Guinea Fowl by themselves. Completely...

[cabinfarm]

Hey all,

I have a cabin in upstate NY that sits on a 16 acre lot. Me and my wife go out there every other weekend. It is mainly covered with trees. Very secluded.

I was told that Guinea Fowls can live by themselves....

I was wondering if it is possible to somehow have some over at my land even though I am not there to take care of them. My ultimate ambition, which might be impossible of course, is to have them be on my land so when I do come by (every other weekend) they can be admired and possibly give me some eggs beside making sure the surrounding critters are kept in check...

The questions is - understanding my situation (weekend cabin getaway) - is it possible for me to have some over there?

I will be happy to build them shelter and give them food when I come up if they need it.

Again, I am not sure if this is possible but who else should I ask than a forum about guinea fowls?

Thanks!!

 

[PeepsCA]

Yah, you gotta be careful what ya read on the internet (or wherever), there's a lot of misinformation out there. Guineas can survive on their own, but typically if one starts off with a flock of 20-30 Guineas they will be very quickly knocked down by predators to 6 or so remaining survivors that happen to be lucky and smart enough to stay alive. IMO, a self sustaining flock of Guineas living on your uninhabited woodsy land is a pipe dream...

In that situation your birds would just be easy predator bait, especially if no one is there to safely lock them up in a predator proof coop/pen set up each night. Once they are old enough to be out in a coop, they would then need to be acclimated (penned/confined) to their new home for about 6 weeks prior to being let loose to free range and fend for themselves... and if you are not there 24/7 that probably means the predator load is exceptionally high there, so their shelter will need to be bullet proof for those 6 wk of confinement. (And if you let them loose too soon, they will most likely all wander off/disappear because they have not imprinted on where "home" is).

Once you finally do let them out to free range, some may still want to roost in the coop each night (which the predators can also get into just as easily as the birds do), but some of the flock will take to roosting the trees (lots of predators climb or snatch birds right out of the trees... Guineas are blind in the dark so getting away in the dark doesn't happen that often). Owls, foxes, coons, bobcats etc are commonly looking for a meal at night or right at/around dusk, and then there are also the hawks, coyotes, loose dogs and other more brazen morning and daytime predators that will pick them off one by one too.

If there's no poultry food provided for the Guineas, they'll leave to go find their own. Once they leave, they usually don't return.

Guinea Hens usually do not lay eggs in the coop if they have a choice about it... they will prefer to lay eggs/nest in the bushes and out in woods in well hidden private places, which is exactly what the predators are hoping for. A fresh, all you can eat meat and egg buffet that they can sneak right up on, with plenty of cover to use to their advantage.

I don't mean any of this to be a cold slap of reality (or rude) but.. you may not have any Guineas to amuse you on your everyother weekly visits... just feather piles or an empty pen/coop decorating your land. Realistically ANY type of poultry flock needs to be cared for and attended to on a regular (daily) basis.

 

[trippy]

oh brother i just erased my whole post trying to edit one bloody word...

 

[BarbaraNH]

When that happens to me, I can sometimes retrieve the post by holding down Ctrl and clicking z. That should erase the last action that you took. Repeat Ctrl/z until you get back to where you want to be. Hope that method will work for you!