Guinea Dilemma

[Sydney65]

Rats generally only prey on chicks/eggs, but serious infestations w /food scarcity, they will attack juvenile and adult birds.Rats kill by biting the head or neck of their prey. Parts of the chicken’s body may be eaten. https://extension.usu.edu/news_sections/agriculture_and_natural_resources/rodent-chicken#:~:text=Rats generally only prey on,or neck of their prey.&text=“Remove feeders and waterers each,replace them in the morning.
Weird thing is, if you have weasels, theoretically, you shldnt have rats. Farmers w/o fowl see them as a plus. Poultry farmers, not so much. https://countrypests.com/7-ways-to-protect-your-chickens-from-weasels/#:~:text=However, weasels also eat birds,anything that looks like prey.
I'm going to go out on a limb and defend the guineas, and then the gurus can tell you if I'm wrong. First, I I've not seen my goons kill anything, but I know they can kill small rodents, mb snakes.
2nd, they don't travel w/switchblades, they peck. There would be multiple pecking wounds to the head and neck/back, not one tiny cut.
I had to look Azores up, it says you're in your wet season now, so yes, mating won't begin until April-ish.
Your goons following the horses is a character trait; in Africa, they follow the herds, scoping out the dung for parasites & seeds. Chances are you'd need to move the horses away from the neighbor, or put up netting between the properties so they won't venture over.
Use the info in the links on how to protect your goons from rats & weasels, & mb share w/neighbor.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

We live in the Azores. As far as predators, we definitely have rats and weasels, stray cats, dogs, very small owls and the occasional large hawk. There is a dog not far away that killed an entire flock of chickens, but I doubt it would kill one at a time. The chickens weren't eaten, the only damage seemed to be a small cut on their neck... Which made me think weasel? I doubt they did it, but of course if the neighbors don't want them there I have to be responsible and try to control them. I don't think they were nesting. They love following our horses, and the horses have been close to the neighbors yard, which is why I think they have been invading. For now they are locked in a coop. I'm considering building a larger coop that they might like to return to if we let them out that is much farther away from any neighbors and see if they will get used to that? They are just tough to keep boundaries on.

It sounds like your problem then is that the guineas are wandering off your property. How big is your place? We are on 10 acres and have had plenty of trouble trying to keep the guineas from wandering across the road and being hit by cars. Other people on this forum have also had those issues. What worked for me last spring was confining the guineas in a run for a few weeks, then letting them out for a few hours a day and slowly increasing their time out. When they only had an hr or two before nightfall, they were much less likely to roam. I also took other measures, like keeping an eye on them and flapping an umbrella at them if they got close to the street!

 

[Naverretia]

Yeah I guess the wandering is the root of the problem. We have over 20 acres, and none of the neighbors minded the occasional guinea now and then. They stayed in the fields during tilling and planting, but with winter they just stay by the horses that are hiding from wind close to the neighbors. I agree, I really don't think they were the culprits, but since they were in his yard he wants to blame them.
I actually haven't seen a weasel in over a year, so that could be why we had so many rats recently. They are so large and aggressive we had to kill them with baseball bats. I suspect they may have even killed a piglet (small Vietnamese piglet). The adult guineas kill the rats on their own, but the juveniles had no chance, and they were the same size as the dead chickens.
I would definitely like to look into netting in the future. I guess what I was trying to figure out is if I can encourage them to stay somewhere else by making a coop closer to where I want them, only letting them have a couple hours of freedom, etc, like Mixed Flock Enthusiast said. Unfortunately my husband works rotating shifts so he can't be there to chase them back, and I can't do it most of the time with a 1 year old baby .

 

[Sydney65]

Lol...the root of the problem is goonies don' t follow property lines.
As I said before (I think?) mine only left our property during mating season, & that's bc the girls were looking to nest. I have a hexagonal covered kennel I used to acclimate the keets to the outdoors, so the females either go in that or stay in the run. The kennel can be moved about, so they aren't confined to the same area. The boys stay near where ever the girls are.
I don't know if this would work or not, it would be an experiment, & possibly an expensive one. But you could try leading them to where you want them to graze w/a treat like larva worms, I think they're called? Mine don't like them, so it wldnt
work with them. But if yours do, lead them to that area, put down some treats to entise them, and then scatter more around the area for them to search for. But you want that area to be where there are naturally provided treats as well so that they learn it's a good grazing area. I use millet for training, but you wldnt want to use that in mass quantities, as it wld be unhealthy for them. You could try a mixture heavier on their feed, but mine turn their beaks up if I try using their crumbles as treats. Hence celery & cabbage, the stalky portion of broccoli & cauliflower. (I don't grow any of that anymore,easier to get from farmer than fighting rabbits).
You have 10-20 acres to my 1,but you are starting a family where as I get to send the lil darlins home w/their mother at the end of the day. Lol.
Point being I have more time to spend w/my goons. I do believe they can be trained, but it requires time-or a well thought out method.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yeah I guess the wandering is the root of the problem. We have over 20 acres, and none of the neighbors minded the occasional guinea now and then. They stayed in the fields during tilling and planting, but with winter they just stay by the horses that are hiding from wind close to the neighbors. I agree, I really don't think they were the culprits, but since they were in his yard he wants to blame them.
I actually haven't seen a weasel in over a year, so that could be why we had so many rats recently. They are so large and aggressive we had to kill them with baseball bats. I suspect they may have even killed a piglet (small Vietnamese piglet). The adult guineas kill the rats on their own, but the juveniles had no chance, and they were the same size as the dead chickens.
I would definitely like to look into netting in the future. I guess what I was trying to figure out is if I can encourage them to stay somewhere else by making a coop closer to where I want them, only letting them have a couple hours of freedom, etc, like Mixed Flock Enthusiast said. Unfortunately my husband works rotating shifts so he can't be there to chase them back, and I can't do it most of the time with a 1 year old baby .

With only three guineas, you don’t need a lot of room for your temporary retraining run. Even a large dog pen with a tarp over the top could work. Keep in mind that they can’t escape predators when penned though.