Guinea talk.

[GlennLee]

I have two males how many females should I get?i really only have room for 2 more because i Have polish chicks coming in the spring but 2 of my chicken keep getting sick and every time it brings them down more they might not survive.so I would like to just get two females but I have read that they need 2 females per male. What do you think I should do?

Hi "chicks are life" and welcome to the Guinea talk thread! So glad that Rhea responded here. If you really want to add females and only have room for 2, I agree with her and would recommend getting 2 females. The other option is to have a bachelor flock. Some people only keep males if they are looking to maintain a flock, but want to keep the noise down and don't have any interest in the eggs or raising keets. My flock was a mail order straight run of 16 keets. When they were old enough to differentiate between the sexes, I found that I had 2/3 male to 1/3 female. If it's not at least balanced, you'll see more aggression as you get closer to mating season and the entire flock in general will be a bit more aggressive. Mine were "fighting" over food as well. I don't have any personal experience with this fact, but from what I have read, 1 male will "service" up to 4-5 females. Hope this helps give you some food for thought. Please keep us posted and send pictures!

 

[GlennLee]

I free range in the winter here in Iowa where it is cold with occasional snow and temps in the 20's most days. I find that my Guineas can be tender footed in snow and ice at times, but have not noticed an increase in any foot problems as far as cuts and scapes from ice. The only thing I do notice is that some of my Guineas, especially the males, seem to get very long nails in the winter., which makes them limp around a bit. Im guessing this is due to not scratching and digging in the dirt as much as in the warmer weather so they are not grinding their nails down much. When I notice this, I catch them and trim the affected nails and this seems to eliminate the problem. Hope this helps!

Thanks, Rhea! Don't relish the idea of netting and nail trimming.... but I don't want them to be in pain or risk the nail ripping out, which has already happened this year. Too bad there isn't a guinea groomer. I know, I'm being a baby!

 

[guinealeghorn]

​Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom, guinealeghorn!  I guess it makes me feel better about my domestics.  They are the crazy ones of the bunch!  Hopefully, I'll be having keets here this spring from my French Jumbos and it will be interesting to see how they do being born here versus being shipped in a box!  AND a big WELCOME to the Guinea Talk thread!  I'm guessing you have leghorns as well?  Please share a bit about your birds and where you are from.  We all appreciate listening to each other's stories.

I live in Wisconsin, near Green bay. I have thirteen guineas, six white leghorn hens, and 11 mystery bantams. Our best guess for the bantams is OEG BB reds. They were from an auction. The roosters are beautiful. The guineas and leghorns were raised from one day old at our house. This is their first winter, and they have it good. Their coop has an inside room (big enough to walk in) and their outside cage (also big enough for a person to walk in) is wrapped in tarps. They free range in the summer. We get op

 

[guinealeghorn]

Sorry, I dropped the kindle! The last sentance was supposed to say that we get about seven eggs a day. Bye!

 

[pattyhen]

Good afternoon everyone. Thats good that your getting 7 eggs a day guinealeghorn. Right now I'm getting about 5 eggs a week from the chickens. The ducks and the guinea have been taking a break this winter from laying. They deserve it the ducks lay a lot in the summer and the fall.

Rhonda thanks for the picture on the blood clotting medicene. I've never seen that before but I'll look for it.

Spiderman and Mary Jane come in for a while today. Spiderman continues to be my lap guinea no matter how old he gets. The colder it is outside the longer they want to stay in doors. It is in the 50s today and it's not bad out at all. I didn't feel any cold waddles or cold feet today.

I hope everyone has a nice day and enjoy their guineas.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

This was Zelda the day after her ordeal with the cut. It was smaller than I originally thought. Its looking good and there's no smell to it. She's a feisty little thing.


Little Fiery Foxtrot aka Foxy (left)
And Juliette on the right they love that tire.


Nesting is maple, infront of her is Juliette.
On the wall is Delta resting with Charlie.


Blue recharging with Echo by his side and a turkey and chicken photobombing me.

There is hardly any more charging of any of the guineas, except for feeding time they like to tease. Last night Foxy completely laid in the feeding bowl and shoulder blocked Blue who ended up going to a different bowl to eat. These three new girls have never had the food we feed them and they act like it will vanish on them. Poor things. They will forever get their moist feed with oatmeal everyone loves it.
Last night was also a collard green treat in their food which it was chaos seeing everyone run with a green hanging from their beaks.

I will have to get my claws on a tube of that super clot stopper knowing me or the animals we end up getting some sort of nick. Specially cutting my reptile's nails.

 

[GlennLee]

I live in Wisconsin, near Green bay.

Green Bay.... brrrrrrrr..... I think you get some VERY cold winter weather there. We'd love to see some pics of your birds if it ever works out for you to take some and post them - you have a nice size flock with a variety - and those mystery bantams sound intriguing.

 

[GlennLee]

That Zelda! She looks like she's going to peck your eyes out. Your birds are beautiful and I'm glad that Zelda's wound is healing up nicely. It sounds like everyone is playing nice together at this point. I'm sure your birds appreciate the care you are giving them. I keep trying to give my birds other eating options, but they only want to stick to their dry crumbles. I'm going to have to give some greens a try - they weren't willing to try sprouts, but maybe greens. Still snowy here - the guineas have been in their coop for 5 days now. I leave their door open in case they want to head out and explore, but they're not interested. They actually put themselves in the coop early one day because of the wind. Happy Monday everyone and have a good week.

 

[GlennLee]

Rhonda thanks for the picture on the blood clotting medicene. I've never seen that before but I'll look for it.

Spiderman and Mary Jane come in for a while today. Spiderman continues to be my lap guinea no matter how old he gets. The colder it is outside the longer they want to stay in doors. It is in the 50s today and it's not bad out at all. I didn't feel any cold waddles or cold feet today.

I hope everyone has a nice day and enjoy their guineas.

You're very welcome, Patty. Happy to share ideas. You have certainly shared a number of your good ideas with us.

That Spiderman - what a cuddle guinea he is. I'm sure they appreciate coming in for a warm up even if it is 50 degrees there. We've been ranging between high teens to low 30's. It's only felt cold because of the wind chill, but I do put the heat on in the coop once in a while at night. I think it helps to keep the dampness down too.

I've been working on getting the guineas to eat out my hand. So far - the domestics won't come that close. If I sprinkle seed on the roost, they will lay on their bellies and stick their necks out to eat the bird seed, but won't come near my hand. The French Jumbos will come up and first inspect, then eat around my hand, then eat out of my hand. Some of them stand on my hand and even let me pet them. They don't seem to like it when I sit on a bale and reach down with my hand. I think it's a predator move and by instinct, they stay away.

Off to Tractor Supply today - time to load up with more crumbles and wood shavings - plus I have to get a gift card for my neighbor who has been providing breakfast for them with the droppings off her bird feeders! Such opportunists!

 

[guineapeeps]

Thanks, Rhea! Don't relish the idea of netting and nail trimming.... but I don't want them to be in pain or risk the nail ripping out, which has already happened this year. Too bad there isn't a guinea groomer. I know, I'm being a baby!

I hear you! Your not being a baby...I hate doing it too! I have had my guineas rip their nail off as well, so I try to keep up on it, as much as I dislike it. I think you've come up with a great idea for a new profession, though....Guinea Groomer. You could also specialize in chicken clipping, Duck Doo's and Rooster Revitalizing. You could call it Bantam's Bob and Bouffant!