Guineas flew away.

[allanimals21]

I have never had them fly away and choose not to come back. Mine are wieners. They know where the food is and they know where I am. So eventually they do come back. I had a group that if I stood outside and called guinea birds in a high voice they would come flying from wherever they were. My guess is that your flew off and got taken by a predator before they could return.

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

Quote:
I want to let them free range in better weather, if this long cold winter would ever end!
I got guineas to eat ticks. So far they have not eaten one yet and have caused me a lot of work and expense. The area is full of predators so if they do not come back to roost at night they won't last very long.

Read the post up here about clipping guinea wings that i replied to. It has a couple of pointers on getting guineas to stay in your yard!

 

[newchickengirl]

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Yes, there is snow on the ground. There is not much that they can eat out there at this time of year and it a lot easier to keep their water from freezing if I keep them locked up in the coop.
My question was really why would one leave the others? In my limited past experience, when one got separated it would call the others and that is not happening now.

We still have about 6 inches on the ground and your right, there is not much that they can eat this time of year but Ive found game crumbles and millet seed to be there favorite. I will have to agree that the guinea should of came back. Ive noticed some times they get into a squabble with one and that one always returns to the flock with in a short amount of time so Im really confused. The night they speant in the tree, I was a nervous wreck.

One thing you can try and which Ive had luck with is getting some type of cheap door mirror like the ones they sell at Walmart for about 6 dollars and putting it somewhere very close to your coop. They like to look at them selves and usually are never very far from it. Also try feeding some millet seed say around 4 oclock and have some sort of call for them..They will soon associate you with the yummy treats. I use to bang on a pan and My chickens would come running but since Ive had guineas, Ive had to change up a bit. I just holler guineas and both the guineas and chickens come running for there lives to see what I have. I think My guineas might be sort of "weird" cause they not only eat things guineas dont usually eat (mashed potatoes, pasta, etc) but they eat whole corn as well...I think they think they are chickens.

Maybe try these things and see if it will prevent any more from flying off...And yes, a guinea can get shunned but will only not return if taken by a predator in My opinion.

 

[lost acres]

We have had guineas for five years now; we had gotten them to also eat the ticks. We live on 30 acres and we let them free range. We get them just hatched and raise them from arrival in late spring till the following spring in an enclosed area and then they become free range. By that time they "know" us and always come "home" again every night to feed and sleep. I put out a feeder every day for them with scratch grain and am told by the local farmers that is why mine return "home" every night; because they know there will be food out for them.

We do lose a lot by raccoons mainly and coyotes. So every other year I usually have to get new ones. At first I could resupply just from the eggs the ones I had laid and hatched, but after the predators found them here we don't have much luck with that any longer as the nests are raided and the hen is carried away. We try and keep around 100 free ranging. It has been so bad this last year we now have two! Last year's grew up and just about release time they started dying, one every couple days; I have no idea what happened!

Once they are free range they return to the same general area to "sleep" every night. We have two raised enclosures that some sleep in although the last bunches have only used the trees; even in the ice storms and snow storms. Sometimes I think I will actually find a frozen one in the trees, but so far just some with ice hanging from their feathers!

 

[Barry]

Quote:
Thanks for your reply. I found the escaped one on the 2nd day but could not catch it. That was the last I saw it.
Your luck with guineas seems as bad as mine. I lost 40% and they are not even free ranging yet. If they do not come back into the coop every night they will get killed off real fast.
If I loose these last 3, then I give up on Guineas.

 

[lost acres]

I was frustrated at first losing so many over the times especially when the first ones started disappearing. All I can tell you is don't get discouraged! Just set yourself into getting new ones and realizing you'll probably have to do that. They really help with the ticks a lot. After I saw how bad the ticks where and after having guineas I knew then that no matter what we would have guineas around. We have turned to live traps every night for the raccoons and that has worked well. The coyotes are a different story, can't live trap them (at least I'm not going too). We have dogs stationed out from the house now and for the most part have kept the coyotes from being as bad as they were in the beginning. They are still around, but dont often come that near. So donpt be discouraged!

 

[Cairina moschata]

I've had guineas for a few years now. To be honest (even though I hate to admit it) I lose about 40-50% a year to weather and predators. The weather takes out the chicks and the coyotes and foxes account for the rest. It does get frustrating to lose so many but I enjoy having the weirdos around so I just keep on replacing/hatching more of them every year. For an animal that can fly so well it really is hard to believe how susceptible they are to raccoons while perched for the night, I mean it's like they think they are invincible once they get up in those branches sadly this is far from the truth. I guess that I could leave them penned up with the other birds but they get so aggressive with anything else that I think that they are just best left on their own.