Help! A guinea fowl made it way onto our property!

[jeepgrrl]

Hi y’all, I’m in need of some quick advice. Sometime this afternoon a Helmeted Guinea Fowl made its way onto our property; I have a feeling he was dumped here. Anyway, the poor thing is spazzing out. We think it’s a male based on his vocals and he looks to be an adult. I’m not sure if he can fly or not. My three oldest hens seem indifferent to it, kind of ignoring him, although he was free ranging with them. He hasn’t showed any aggression. Two of my younger hens (1 and 2 yo) are afraid of him, they were across the property and hiding in the brush, luckily my hubby found them. I collected the girls (8 total, two are broody right now, no roosters) put them in the hen yard and closed the gate so they would be near their coop. The poor Guinea keeps running up and down the fence and loudly calling to them. I wouldn’t mind keeping him as long as my flock accepts him, as I understand they are good for bug control and as an alarm system. He isn’t very smart and was trying to run through the fence rather than fly over it. He has access to waterers but I think he’s too dumb to figure that out. He won’t let me come near him and runs away from me at an impressive speed. I have some questions for those of you who are experienced with this bird.

1) Is it possible to integrate him into my existing flock?
2) Will he try to mate with my hens?
3) My girls are fed pelleted feed, how do you go about feeding a solitary guinea, as I’ve read they should be fed crumbles?
4) If he sticks around, would he need his own coop or would he roost with the hens in their coop? We live in North Central Ohio, so it does get cold here in the winter.

Thank you for any input and advice you can offer!

 

[R2elk]

I'd be wary of craigslist. Someone might just try to get a free guinea

That is the idea.

 

[R2elk]

3 they can not eat pellets they will choke so if you keep him you would have to switch to crumbles

This is an adult guinea. They can and will eat pellets. I feed my adult guineas All Flock in pellet form.

Please stop spreading false information.

 

[jeepgrrl]

So far I have not had any luck rehoming

Hi,
I’m Tracy. I have been keeping Guineas’s for Rick control for about 5 years. They’re amusing creatures and not very smart, as you have already observed. Guinea Fowl are a relative to the Turkey family and therefore prefer a turkey or game bird feed. With that said they can certainly be fed chicken pellets fine. I raised my first set of Guineas’s on chick starter and later pelleted chicken food without any trouble. You won’t need to separate them if they get along okay. Guinea fowl will often integrate fine with chickens or a mixed bird family. You can treat your new bird just like another chicken and he will be happy. They should roost together fine so long as they get along well.
He may not know how to use the water... he may catch on after a while watching the chickens drink but you may want to put a bowl of water out for a while.
Guinea Fowl are excellent for big and tick control and amusement abounds watching them. Enjoy your new friend!

Hi Tracy,
Thank you for your reply and advice! Right now everyone is eating Purina chick starter b/c I adopted a now 10-week old chick from my neighbor who was a lone survivor of two predatory attacks. I do have a bag of Purina Flock raiser on hand for when the chick makes the switch. He was eating layer pellets at first b/c the chick was temporary holed up in the run until she was bigger, but now she is out with everybody and I‘m not able to keep her out of the layer feed. He figured out how to use the waterer the second day he was here. However, he is so dumb that he hasn’t figured out there is a watered in the run so every morning he runs out of the coop, past the feeding station where there is another water, and out into the pasture to where there is yet another watered by a big willow tree and gets his morning drink there. Bozo (as I have been calling him b/c he is so dumb, lol) seems to be getting along with everyone for the most part. He seems to recognize that my three oldest hens run the show and respects them, but he does chase a couple of the younger ones but nothing that I would describe as aggressive. He is usually on the quiet side and makes these gentle whistling sounds, until something sets him off. He is one of the first to enter the coop in the evening. I’m out there every evening to check on them and lock them up for the night and so far, all is well. Bozo is funny to watch, especially when he sprints across the pasture. Y‘day, he was foraging outside of my window so I said hello to him, and he went off so loudly it was echoing through the trees! All 3 of my dogs went running to the window to see what the commotion was about, lol! That’ll be the last time I do that! I believe he must have been raised around chickens b/c of how quickly he made himself at home with them and how they seem familiar to him, and also how he knew to go into the coop at night; from what I’ve read, guineas like to roost in trees, (which are in abundance back there) and can be a challenge to coop train, but he went in on his own the second night he was here like he knew what to do. I’m grateful for his love of ticks as I have already picked some off of myself this year. So, Bozo is welcome to stay as long as he doesn’t become aggressive with the hens. He is even getting used to me and doesn’t flip out anymore when I’m back there cleaning and filling the feeders. I’m also grateful that he seems to be protecting the flock. They often separate into subflocks when they are free ranging, and Bozo will run back and forth as if he is checking on them. Thank you again for your advice, it was much appreciated! -Chris

