Guinea's!

[Standard Hen]

Hi everyone,

I got three Lavender Guinea's this weekend that will be 1 year old in June. One male and two females. A woman was giving them away as the male was fighting with her sweet Bantie rooster and she was afraid the little Bantie would get hurt. She gave them to a neighbor about one mile down the road and they found their way home! I live about 40 miles from her.
Anyway, I have them locked in the pen and they have not shut up! I understand that I will have to keep them penned for a few weeks but these things are driving us nuts! And it is only three....lol
She raised them with her chicken flock and she said they will go into the coop every night once they acclimate of course being in the pen for a few weeks and know this is their new home. I know they want to be out free ranging and they see my chickens out there having a grand old time.
I will take any and all advise anyone can give me as I have never had them before and find them very unique to say the least. I have gone to the Guinea site on the web and got alot of info from there but it is always nice to hear what others have to say.

 

[birdlover]

LOL Well-l-l-l-l-l...I had TWO lavendar guineas I raised from infancy and I had to give them away because I knew the neighbors would give me fits once the nice weather arrived and they (neighbors) would be outside or have the windows open. Loud/noisy doesn't begin to describe it!! I guess you found that out! LOL All I can suggest is, get some ear plugs and try to ignore the noise. They WILL stop all that racket when they settle in (a few days, maybe??) Good luck!!!

Ellen

 

[Standard Hen]

Thanks Ellen, they are definately not chickens! I hope I can make it two weeks until these three get established and I can finally let them out! My fear is after all this the day I let them out to free range they go and take off.

 

[cheepchicks]

I have 6 guineas I bought full grown. I am working on hatching some eggs from them but not having a lot of success. Be that as it may I just wanted to tell you I love my guineas. They were in their coop for about 2 months (winter) then I let them free range this spring they come back to their coop to roost every evening and around 4pm for "Lunch and a drink". Good luck with yours !

kim

 

[birdlover]

Mine hung out with the chickens. If you intermix them, yours'll probably do the same.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Standard Hen...I'm not sure on this, but I don't think you will be able to turn them out in 2 weeks. I believe it takes Guineas a lot longer to settle in.

We kept 1 batch of ours locked up for 2 months & another batch for 3 months.
We had some escape while just baby keets, & they left. We had hatched them here, too.

Sorry about this, but if you don't want them to leave, you will have to keep them cooped up for a while longer. As long as they are still really noisy without anything disturbing them, I believe they will leave when let out.

We let ours out when they can running towards me at feeding time for about 2 weeks. They didn't come to me, just ran to front of the pen when I was feeding. When I would open their pen door, they would move back, but weren't making a lot of noise.
The batch we had to wait longer to turn out, would fly around the pen, and make a lot of noise when I went to feed them. They stayed cooped up until they calmed down & quit trying to kill themselves when I went in to feed them.

Jean

 

[Standard Hen]

Jean, They do try to kill themselves when I go in there most times! They fly headlong into the netting etc. All they do all day is pace back anf forth and scream!
They obviously want out and I know if they got the chance I would never see them again.
I have one month old chicks on the other side and it is not completely blocked off so they can fly over the top and get in there. They do not seem to really bother them but the chicks are like what the hell are these???
Plus I got 12 two week old chicks in the garage that will be going out there soon so I am wondering how I can possibly do this now? I can't completely block off the other side because there is no door to get in on that side.
How long do you think it will take them to calm down????? I know I will most likely have to keep them penned for longer than 2 weeks.
Thanks for your help.

 

[snugglepup]

It took mine about 6 weeks I think. And they were only a month old when I got them. They are great now though! I love them!!

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Standard Hen,

I guess you will have to go by their behavior.
Mine would still go crazy if I went all the way into their pen, but if I stayed by the door, they just moved to the back of the pen. They would come to the front when I was feeding the pen next to them, and stay there until I opened their pen door.

I think it took them about 2 weeks to quit screaming all the time.
I started giving them bread for treats through the wire, and they would come & get it with me standing right there. That was a great accomplishment to me.

They are free ranging now, and I can't get too close to them, but they stay here. They will still come within about 10 feet of me to get their bread treats.

You will get used to noise if you like them, I don't even notice the noise anymore, unless they are really riled up.

Jean

 

[JackieK318]

I'd do at least 6 weeks, the go by their behavior. Try a little molasses in their feed to stifle their calls a bit. It'll just make their mouths sticky.