Getting Guineas

[baabaamilker]

We are getting 1 year old guineas, 2 males and a female. We've never had them before. What should I expect to do with them once we get them home? Should I try to confine them for a while before letting them free range?

 

[R2elk]

We are getting 1 year old guineas, 2 males and a female. We've never had them before. What should I expect to do with them once we get them home? Should I try to confine them for a while before letting them free range?

If you want to keep your new guineas, you will need to keep them confined. The recommended amount of time is to confine them is 6 weeks to get them to understand that it is their home. Free ranging them too soon will simply allow your new guineas to attempt to return to their original home or anywhere else that may be more appealing to them.

Recommended reading is the Raising Guinea Fowl 101 thread paying particular to posts mad by PeepsCA.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101

 

[Trefoil]

Guineas aren't like chickens. Even after confining them to their coop for 6 weeks, they may or may not return to it at night. Left to free range mostly means you lose them one or two at a time until they are all gone. I've had a little better luck with them cooping at night when raised and free ranged with chickens.

 

[BusyBearMama]

This is information I was looking for not to hijack the thread but what should they Be fed while confined? And how much space should each bird have inside?

 

[mommaguinea]

There is a really good thread on guineas in this forum, However, if you private message me, I have two pamphlets I personally created -one on raising keets and the other on keeping guineas. I will see if I can post them to you.
You need a high protein turkey feed or game feed while they are confined. As for space- they like high roosts but I am not sure of bird SF, but I know you can google it and get some guidelines.
One thing for sure- guineas are much more independent minded than chickens but many of us love that characteristic.

 

[BusyBearMama]

Thank you I will pm you if I can!

 

[mommaguinea]

I uploaded them to you. Hope they help out!

 

[R2elk]

This is information I was looking for not to hijack the thread but what should they Be fed while confined? And how much space should each bird have inside?

Its your thread, I don't think that you can hi-jack it. Since you said they are 1 year old, a quality feed such as Game Bird Maintenance or something similar should be fine. The Game Bird Maintenance feed that I get is 16% protein.