Guradian Guineas

[silkielover5]

hey, i have only 1 guinea hen and i heard that they kill predaters in the coop. well i saw a rat in my chicken coop today and my guinea hen looked at it and walked away, i thought they were supposed to kill things like that!!!! and im thinking about getting like 2 for my other coop is that enogh to protect my birds because im not impressed with our guinea hen right now!

 

[cracking up]

If you have ticks you're going to be happy with the guineas. They will warn you about anything different or if the neighbors dogs are out but they really don't take on full grown rats or snakes. They mostly warn about hawks and other predators.

 

[silkielover5]

ya see we got her because we heard that they will attack rats and we had a rat problem but shes not doing much, our chickens arnt free range and shes bonded with our peacock. but we are trying to figure out how to get rid of this rat with out posion. we had to drowned the last rat after it killed our silkie we found its nest under our coop with our silkies body, eggs, and baby rats so we fenced it in and put a hose in there.

not a happy day

 

[jrobertson]

I have several guineas that free range all the time. I have never witnessed an attack on a rat but I have seen them catch a small snake and pull it apart. I think you may be asking a bit much from the one lone guinea. They are usually in a flock type setup in which they can and sometimes will gangup on pest species and either kill or drive it away. Your guinea may not have felt confident enough to attack the mouse. Also guineas are more known for being watch dogs rather than guard dogs. I have seen many times, my guineas call out, at first sight of a hawk or stray dog. You could try to add a couple more guineas.

 

[silkielover5]

i love guineas but my parents think their ugly and loud

im lucky i got her but im thinking about getting more but if this rat kills any of our birds im sure we'll be getting a few more...as far as my parents know guineas kill any prediter

 

[cracking up]

I hope your parents will grow to like them. They have their place and they will take care of the ticks and grasshoppers. They will alarm for a hawk or dog but they don't see rats as either food or a threat so they give them a pass. We have 15 guineas and rats. We keep all of our chicken food in metal cans and pick it up at night and do our best not to give them any food but squirrels and rats are a problem if you refuse to use poison, guess we'll always have them.