Guineas & chickens

[esavvymom]

We are new to country life and to raising birds. We "inherited" 3 male guineas (previous owner said they are about 4 years old). We've got six 3 week old keets in a brooder right now, and will transfer to their own area of our coop in the coming weeks. I was planning on keeping them separate for a long time. After a few more weeks in the coop, we'll let them have access to the run during the day while the adults are free-ranging.

I'm concerned though about the whole aggression thing....after reading some of these forums, we'll see.
I'm wondering though about chickens and guineas. I had read articles that said they do well together, but after reading forums here, it sounds like that is NOT the case usually?? We are hoping to have chickens if not later this year, then by next spring. We are building a separate coop and separate runs- but they will be side-by-side.

I'm concerned mostly about their ranging. We have about 4.5-5 acres of fenced in yard area that our guineas currently patrol. We wanted to free-range both of them together. Will the guineas care one bit if they all have enough space to stay away from each other? One possible option is if we were to cut our property "in half" with a fence, and then let the chickens use one half for ranging and the guineas the other half. Then every so often, we switch them? (We use the guineas to keep ticks in check here...otherwise they are terrible).

I'm just trying to plan things out a bit and make sure we don't get in over our heads. I read whatever I can, but seems to be so much out there!

 

[PeepsCA]

Sounds to me like you are doing everything possible to have the best of both worlds, AND you've done your homework

And yes there is a lot of (conflicting) info out there, so it can get confusing and overwhelming when seeking good quality advice. Honestly tho, not every situation is the same, so not one single piece of advice can apply to all flocks/all situations....

IME, the more room for the Guineas the better, and separate coops for everybody is always icing on the cake... if you do eventually end up with problems you can always free range the Guineas and chickens at separate times, or on alternate days etc (when/if the Guineas turn out to be bullies, which is typically going to be breeding season if it's going to happen). Really it depends on the individual birds, and the property/coop set up tho... but nothing is set in stone for Guineas. It's always GOOD to know what you may be facing, and to be prepared for it rather than get blind sided by it all of a sudden. A lot of people with aggressive Guinea issues cram too many birds in a small coop/pen, and then wonder why they end up having cannibalized or dead chickens as an end result

So having separate coops and keeping an eye out for the bullies/bullying is your best bet, IMO. All you can do is try it and see how it goes. You may get lucky. I free range one of my flocks of 11 Guineas (9 Hens, 2 males) and a pair of Turkeys with my 14 Silkies and 2 Showgirls with no issues what so ever. None, zero, zip. They have separate coops/pens, but free range in the same pasture, no problem. They do their own thing, mind their own business... happy flock.

 

[esavvymom]

Thank you. That makes me feel a bit better, and hopeful.
Now to just hope that we have a good ratio of male to females in our new group of guineas! Wouldn't want to start fights there come next year.

 

[JLeigh]

In my experience it's all about space and separate coops. A serious bully will usually cause some trouble no matter how much space you provide- whether chickens are there or not. It's my opinion that if you have a small flock with small space, bullies aren't welcome and can be re-homed or Sunday dinner. If they're free ranging then bullies have more leeway and cause a lot less trouble.

I have five guineas (four females, one male) in with three chicken hens. The fewer males the better for me since my space is very small compared to the great outdoors.

I've attached a very bad (and not to scale) drawing of my set up. Fortunately I have a husband who loves to build doors, so I can have a "human" door to every pen and coop. We have three chicken doors leading from coop to coop, so they can wander in and out of pens and coops at will during the day, but everything gets closed at dusk, when they're separated for the night into their respective pens/coops. They've learned the drill each night, and all I have to say is "Coop time!" and the guineas go into their area. The chickens are usually in their own coop already. If I go out of town, I can close doors to separate them and each will have their own coop and pen with food and water stations. The coops are fully enclosed with plywood and the pens are all chicken wire. Great for winter weather against wind and rain, but plenty of opportunity for fresh air and sunshine.

Then I have a grow out pen that I can use to integrate newbies, or as a hospital pen. I also have a collapsible brooder box that I can move from the basement to any pen I want which serves as a modular, temporary coop. I love my setup. Took a year to figure it out as I went along. Planning would have been better .

Of course I have plans for expansion. I always tell my husband that "this is the LAST time, honey! I promise!" but he always expands my pens on my birthday. Birthday was in May...I'm now planning my next expansion LOL. I may get it for Christmas, or maybe Labor Day. Isn't the 4th of July coming up? Hmmmm....
What's the moral to this story? Marry a guy who likes to build.

 

[chickenfreak101]

LOL!!!