Guineas?????

[1sttimer]

we have 20 acres. if we got guineas would they roam through all the 20 acres??? and i was also wondering if anyone have any keets avalible in missouri

 

[Guinea Goonie]

It is KEET time at the poultry auctions GO ETHER and get some little darlings.

Guineas will roam their territory mostly near their roosting place. Then, when the bugs get "thin" they will branch out . It is doubtful that they will hit every acre of your property, but they will keep the ticks off your property eventually becuase the population of ticks will diminish most every where.

Guinea have favorite places to visit and when they find a new place to pick up bugs they hit that first and then move on.

They are VERY active animals and can actually hit many many acres before they go to roost.

Go get some KEETS !!

 

[1sttimer]

will guineas stay around if you dont raise them from when they are keets?? cuz i found some grown ones on craigslist and i was wondering if they would still stay

 

[MuranoFarms]

Oh heavens...I wish I could find a poultry auction! They either don't exist here or I'm looking in the wrong places.

If you have an incubator, you can hatch them yourself if you can't find keets.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:
Yes, they will BUT.....you have to keep them penned for awhile first. I would suggest at least a month. If you have a coop with a covered run, it will work well. They need to learn that this is now 'home'. I read somewhere that it helps if you have chickens too. The guinease will go in at night with them.

Good luck!

 

[1sttimer]

ok thanks for all the great advice.

 

[Crazyland]

I have 4 little keets and am just starting out. I want to see how well I like them before I get more, which I have a feeling I will be!

 

[Akane]

There's a 40 acre field next to our 20acre yard (total of the whole property is actually 80acres) and those guineas still manage to wander over to the neighbors. They'd be in the new subdivision on the other side if it wasn't for the fence. Luckily the neighbor loves them. Unfortunately they take my chickens with and spend more time in their yard than mine since they don't like seeing my dogs despite them being fenced.

This is my first guinea hatch but I would expect them to be more like quail. Faster than chickens when they finally decide to hatch and more durable towards low humidity or fluctuations.

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

I doubt they will roam the whole 20 acres but they will roam right far unless you have chickens in apen close by or they will not go to far fromt hem. I am not in MO, so I can't get you any. Sorry..

 

[elf]

I got 2 guinea brothers (thought they were a pair) as adolescents almost a yr. ago. Planned on keeping them penned for awhile, but they opened the latch and got out. Ran for the woods toward the sound of a commercial chickenhouse nearby. I spent several days chasing them out of the woods, putting out food and water. They finally started staying in my backyard neighbor's greener pasture, so I bought a tall stepladder to climb over his elec. fence (only got shocked once) to flush them over fence. Man, can they run! I'd get them on my side of fence, then they'd roost in a tree and land on his side again. Sometimes one would be on my side and one on the other. They would holler for each other all day. So back to the ladder. After awhile, I just put food/water under the fence and resigned that I had bought Farmer Billy some guineas. After about a month they related to my being the food bearer and learned to fly higher and cope with their fencing learning disability. They decided to stay in my yard although Billy's grass is greener. About then we got our first baby chicks -5. The guineas had been raised with chickens, and this made them feel at home - They watched them through the bitties' cage, and latter through the pen. They think they belong to them.When those chickens and another batch latter got old enough to freerange, the guineas stayed with them, herding them to wherever they thought they should be, which was not usually where I thought they should be. Although, putting them on my carport or up against the house when they spot hawks, makes up for their bad choices. They spend about 30 min./day chasing chickens and pulling tailfeathers, but because they "helped raise" the chickens everyone does what they say, and no one gets badly hurt unless from running into something. They are the Eddie Haskells of the poultry yard. They sleep in trees, eat very little, and only range an acre although I have ten. Mine would probably go further if they didn't have chickens to herd. If I had it to do over, I'd get baby keets, so they could be handled.