Guinea Fowl Advice

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

Someone recently offered for me to hatch some of her guinea fowl eggs for her and split the keets between us. I've never owned guinea fowl but would like to try them out, I heard they make great guards. I would like them to free range to eat bugs and things and to defend my chicken flock. I live in a suburban area that has some close neighbors. Would they be fine with my chickens? There is a neighbor that has a bunch of peafowl roaming the back ditch bank, they are pretty much feral. Would those be problem? I'm also pretty sure the same neighbor has some guineas, as theres always guinea feathers everywhere and I saw a few once, as well as heard them before they ran off. Not too sure what happened to them. Is hatching guinea eggs any different than chicken eggs, can I hatch guineas with chickens? Any advice is welcome.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

The peafowl shouldn't be a problem. My guineas usually stay inside the pen but occasionally fly out. I've never had much luck hatching guinea eggs, though. @Sapphire Sebright has many guineas and might be able to help you.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

Guineas as a breed are usually very wild.

 

[R2elk]

Someone recently offered for me to hatch some of her guinea fowl eggs for her and split the keets between us. I've never owned guinea fowl but would like to try them out, I heard they make great guards. I would like them to free range to eat bugs and things and to defend my chicken flock. I live in a suburban area that has some close neighbors. Would they be fine with my chickens? There is a neighbor that has a bunch of peafowl roaming the back ditch bank, they are pretty much feral. Would those be problem? I'm also pretty sure the same neighbor has some guineas, as there's always guinea feathers everywhere and I saw a few once, as well as heard them before they ran off. Not too sure what happened to them. Is hatching guinea eggs any different than chicken eggs, can I hatch guineas with chickens? Any advice is welcome.

Guineas will not guard your chicken flock.

You can hatch guinea eggs with chicken eggs, just put the guinea eggs (26-28 days) in a week before the chicken eggs (21 days).

Keets that are raised with chicks lose the ability to understand that chickens are not the same as they are. Guineas have entirely different instincts than chickens and these manners can cause extreme stress to your chickens when the first breeding season comes around. The guineas begin their running, chasing, attacking from behind and breaking off or pulling feathers. The chickens do not understand these behaviors and get stressed especially when a group of guineas attack en masse.

Read the thread Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by PeepsCA .