Guinea Questions....

[Kitt]

We are thinking about getting some. We have over 7 acres and I'm wondering if they will stay on our property or if they will visit the neighbors. We would love for them to roam around the property. Just not sure if neighbors will feel the same.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Get very young Guineas and they will "bond" to your property. If you buy adults, you will have to keep them penned up for several months or they will turn into homing pigeons and try to go back where they came from. (We found out there is a guy at our local flea market that seems to sell the same guineas over and over!)

You can fix them a nice roosting shed and raise them there, so they know that is their place. Every evening, call them in with a favorite treat - millet seed, green peas, something they really like and shut them in the roost overnight. They may eventually decide they like a tree better, but they should 'pretty much' stay on your place.

 

[Kitt]

Thank you so much.

 

[PeepsCA]

They will most likely roam, especially if you don't have any type of fence for even a "visual boundary" of where they need to stay... but if you start with keets and train them to return to a coop/covered pen set up at night, and be consistent about herding them back onto your land when they roam too far they *may* eventually learn to stick closer to home. I've had pretty good success with the training, herding and consistently herding my flocks back inside my 10 acres, they pretty much stay home now... but it's taken a lot of time and energy, and there were a few predator losses in the process. It's not impossible to keep them home... but you have your work cut out for you.

 

[Katy]

Unless you keep them penned they will roam.

 

[Kitt]

I think for the time being we will have to hold off on getting some. Or at least until I figure out a really nice enclosure for them.

Thanks everyone.

 

[PeepsCA]

I think it's a wise choice to go into the world of Guineas fully prepared and completely ready for what's in store for you, it will work out better for you and for the Guineas (and your neighbors!)....

If you are on friendly terms with your neighbors you could talk to them about the fact that you are wanting to get Guineas that will be free ranging on your land, discuss the pros and cons of having them roaming in the immediate areas (tick, pest and snake control, predator alerts, etc), and explain to them that there will be a transitional training period the birds will have to go thru before they are an established flock, with home base being your 7 acres. You never know, the neighbors may open the birds with open arms. And you could also mention there will be the possibility of free eggs in the spring and summer

Hopefully you will have a nice set up for them soon and you will be kicking back in a lawn chair (with a neighbor or 2!) drinking iced tea laughing at the Guineas' silly antics

 

[Taylor]

try and get them as chicks, or if you don't theres a good possibility they will roam all over the country. mine's trained to come back home at night because i hatched them, and they know where their fed at. 7 acres is a good place for them though!

 

[Okie Amazon]

We have only 2 and 1/2 acres in a largely urban area and ours do range next door and clean up any grain the horses pastured next door leave and occasionally and briefly they go across the street, but by and large, they stay on our place and they ALWAYS come back at evening for their meal and to roost. We actually gained a guinea from somewhere recently. We have a hen on eggs, so when I saw 6 guineas out in the back yard, I thought I'd take the op to go count the eggs. Went over to the cane thicket to count, and found a guinea on the nest. Went back and counted again, then called to my husband, "how many guineas do we have?"
"Six".
"How many guineas do you see?"
"Six"
"But there's one on the nest, too!"
"Huh."


???, guess we picked up a wanderer from somewhere! Or perhaps a prodigal guinea returns. We did have one go missing a couple of months ago, we assumed had been gotten by a predator. (?) The guinea is not telling, at least not in any language we can understand.

 

[cgmccary]

Hello Kit:

I have 6.5 acres and mine roam all of it, & also my neighbors' 3 acres, the nearby woods across the road, up the road -- they roam about 20-25 acres. They always come home to roost. Mostly, they go in the coop but occasionally one, two or a group will roost in the tall oaks by the coop. I have been very worried about them getting hit on the road. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of traffic-- it averages about a vehicle every 30 minutes but still very dangerous for them (because the cars, trucks drive over the speed limit). Nothing else I have roams off the property like my Guineas except my honeybees (not the chickens, turkeys nor geese -- the geese are the best about staying closest to home).

Chris