 

[R2elk]

Thanks for the link! I’d prefer it if the boy guinea wouldn‘t mate with any of the hens, but obviously that is out of my control. One reason I don’t have a roo is that I didn’t want to have to find good homes for the chicks. The link only referred to roosters mating idea hens. Do you know if that more common than male guineas mating with a chicken hen?

Most cases of guinea - chicken hybrids are because a chicken rooster breeds a guinea hen. The actual breeding act for guineas is enough different from chickens that it is unlikely that the guinea cock will successfully breed your chickens.

 

[jeepgrrl]

So I was just outside checking on him. He can fly, he flew over the fence into the hen yard. We have several large trees nearby, plus a giant willow tree that has suckered and looks like a willow tree shrub. He chose to roost on the gate to the hen yard instead of one of the trees. There is even a large brush pile with a large tree limb sticking out in the fire pit front of him, but nope, he’s on the gate to the hen yard under the pole light, an open target for the owls. The word is out throughout the neighborhood via other neighbors, so hopefully someone will take him if he manages to make it through the night. I feel bad he‘s not in the coop, but the girls would be freaked and I can’t catch him to put him in there myself anyway. I’ll try craigslist as a last resort. Thanks again to those who replied! I just want to do what is right for this sad fellow.

 

[R2elk]

Hi,
I’m Tracy. I have been keeping Guineas’s for Rick control for about 5 years. They’re amusing creatures and not very smart, as you have already observed. Guinea Fowl are a relative to the Turkey family and therefore prefer a turkey or game bird feed. With that said they can certainly be fed chicken pellets fine. I raised my first set of Guineas’s on chick starter and later pelleted chicken food without any trouble. You won’t need to separate them if they get along okay. Guinea fowl will often integrate fine with chickens or a mixed bird family. You can treat your new bird just like another chicken and he will be happy. They should roost together fine so long as they get along well.
He may not know how to use the water... he may catch on after a while watching the chickens drink but you may want to put a bowl of water out for a while.
Guinea Fowl are excellent for big and tick control and amusement abounds watching them. Enjoy your new friend!

Turkeys, guinea fowl, chickens are members of the Family - Phasianidae. Guinea Fowl are no more closely related to turkeys than they are to chickens.

You are correct that for proper development, guinea keets should be started on a high protein turkey or game bird starter. Raising guinea keets on chick starter can be harmful to their proper development and growth and even their longevity.

Adult guineas can do fine on a quality chicken feed. They will do better on a good All Flock or Flock Raiser feed which contains the higher levels of lysine, methionine and niacin they can benefit from.

Guineas do not have the same behaviors as do chickens and it is wrong to treat them like you would treat a chicken. They have entirely different manners than any other domestic poultry. They need more "personal space" than chickens. During breeding season, guinea fowl behavior can cause extreme stress to other poultry that do not understand their behavior.

 

[NeoHomesteader]

Just like to point out, a group of guinea fowl is called a confusion...

 

[Mom 2em All]

Guinea Hybrids - FeatherSite
https://www.feathersite.com › Poultry › Guineas › BRKGuinHybrid

My rooster is an OEGB... imagine mini guineas its not possible because LilRoo only reaches her "shoulders" when he tries...but still.....

 

[ColtHandorf]

What a nice story for Bozo. Are you planning on trying to find a couple of friends for him? My male is a bit of a terror. They were all evicted from the barn they were sharing with the chickens to go live with the geese. There haven't been any issues since then.