Guinea Are Evil! -- confirmed!

[BeccaOH]

I was thrilled to have a man give me 7 of his 11 grown Pearl guinea. I should have known better when I saw his roosters and heard how the guinea had been pulling their feathers. His guinea free range the yard all day and roost with the chickens at night.

I kept 3 of the adults (1 male and 2 female, probably 1.5 years old), and Sunday was their first day out after 2 weeks in lock down. They went straight to my neighbor's farm and stayed all day. After 2 attempts to catch them and even herd them, I figured they were lost and glad I didn't pay for them.

This morning they were back and roosting on my garage spouting and enclosed chicken run. My mother called me at work around noon to say the guinea were in with the geese (2-month-old pair) and pulling their feathers. Geese were trying to hide under a bush. She was going to try to move the geese, but the guinea can't be caught.

I'm going to attempt using a fishing net to grab the guinea tonight, then I'm getting rid of them.

I have 18 eggs in the incubator, but I wonder if I even want to try raising keets.

I was so looking forward to the guinea helping with the tick issue we are having. SIGH

 

[DulcyDoll]

My guinea is generally good with my chickens. She was raised with them, so she doesn't pick on them.

 

[ems_chick]

maybe you will have better luck with the younger ones... the others you could probably send to the crocpot

 

[Debbienmousey]

Our guineas are great with our chickens. The guinea cocks don't pull out anywhere near half as many feathers from our hens as the roosters do. (The guinea cocks don't even pull feathers from our roosters)

I think the key is raising the keats near/with the chickens. We always let our keats(And chicks) have at least 2 weeks in a cage/nursery where they can come face to face with the adults but still have a fence between them.

 

[Munchies]

I agree with everyone else, guinea fowl that are raised with chickens do NOT tend to hurt the chickens but often see that chickens as part of their home (like furniture that moves

).

I have raised quail and guinea fowl together, and chickens and guinea fowl together, and in both cases the guinea fowl just watch the other birds to see if find something good to eat, ( then take it from them

).

I currently have two chicken hens (Rock/Leghorn/RI Mix) that are cooped with my guineas. The lay their eggs in the same box as the guineas.

I also have a golden sebright bantam, that when she feels like it roosts with them also. But right now she is setting on 5 guinea eggs and just comes out long enough to steal their food, dust bathe and back to the nest she goes.

 

[BeccaOH]

So, when I got home last night a guinea was flogging on my poor goose. I immediately let the geese out of the yard and grabbed the fishing net I'd just bought.

Those guinea didn't leave the goose yard all day, but when I went in they started to fly. Two got out and headed to the creek. One girl misjudged her leap and landed in the goose bathtub, so I was able to net her. Guinea helmets get caught in fishnet. She was cut, but she'll be okay.

I decided to work in my garden and let things settle down. The guineas were calling to each other LOUDLY and very soon the boy was back and sitting on the roof of the coop where his mate was now locked. (Love is the downfall of every young man.

) He soon wandered into the open doors of the coop to see her. I quietly followed him and shut the double doors behind me. Then it was easy to shoo him into the guinea cage. The other female did the same thing as she came looking for her buddies, and I just had to shoo her into the cage.

The windows in their section are now closed so they can't push out the screens. The cage door is a screen door that I'll need to watch and possibly reinforce.

If I have to keep these guys in complete lock down and their only use is for eggs/breeding, then I don't want them. And I don't want to risk them getting loose again.

So, what's a good price to ask for a trio of guinea?

 

[swampducks]

I sold one purple and 1 lavender female for 10 dollars each. Don't know about a breeding trio.

 

[Munchies]

Since you are in Ohio, I'd say you should be able to fetch are $10 to $15 each as don't think anyone is selling adult guineas right now. If you wait until July or August the price should be $8 to $10 each as many more birds will be available.

Here in western MD, I charge $20 each for mated pairs. They can turn around and sell the first few eggs while she is cooped at $1 a piece so in 20 days they have recovered half their investment with no work on their part other than keep them in their coop.

 

[BeccaOH]

So, I mention the guinea -- the whole sordid story -- at work and now have two people interested.

One definitely is only interested in the eggs in my incubator, but that sort of makes me think there is value there in having a mated pair. Hmm. Value enough to build a tight run for them?

Someone noted to me that they did come back and already seemed to mark my place as home. But I just can't tolerate them beating up my other poultry.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[BeccaOH]

Quote:
I was told they were going at auction for $10 each, not mated, a couple weeks ago. I saw them at the Mount Hope Swap -- mated pair of 2 different colorings was $25. There are no guinea of any sort currently on Craigslist in this part of Ohio.