Guinea's are not what they're cracked up to be.

[crtrlovr]

I have 4 guineas, 3 hens and one male. The male is a major pain when it comes to aggravating the chickens when he takes a notion to do so. He'll grab them (hen or roo, doesn't matter) by the tail feathers and hang on like a snapping turtle while they run screaming and flapping, trying to escape. The only one he will NOT pull this on is the alpha roo, big RIR Sarge. Guineas are a WHOLE different ball game from chickens. They think (or rather don't think, but react) on a completely primal level. There's no logical thought process for a guinea, it's instinct only. That being said, my guineas are perfectly content to go into the chicken house and roost up high on the roost boards with the chickens.

ETA: They do let us know if something is amiss outside, for the most part, but they also have an annoying habit of wandering well away from my own yard...

They are usually pretty good about coming back at dusk. They do spaz out when one gets on one side of the fence and the others are on the OTHER side. The loner will run up and down the fence line, panicky and nearly hysterical until one of two things happens: the others will come through the fence gateway to join the panicked one, or the panicky one will just happen to find the opening and "escape" to join its flockmates. Ah, yes. Guineas....

 

[damselfish]

We love ours, but to each their own, I guess!

They definitely are noisy & tend to wander, but we have a lot of space, and they coop without trouble.

If one wants to stay out in a tree occasionally, we just let it. Ours coop at full dark, so we don't try to chase them in earlier. When everyone has gone to bed that's going to bed, we just shut the door. If a coyote gets them...well, so be it. We brooded them completely in the coop, so it's home.

We also have enough (13), so they could pair off into mated pairs (except one menage a trois), which I think makes them happier.

Wouldn't trade em, where else can you get a bird with looong eyelashes and a cone on top of its head?

 

[aaronzclark]

It would not of been so bad if you had of left them guineas are used to the wild. things won't catch a guinea like they would a chicken

 

[mewithoutashley]

I have guinea's and i love them! We used to have a bunch, but they weren't very bright and all made there way out to the road where they got ran over. We had about 20 and was left with two.


Recenlty we bought three at a stock sale and they don't like to run with our old two. They tend to keep tp themselves. We have about ten acres and they like to head to the neberiers houses.

When i first bought them i kept them caged with my three new chickens, and they got along fine, they were together for a good three days untill the chickens got moved.

There good for eating snakes and bugs though.

 

[red46]

Quote:
Now isn't that the point? I mean, weren't those other two, supposed to scream bloody murder, when their mate got snatched from between them? Not a peep.
judy

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

They are only good watch dogs during the day time hours. And only then are they good to alert you of people. So when someone comes up in your yard they go off squawkin.