Guinea talk.

[siamese]

Wow, we bought some that were supposed to be 1 week old, after taking them home we realised that they were at least a month old. So I am still trying to tame them, they are a challenge but now when I put them to bed inside the coop, I give them millet and they come down to it. At least they are not freaking out so much. I have ordered a cowbell to call them home at night.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

They are looking good, as well as the turkeys beside them.

Update on my own flock.
Echo and Foxy will be leaving this Winter, both have gone so stupid mean that I cannot handle them anymore. I am moving them into a pen with Rooster chickens this weekend.
All of my Blues are piebald which is awesome, 1 cockerel 3 hens from the sounds of it.
Howlie is getting better she is now out in the divider with everyone else, she has Mini and Mrs. Bigmouth with her.
Peregrine, Mouse, Delta Jr, Splade my first ones I hatched are nearly as big as the adults but still in the divider with the younger ones.
LeeAnn has gotten big as well as the jumbos. We sadly lost 6 of them almost two weeks ago, the remaining 10 are getting so large. I had to split the brood into two sets of five.
One set is with LeeAnn and the other set is with six Cuckoo Marans.

Cornish rocks have to be the ugliest baby chickens growing up ever. I have them in a larger brooder with, 4 Light Brahma pullets, 2 Brahma cockerels, 2 Brahma cross pullets, and Maggie the blind rooster.

James and I are busying building the rooster coop but the rain hit and we are on a hault until it goes away. This passed weekend we got a few more birds for helping a friend put together some coops.
3 Brahma pullets, 2 brahma cockerels, 3 mixed brahams, 1 English orpington rooster (new pet) and a really mixed cochin rooster named Rocky(pet). The same lady is giving us four to six more roosters for the freezer and we are doing a favor for another friend as she needs a few roo's for her freezer and we get 2 from that one.

 

[guineapeeps]

Wow, we bought some that were supposed to be 1 week old, after taking them home we realised that they were at least a month old. So I am still trying to tame them, they are a challenge but now when I put them to bed inside the coop, I give them millet and they come down to it. At least they are not freaking out so much. I have ordered a cowbell to call them home at night.

Welcome...glad you joined the thread. We'd love to see some pictures of your new guineas so you'll have to post some if you get a chance!

 

[GlennLee]

First day for the entire flock to free-range together. That includes 29 guineas, five Rhode Island Reds, and 3 English orpingtons!

 

[GlennLee]

Here is a link to a video.... hope it works!

 

[MartinsPoultry]

They look good Lee. Now to get you to add me on fb and you can watch us live.

 

[guineapeeps]

Here is a link to a video.... hope it works!

Thanks for posting! It makes me miss my guineas but gives me my "guinea fix" for the day! I love the pieds and it looks like you've got quite a few of them! They are so funny to watch....they move around like they are one big entity sharing one brain rather than many individual birds within a flock! Such goofy birds...You gotta love them!

I think you mentioned that you were getting both regular domestic and jumbos? What colors and how many do you have of each?

 

[GlennLee]

Wow, we bought some that were supposed to be 1 week old, after taking them home we realised that they were at least a month old. So I am still trying to tame them, they are a challenge but now when I put them to bed inside the coop, I give them millet and they come down to it. At least they are not freaking out so much. I have ordered a cowbell to call them home at night.

Welcome to the Guinea Talk thread! It sounds as though you have made good progress in the short amount of time you have had them. Just sitting with them makes a difference! And I love just sitting with my guineas. They are so entertaining. Mine are trained to come in to a bell as well. It makes it a lot easier to get them in at night and I make sure they are in well before sunset so I don't have a problem with them wanting to roost in trees. I think you'll like having the bell to work with. Good choice! We love pictures and stories here, so post away!

 

[GlennLee]

@MartinsPoultry will work on getting on your FB. Always enjoy hearing about your updates. It is an ongoing circus there and I mean that in a good way! Nice to see you have some jumbos - I hope you are liking them. I love the jumbos, but have moved into the regular domestics since their ability to fly will help keep them safe (relatively speaking) combating the predators here.

@guineapeeps I'm sure you are missing your birds and I can't wait until you have your own flock again. They are goofy for sure, but I love them to pieces and so much enjoy just hanging out with my birds. All of the lavenders are jumbos, but I have to say, they are different than my original flock of French Jumbos. These jumbos do fly! And, they don't seem to be as big. I have now worked to get my flock close to a 2 to 1 ratio of females to males with the goal of being to have a free ranging flock that will sustain itself, especially with the predators we have here - fox and coyote are the worst worry.

So, of the 29 guineas - I have 9 lavenders, 2 whites, 6 pearls, 7 pieds and 5 royal purples. I have 19 females and 10 males. We'll see how many of them I have left going into the winter. Last year, I lost 7 in the fall and 6 in the spring. Hopefully, I've worked the math, and upped my odds to make sure I have enough left to have females laying in the spring. Never a dull moment and it's all about the guineas - even the 5 Rhode Island Reds were an add-on to keep a lone male company and the 3 English Orpingtons were purchased to brood if needed. I will be adding 3 mixed bantams - just for fun! Yes, I am now officially a crazy bird lady!

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

Hi - I'm new to this thread. I was referred over here by guineapeeps. I have a small flock of guineas (12 birds), hatched right at the end of May, and just recently released to free range. As everyone said they would, they move around in this noisy, honking, screeching group like they're being controlled by the Hive Mind. EXCEPT for two birds, and maybe you guys can help me figure out their deal.

Bird 1 has been sick or injured for WEEKS now, and we keep expecting that it will fade away... but it just keeps hanging on. It has limited mobility, so never ranges with the flock, but it still hobbles around well enough that I have to look for it in the fenced garden where the flock has their nighttime shelter... it seems to eat and drink just well enough to stay alive (we keep feed and water out for this one, because it can't forage properly) - it's definitely skinny, and the feathers on its breast are worn off because it sort of scooches around a lot of the time, though when truly alarmed, it will get up and stagger around on unsteady legs for short distances. Seems like it's not getting worse and it's not getting better. You'll sometimes hear it calling out to the flock, they answer ... Any idea what is wrong with my bird?

Bird 2 seems to be exponentially more stupid than the rest of them, which is saying something. It gets lost/separated from the group on a regular basis. It will FREAK OUT and start calling for the flock, and they FREAK OUT and answer it, and sometimes they're like 100 yards away and visible, yet Dingbat can't seem to find them. When the flock moves, Dingbat will often get distracted by chasing down a bug to eat, and then they move on and Dingbat is left behind and lost. Everyone else is learning where the garden gate is so that they can go out in the morning and back in at night .... but Dingbat needs help EVERY TIME. Any idea why this one particular bird doesn't follow the group like everyone else?

Probably doesn't matter, but they are all ordinary pearl guineas.