Guinea Sleeping Habits

[MrsTush]

What was your snake incident? Did it kill an adult?

Ugh...yes
They were in their coop and they would always sit right by the door. It was just after sunset and my husband went out to turn their coop light on and an 8 ft HUGE black snake somehow got in the coop. We still don't know how he did it but it got under the door somehow. My guineas were way too big for this dumb thing to eat but he had it swallowed down to the body where it was stuck.
All of the other guineas were silent and huddled in the corner.
It took us a good ten minutes of battling that thing. I don't think we're never going to recover from that. I chopped that thing up into pieces. I was so mad!
We reinforced everything with a third layer of mesh wire and made the door nearly impossible for even a human to figure out. I've also got tack strips pointing out so a snake won't cross. I also watch them on a camera
I got a bit obsessed but when you raise them from a day old and something takes one it really effects you.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ugh...yes
They were in their coop and they would always sit right by the door. It was just after sunset and my husband went out to turn their coop light on and an 8 ft HUGE black snake somehow got in the coop. We still don't know how he did it but it got under the door somehow. My guineas were way too big for this dumb thing to eat but he had it swallowed down to the body where it was stuck.
All of the other guineas were silent and huddled in the corner.
It took us a good ten minutes of battling that thing. I don't think we're never going to recover from that. I chopped that thing up into pieces. I was so mad!
We reinforced everything with a third layer of mesh wire and made the door nearly impossible for even a human to figure out. I've also got tack strips pointing out so a snake won't cross. I also watch them on a camera
I got a bit obsessed but when you raise them from a day old and something takes one it really effects you.

Wow! Very traumatic, I’m sorry that you lost your bird that way! I hadn’t heard of a snake killing an adult, but I’ve lost several keets and a 2 month juvenile to a snake. It seems like they really are attracted to guineas! Our snakes have come through the automatic chicken door.

 

[MrsTush]

Wow! Very traumatic, I’m sorry that you lost your bird that way! I hadn’t heard of a snake killing an adult, but I’ve lost several keets and a 2 month juvenile to a snake. It seems like they really are attracted to guineas! Our snakes have come through the automatic chicken door.

We were surprised too! We've got some fat field mice so we thought he would've wanted those! My husband's theory was that the snake only saw the guineas heads and not their big bodies. The guineas wouldn't go near the door for the longest time. It took a couple of weeks of coaxing them in before they would go through the door willingly.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I still don't know what their problem is, but I have discovered if they are penned before bed time and I make it rain (turn on the sprinkler) they go right to bed. They were really good for four days or so and then decided to wander around the yard chasing bugs in the flood lights night before last. So I flipped the sprinkler on about thirty minutes before dark and they'd gone right to bed. Herding them only gets the job partially done because the pen is so large, but if I have to water the lawn a bit I guess that's alright. *shrugs*

 

[My2butterflies]

I still don't know what their problem is, but I have discovered if they are penned before bed time and I make it rain (turn on the sprinkler) they go right to bed. They were really good for four days or so and then decided to wander around the yard chasing bugs in the flood lights night before last. So I flipped the sprinkler on about thirty minutes before dark and they'd gone right to bed. Herding them only gets the job partially done because the pen is so large, but if I have to water the lawn a bit I guess that's alright. *shrugs*

What stubborn little butts
Guineas can be so odd at times. Maybe because there are things that go on that we don’t see?
We had three nights of our guineas very easily being herded in all at once. Then last night two boys acted like complete nut jobs and wouldn’t go in! They wanted in, but refused to go in the fence to the door. One even jumped up and tried to go in a window(covered in chicken wire) It wasn’t till dusk that we were finally able to get them to go inside. Even then we had to chase them in. Ugh. Just when I think we are on a good schedule they change things up on me.

 

[Sydney65]

What stubborn little butts
Guineas can be so odd at times. Maybe because there are things that go on that we don’t see?
We had three nights of our guineas very easily being herded in all at once. Then last night two boys acted like complete nut jobs and wouldn’t go in! They wanted in, but refused to go in the fence to the door. One even jumped up and tried to go in a window(covered in chicken wire) It wasn’t till dusk that we were finally able to get them to go inside. Even then we had to chase them in. Ugh. Just when I think we are on a good schedule they change things up on me.

That's true, especially if there's picking going on inside. There have been times times someone hesitated or refusedvto go in bc they knew they were in for a feather kicking once the door shut.

 

[R2elk]

That's true, especially if there's picking going on inside. There have been times times someone hesitated or refused to go in bc they knew they were in for a feather kicking once the door shut.

It is also common for the dominant male to stand in the entrance to deny entry to the others.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well at the time I only have one male so I know he's not picking at the hens. He dotes on all of them equally. They went to bed last night just fine and after I turned off the sprinkler hopped back down and slept against the fence into the yard.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

It is also common for the dominant male to stand in the entrance to deny entry to the others.

Yes, my most dominant male, Bruiser, is terrible about letting 1-3 of the other guys in. They mostly mill around the auto door until Bruiser finally stops eating and roosts. If I don’t have a coop light, then it’s often too dark by then for the rest to go in. If I have a coop light on, then Bruiser takes forever to roost... Once the keets are out with the rest, I’m removing the coop feeder and will just have a Peckomatic in the run, with maybe another Peckomatic in the coop corner away from the door, and with a visual barrier...

 

[R2elk]

Yes, my most dominant male, Bruiser, is terrible about letting 1-3 of the other guys in. They mostly mill around the auto door until Bruiser finally stops eating and roosts. If I don’t have a coop light, then it’s often too dark by then for the rest to go in. If I have a coop light on, then Bruiser takes forever to roost... Once the keets are out with the rest, I’m removing the coop feeder and will just have a Peckomatic in the run, with maybe another Peckomatic in the coop corner away from the door, and with a visual barrier...

When the dominant butt hole pulls that here, I talk to him and remind him with my stick who is the boss. He immediately moves to the back of the coop and the issue is over until the next day.