Guinea fowl + Chickens in the same coop?

[speckledhen]

Used to have four guineas in a coop with ten chickens, including one rooster. After weeks and weeks of the alpha male attacking the RIR hens (no others, just the red ones) and then turning on my rooster, chasing him into the woods twice, I rehomed them. Guineas do better in large groups, some have found. They do better in their separate society, too. They're nothing like chickens and when they attack, they tag team their victims, hitting them from all sides, something chickens don't do and have no real defense against. It's not always a good situation with chickens and guineas together.

Mine were in the coop with the chickens from the time they were 4 weeks old, but when mating age approached, that's when the trouble began.

 

[robin416]

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After reading through the posts my thought was, how many of these posters have had their Guineas for any length of time?

As Cynthia already stated everything can be all warm and fuzzy until Guineas enter in to breeding season and then all bets are off. One other time period I've found to be dicey is Fall just before the girls quit laying.

 

[Terri O]

My guineas were raised up with the turkeys. They now sit under them when it is cold! I posted a pic of this in the turkey thread a while back. Now for the last month all the birds have gone into the chicken house instead of sleeping in the trees. I added a few perches and all is well. I would much rather have them safe in the coop with the chickens than in the trees at the mercy of the wind and weather! Even though it is a big mess in the coop with all those birds...because of course the ducks think they should be in on the party! Terri O

 

[snowfire_girl]

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[taprock]

We have had problems with our guineas picking on the chickens, however we have polish and they are quite a bit smaller. Also the guineas are two months older than the chickens. A friend of mine got her guinea at the same time as me. Her chickens are the same age as her guineas and are leghorns. She has had no problem at all. The guineas were actually scared of her chickens. I'll also add we didn' have problems until winter started and no one wants to leave the coop.

 

[melissa41927]

i hatched out and brooded 8 guinea keets with my giant blk cochins. all thru the spring and summer everything was fine. then come fall i let the all out with the big chickens. the 8 month old guineas chased off the dominate roo some many times that he finally quit coming back to the roost and he disappeared. starting this January, the males are fighting with the large tom turkey. they even have their own coop, but they still try their best to get back into the main coop. they now attach the blk cochins they were raised with. when they attack the other birds, the will grab their feathers and hold on anywhere they can reach. my first experience with guineas was a disaster too. they were adult when i bought them. they started immediately attacking the chickens. so i eventually gave the last male away. i hatched these others from eggs thinking that it would be different, but i learned different. right now i am having to rotate free range day. layers out one day, then cochins, and then guineas. so in my opinion, housing guineas, and other birds together once the guineas reach 6 or 7 months is not a good idea.

 

[fivecents]

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What a great Mama!

 

[bluere11e]

Somewhere I saw a picture of a guinea/RIR cross.. I bought a few guinea hens to put with my RIR Banty Roo years ago.. Nothing ever became of that cross.. But it was fun to hope..lol

 

[Pinky]

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They are the pack hunting velociraptors with feathers and a beak

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

My 5 Older guineas ( Pearl & Pied ) live w/ my chickens out at the barn. They are very mean to all my chickens. They even beat up my top roosters. I have 6 younger Lavender Guineas and they were raised w/ a broody bantam and they live in the front yard in a hutch along w/ a few other chickens. They weren't mean at all for awhile, but recently they have been chasing around the two other chickens that live with them. They chased them down until they're in a corner and then rip their feathers out, mean while the poor chicken is screaming bloody murder. If I could I would separate my guineas from the chickens, but I have a limited number of coops and for now they must stay penned together.