Guinea talk.

[Gdog Bossman]

Hi friends!
Girls started laying! They don't sit on the eggs, but it's a start. The eggs disappear at night so I moved nest box up higher .now they lay wherever, sometimes in nest.
Some eggs are soft and gross
Question is, will they ever get "broody" or should I buy them a chicken? Lol I'm clueless here.

 

[R2elk]

Hi friends!
Girls started laying! They don't sit on the eggs, but it's a start. The eggs disappear at night so I moved nest box up higher .now they lay wherever, sometimes in nest.
Some eggs are soft and gross
Question is, will they ever get "broody" or should I buy them a chicken? Lol I'm clueless here. View attachment 1622515

If you are getting soft shell eggs, you need to provide them with a source of calcium. You can give them layer feed but definitely need to provide them with free choice oyster shell.

Guineas tend to lay large clutches of eggs before going broody and often use communal nests. They will go broody when they are ready. They tend to prefer hidden nest sites and definitely do not like their nests messed with.

I very strongly recommend that you do not put a chicken in with them.

Good luck.

 

[jvls1942]

R2elk, why wouldn't you put a chicken in with the guineas ?

 

[R2elk]

R2elk, why wouldn't you put a chicken in with the guineas ?

Guineas are not chickens and do not act like chickens. Chickens can not understand guinea behaviors and often get very badly stressed when the guineas pick on them. Normally it would not turn out well for the chicken to the point where the guineas may actually kill the chicken.

 

[jvls1942]

that's what I thought you were going to say.
although you are not wrong, I have had good experience with raising them together.
in fact, I had a turkey, chickens and a couple of guineas all sitting on a common nest with over 70 eggs in it..
of course none of the eggs hatched, but it was interesting to watch..
it depends upon how the birds are raised..
I often raised chicks and keets together, the result was very tame guineas.. the guineas would actually step on my toes.
they didn't tolerate being petted, though..
but they would take bread from my hand.
On the other side of the coin, adult guineas that I purchased that were not raised this way, remained wild..
guineas are not always the bullies..sometimes the chickens are..
I think what the OP meant was to get a chicken to sit on the eggs, not necessarily to put it in with the guineas..
......jiminwisc.......

 

[R2elk]

that's what I thought you were going to say.
although you are not wrong, I have had good experience with raising them together.
in fact, I had a turkey, chickens and a couple of guineas all sitting on a common nest with over 70 eggs in it..
of course none of the eggs hatched, but it was interesting to watch..
it depends upon how the birds are raised..
I often raised chicks and keets together, the result was very tame guineas.. the guineas would actually step on my toes.
they didn't tolerate being petted, though..
but they would take bread from my hand.
On the other side of the coin, adult guineas that I purchased that were not raised this way, remained wild..
guineas are not always the bullies..sometimes the chickens are..
I think what the OP meant was to get a chicken to sit on the eggs, not necessarily to put it in with the guineas..
......jiminwisc.......

I have raised guineas both ways, imprinted with chickens and not imprinted with chicks. I did not see any difference in the "tameness" of the guineas based on being raised with chickens vs not being raised with chickens. I do see a difference in their "tameness" based on how the person interacts with them as keets.

I know people that have raised guineas without chickens and because of how they interacted with the keets, the guineas are very friendly.

The thing that I see is that keets that are imprinted by chickens lose the ability to understand that chickens are not guineas. Everything can go very well right up until the first breeding season when guineas go "crazy". Those that don't understand that there is a difference between them and chickens start using their guinea ways on the chickens. Chickens do not understand guinea behaviors and can become very stressed. Guineas preferred method of attack is from behind and they love to grab feathers and pull them or break them off.

I no longer allow keets to become imprinted by chickens. My guineas know that chickens are not guineas and completely leave the chickens alone.

 

[jvls1942]

I have raised guineas both ways, imprinted with chickens and not imprinted with chicks. I did not see any difference in the "tameness" of the guineas based on being raised with chickens vs not being raised with chickens. I do see a difference in their "tameness" based on how the person interacts with them as keets.

I know people that have raised guineas without chickens and because of how they interacted with the keets, the guineas are very friendly.

