around each other. Turkeys, peacocks, and guineas that have a huge pen together. Plus, as you know, guineas fly very well so when one escaped it made it's way across the farm and got in with the chickens! It apparently likes it there and we've had no problems with fighting.

Glad to hear that!