got a guinea question

[jbirds2012]

i first learned about guineas about 9 years ago. the more i read about them, the more interested i got. well we finally broke down and got some 8 weeks ago. before we got them i did some research and found this website : http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/
it suggest that you get your baby guineas at 1 day old ( witch we did ) and that you keep them in a cage for 12 weeks ( ours are 8 weeks old ) and then you let 1 out and the one will hang close to there Bros and sisters. then in a couple days you let one more out and let them chill ( and they are supposed to hang close to family ) then, if they don't go and run away then it's safe to start letting the others out. have any of you experienced guinea owners heard of this ? any suggestions are welcome and thank you

 

[JLeigh]

jbirds, that sounds like a good plan to me. One suggestion would be to keep watch on them at first. While guineas have lots of behavior similarities across the board, each guinea has a "personality" of its own. I never assume that they'll do what they're supposed to do until they actually do what they're supposed to do. Just my opinion.

Another suggeston is that you make sure they're going back into their coop/pen at dusk. Free-ranging 24/7 leads to more losses a lot sooner. Unfortunately, losses to predators can happen to us all. It only takes about a week to train them into the coop at night. I'm not a fan of letting them roost in trees, but again, that's just my opinion.

Keeping them penned for 12 weeks is great, too. Take it slow in the beginning (another opinion) and you'll be rewarded with guineas who come back home into the coop at dusk on their own - most of the time. .

There a lots of ways to approach keeping guineas, but it's been my experience that investing a little time into their "coop training" makes your life a lot easier down the road - not to mention their quality, and perhaps length, of life.

The link you posted is a great website. They have a book "Gardening with Guineas" which is excellent and worth spending a few bucks on. And then there's this forum, with all of the experience of people who know, who graciously donate their time and knowledge to help the humans AND the guineas. I've learned more here than I can tell you.

 

[jbirds2012]

ok, will do, thank you

 

[KrisH]

have you checked out...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101

and I suggest read anything peepsca writes

RobertH