Guinea fowl help..

[MrsRobinson1]

I have a pair of guineas in with my chickens, they are not very friendly and pick on my two easter eggers and a young hen that I'm not sure what she is. Anyway, I'm debating about if I want to let them out of the chicken coop/run and let them free range in my yard so that they will quit bugging my chickens. I have had them now for about 5 months or so, I'm wondering if they would stay in my area and know it as "home" or if they would take off? Also any advice to try to keep them around would be great!

Thanks

 

[StarMeKritten]

I think people usually say to keep them up for about 6-8 weeks when you first get them. I think I only kept mine in for about 2 weeks. Yours should know where home is by now. I would start letting them out late in the day at first, when they are more likely to stay close. I have heard to only let out half at first because they will want to stay near their friends. I think that's tough with just two. They'll probably be lonely if you split them up.

My guess is that they'll stay close but it might be hard to get them back into the coop. They might decide that a tree or your roof look like a more appealing place to roost. Sometimes mine come in and sometimes they decide to sleep elsewhere. You would think they would want to come in when its raining, but they aren't always that smart. I have woken up to soaking wet guineas after they have decided to roost in a tree in the rain.

Guineas are great for insect control, but only if you let them out. They will be happiest if they can spend all day looking for bugs and food in the grass. I hear that they are very attracted to roads though and tend to get hit by cars. I can't speak from experience on that though as we live down a long driveway on a dead end street. If you live on a busy street, I probably would keep them confined.

I hope some of that helps. I'm no expert on guineas, but I do love the ones I have.