Guinea Question

[jamieneenah]

HI;

I am wondering if Guineas will stay near there established home / coop or if they will just leave if no fencing is present.

I was wondering if it would be possiable to put a flock of them at my families cottage in a rural area. The birds would have to be able to live on there own for several weeks at a time. We could provide a coop, and a heated water bowl for them in the winter. There is a marsh and a river on they would have full access to.

Would Guineas possibly be appropriate for this environment, and would they stick around?

Thanks
Jamie
Neenah, wi

 

[shelleyd2008]

They would stick around, but you would need to feed them in the winter. I suppose you could get one of those game bird feeders that holds like 50 pounds of feed, but in the winter they would need to be fed.

You would also have to 'train' them to stay there. You will need a coop and run to keep them in for at least a month. Then once you let them out, they can still use that coop. Most times they won't roost in the trees unless they have no other options or they have been scared from their roosts. If they are scared off their roosts, they will roost somewhere else. So if you ever decide you need to catch one at night, make sure you catch it, or it will go into the tallest tree and you'll never get it!

As long as they have a draft free area to sleep in, and have available food, provided you train them that 'there' is their home they should stick around. If you don't feed them, they'll probably leave in search of food. A guineas diet in the warmer months is about 90% insects, kind of lacking in the winter

 

[jamieneenah]

Thanks. Sounds like they would be a neat option for us, but sounds like we would have to spend the first month or so with them fairly constantly. I wonder if they would breed and we would end up with hundreds of them in a few years.

Jamie

 

[shelleyd2008]

If you have males and females they would certainly breed, but guinea mothers are not the best in the world. Many times they'll lose their whole group of keets, just because they are stupid. They take them into the real long grass when it's wet, and don't keep them warm; they run off and leave the keets if they get scared; idk what else, but you probably won't have hundreds!

You might get lucky and have some make it to adulthood, but it's hard to say. And guinea hens like to lay their eggs in weeds and briars, so many times the hens get eaten by predators when they are setting the eggs. But you could get lucky

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
The hatchery sells them in minimums of 25, so I was envisioning a dozen or more female birds out there laying and hatching eggs.

Thanks for the information;
Jamie

 

[sparkles2307]

I keep wondering how their naked little heads stay warm in a MN winter????

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
Well there doesn't seem to be much brain there to get cold - Have you had any frostbite problems?

Steve in NC

 

[sparkles2307]

I dont even have them, partly because I find them irritating and stupid, and partly because I am worried about their naked little heads! I am thinking about getting some for insect/tick control...but am having a hard time talking myself into it....

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

They are good for bug control that is for sure. Your comment about them getting cold made me wonder - front page news cold around here is in the teens! and they do fine, I'm sure it gets just a little more chilly up your way.

Steve in NC

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
LOL try -35 for a week straight with 30 mph windgusts from the North!