free ranging guineas on farm?

[leroy25780]

hallo i would like to know if this setup i have in mind will work. i have 30 chickens in movable chicken coops that i let out and free range in an area of electrified chicken netting. i was wondering about getting guineas for the tick and bug problem i have. my idea is housing them in a permanent coop near my house and letting them free range during the day and try getting in at night but my fears are that are they going to go in on their own and will they cause trouble with the other birds?

 

[HeyHey]

I have both and they are Wonderful together.
The trick is to put the Guineas next ti or in a dog crate with the chickens when the Guineas are young.
They must be housed where you want them to return at nite for a minimum if 8 weeks without letting them out.
They should be 5 months old and you should have at least 6 Guineas so they can protect one another.
When you start letting them out only let 2 at a time an hour before sunset, or else they might all leave together .Thus worked for me. Good luck

 

[Chickiemom25]

hallo i would like to know if this setup i have in mind will work. i have 30 chickens in movable chicken coops that i let out and free range in an area of electrified chicken netting. i was wondering about getting guineas for the tick and bug problem i have. my idea is housing them in a permanent coop near my house and letting them free range during the day and try getting in at night but my fears are that are they going to go in on their own and will they cause trouble with the other birds?

My guineas, chickens and ducks all run together during the day. At night, everyone goes to their own sleeping zone. Chickens have a standard coop and run, ducks in a hoop coop, and the guineas are dog runs. The challenge with the guineas as HeyHey pointed out is release. Being much more flock loyal than chickens, they will stay around their flockmates who are still captive. I released 2 for a week, then one more every 4 days till they were all out after 3 weeks with all confined. The original six would return to the run at night once released. now I have 6 new keets in another run. I would love for everyone to rehome back to the newer big run but may end up with 8 in the small run. Time will tell.. Never the less, the chickens go back to the coop first in the evening and the guineas tend to be the last ones to settle in for the night so it works well with separate sleeping arrangements.

 

[CapricornFarm]

My guineas, chickens and ducks all run together during the day. At night, everyone goes to their own sleeping zone. Chickens have a standard coop and run, ducks in a hoop coop, and the guineas are dog runs. The challenge with the guineas as HeyHey pointed out is release. Being much more flock loyal than chickens, they will stay around their flockmates who are still captive. I released 2 for a week, then one more every 4 days till they were all out after 3 weeks with all confined. The original six would return to the run at night once released. now I have 6 new keets in another run. I would love for everyone to rehome back to the newer big run but may end up with 8 in the small run. Time will tell.. Never the less, the chickens go back to the coop first in the evening and the guineas tend to be the last ones to settle in for the night so it works well with separate sleeping arrangements.

I forgot how noisy guineas are. If i were you, i would not put them too close to the house. I am considering building them a coop off in the woods further from the house. I am having a hard time getting them to forage for bugs, they just want to hang around the run. They fly up on top and screech. I started not feeding them until evening, just scattering a trail of scratch away from their run to encourage them to range a little further. It has been a slow process.

 

[Chickiemom25]

I forgot how noisy guineas are. If i were you, i would not put them too close to the house. I am considering building them a coop off in the woods further from the house. I am having a hard time getting them to forage for bugs, they just want to hang around the run. They fly up on top and screech. I started not feeding them until evening, just scattering a trail of scratch away from their run to encourage them to range a little further. It has been a slow process.

I only feed in the evening to get them in the run. Otherwise mine wander all over the yard. They come running as soon as I get home and never squawk at me. But the neighbor 200 yards away swears they chirp whenever he goes in his backyard

 

[CapricornFarm]

Mine really yell. Maybe because they are young, just hatched July 11th. I am hoping they simmer down since i am here all day to hear it.

 

[justin shrew]

it becomes very hard to teach adult guineafowls where home is. and if released they may wander off and never come back. starting as newly keets is best mixed with chicks.

guineafowls raised with or among chikens are much tame than guineas raised soly. our first flock was raised by a chicken hen and are very tame and never wandert off.

 

[leroy25780]

on my uncles farm in south africa they are wild, sleep in the trees and roam his entire 100 acre fruit orchard farm. they eat all the nasty bugs and are about 400 on his farm. they apperently learned how to stay safe from owls during the night.