The thing that I see is that keets that are imprinted by chickens lose the ability to understand that chickens are not guineas. Everything can go very well right up until the first breeding season when guineas go "crazy". Those that don't understand that there is a difference between them and chickens start using their guinea ways on the chickens. Chickens do not understand guinea behaviors and can become very stressed. Guineas preferred method of attack is from behind and they love to grab feathers and pull them or break them off.

I no longer allow keets to become imprinted by chickens. My guineas know that chickens are not guineas and completely leave the chickens alone.

OK , you are correct, I am not going to argue with you.
you do it your way and I will continue to do it my way like I have been for 55 years..

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

that's what I thought you were going to say.
although you are not wrong, I have had good experience with raising them together.
in fact, I had a turkey, chickens and a couple of guineas all sitting on a common nest with over 70 eggs in it..
of course none of the eggs hatched, but it was interesting to watch..
it depends upon how the birds are raised..
I often raised chicks and keets together, the result was very tame guineas.. the guineas would actually step on my toes.
they didn't tolerate being petted, though..
but they would take bread from my hand.
On the other side of the coin, adult guineas that I purchased that were not raised this way, remained wild..
guineas are not always the bullies..sometimes the chickens are..
I think what the OP meant was to get a chicken to sit on the eggs, not necessarily to put it in with the guineas..
......jiminwisc.......

I’m impressed with all of the people who have successfully raised chickens and guineas together and wish that was me! We brooded chicks, keets, and ducklings together. They all did fine together until guineas started ganging up on the young chickens and ducks at 3 mo. I now have the guineas freeranging but the coop split for guineas in a third, separate from the chickens and ducks. I think my Guineas are quite “tame”, not in being picked up but they follow me around, would take food from my hands, and want to be around their coop all day/night. They seem to be quite different from “normal” guineas in being exceptionally attached to the coop and chickens/ducks. I have a chicken tractor 50 ft from the main coop. All day, the guineas go back and forth from the coop to tractor. The guineas seldom go more than 100 ft from the main coop. We have ten acres, so I take them for walks sometime, and they’ll follow me, but seldom venture far on their own. I also walk the ducks to the pond 100 ft away; they will follow there but won’t stay for more than a few minutes. They are oddly fixated on the chickens and ducks in this way, but my sole remaining guinea male (Ghost) tries to attack chickens and ducks when I let them out, so I have to guard with a stick and water gun. Ghost kind of gets it that I won’t tolerate an attack, but I’m not really sure what my end game is for him. Hoping for keets in the spring that will be raised away from the chickens to decrease the chicken fixation...

 

[Melodychick]

Hi everyone, been reading through this thread and learning a lot about guineas! I’m thinking about getting 6-8 keets this summer to help with pest control in my veggie garden as well as for entertainment and i have a few questions before I decide. My neighbor had 15 guineas at one time, so I know about the noise. She free ranged them 24/7 and is now down to two, and although some were killed when they wandered into her dog yard, others just disappeared, and one night I caught a raccoon on top of one trying to kill her. So lesson learned there, mine will free range during the day and be cooped at night, just like my chickens. My only concern is related to the reason i want them. They eat bugs. All bugs I guess, including bees, butterflies, praying mantis, etc? I have a fairly large pollinator garden and have lots of butterflies and of course their larvae, and I’m not sure I’m willing to risk this for some bug free veggies. Also I’ve been told they do eat squash bugs and stink bugs and I’ve been told they don’t. Any actual hands on insight? Will they decimate my pollinators and ignore the problem squash bugs?

 

[jvls1942]

first off, you won't have as much control over your guineas as with the chickens.
they have to be trained to go into a coop.
if they skip one night of going in, you will have a real problem retraining them.
they will fly up into a tree and avoid capture as well as any wild bird.
second: they eat bugs. true.
I kept flocks of them for wood tick control, mainly. they might make a swing through the garden, but don't depend on them to keep the garden bug free. I don't think they eat potato bugs. at least not enough to make it noticeable.
I had a real problem with ant hills all over in my orchard. the ants disappeared almost 100%.
if you start out with a half dozen in the spring, expect to have none by fall if they free range. If they go to coop at night, you might have two by fall.
they are expendable birds.
the lighter colored ones are the best targets for predators. whites, grays, blues..
if I had a choice of only chickens or guineas, I would choose the guineas.
......jiminwisc.......