Guinea behavior

[R3M1X]

I dont know if it is because they are still young (11 weeks old) or maybe because they were raised with chickens and ducks since they were day old meets, but I have yet to see the "tight formation flocking" behavior. They kind of just mosey about some with follow another chicken others will go a few yards away from the rest of the flock to peck around 1 my fly up a ways and roost on the satellite dish or the hen house. Basically they act just like my chickens. Even when I let them free range they dont range hardly any further than a 20 foot radius from the coop and never have too much trouble getting them back in the coop. I do occasionally have a couple guineas fly the coop to roost on the satellite dish (since it is right next to their fence), and then jump back in the coop (unless they jump on the ground and cant figure out how to get back in the coop so they pace the fence.
Will they change to stereotypical guinea behavior when they are older?

 

[sourland]

They are still young and probably adjusting to free ranging.

 

[Jealous Gypsy]

I wish mine behave like that ! Mine seem to have bonded with turkeys and i struggle to keep them in bounds. How long have they been out with the flock freeranging? Maybe it could be because they are getting used to being outside still?

 

[R2elk]

I dont know if it is because they are still young (11 weeks old) or maybe because they were raised with chickens and ducks since they were day old meets, but I have yet to see the "tight formation flocking" behavior. They kind of just mosey about some with follow another chicken others will go a few yards away from the rest of the flock to peck around 1 my fly up a ways and roost on the satellite dish or the hen house. Basically they act just like my chickens. Even when I let them free range they dont range hardly any further than a 20 foot radius from the coop and never have too much trouble getting them back in the coop. I do occasionally have a couple guineas fly the coop to roost on the satellite dish (since it is right next to their fence), and then jump back in the coop (unless they jump on the ground and cant figure out how to get back in the coop so they pace the fence.
Will they change to stereotypical guinea behavior when they are older?

Guineas take time to accept new conditions. Your description of how they are behaving is pretty normal for young keets.

I suspect that you will not be happy with how their behavior changes when their hormones kick in. Everything can seem really nice right up until the first breeding season.

 

[R3M1X]

I used to free range them when they were babies everyday, until a hawk or owl took three of my chickens so I kept them in their fence area (too big to call a run in my opinion and it has an open top) for about a week or two until I felt the hawk or owl had moved along to other hunting grounds. Then i let them out again until i had to dog sit my uncle's German shepherd for 1.5 - 2 months because he didnt do well with chickens or the like. They only had supervised free ranging because the German shepard "played" with our neighbors chicken causing it to die and attacked a guinea who was roosting on the satellite and killing it as well. After the dog left I started letting them out again, but mainly if I will be home most of the day because I worry about predators and the chickens wandering in the road. Though they (the chickens) seem to have learned to stay out of the road after me corralling them when they do. I have been told several time by my mom's husband that ince they get out they are gone, but I have yet to have that happen obviously.

 

[R3M1X]

Guineas take time to accept new conditions. Your description of how they are behaving is pretty normal for young keets.

I suspect that you will not be happy with how their behavior changes when their hormones kick in. Everything can seem really nice right up until the first breeding season.

They are meant to be complete free range with coop optional when they are adults, we are moving the chickens to a different coop area since we are expanding the flock. I just worry that they will either follow the chickens over to the new coop or continue to act similar to chickens. ok well I am sure they will figure out how to act once the coop is open for longer than a day? Or maybe when the chickens are moved? I just find it curious about their current behavior.