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

Nice acquire. I would agree that you want them in a flock of their own kind. The are better watchdogs in a pack as a dozen of them can chase off predators from what I have read.

I know you are not keeping him, but enjoy the bennies of having one while you do have him around. The males are a lot quieter generally than the females in my limited experience. But once you shut the windows and turn the AC on, they are just fine!!
 
I have had a lone female with my chickens and she was miserable when her sister was killed. She called non-stop for her. I bought three babies" for her" (four but one was crippled and I lost it to a predator). She does think she is a chicken. Its possible your male was raised with chickens and dumped.


She has been ecstatic to have her own kind. SO I would suggest if you are able, pick up a couple females for him. Ten may be ideal, but its not practical usually, especially since you didnt plan on him.
 
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!
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,
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.
 
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.







Search Results
Featured snippet from the web

Domestic guineafowl. Domestic guineafowl, sometimes called pintades, pearl hen, or gleanies, are poultry originating from Africa. They are the domesticated form of the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) and are related to other game birds such as the pheasants, turkeys and partridges.
Species: N. meleagris
Family: Numididae
Order: Galliformes
Genus: Numida; Linnaeus, 1766
 
Search Results
Featured snippet from the web

Domestic guineafowl. Domestic guineafowl, sometimes called pintades, pearl hen, or gleanies, are poultry originating from Africa. They are the domesticated form of the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) and are related to other game birds such as the pheasants, turkeys and partridges.
Species: N. meleagris
Family: Numididae
Order: Galliformes
Genus: Numida; Linnaeus, 1766
You stopped your search too short which will show that chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, peafowl, etc. are all from the same Family - Phasianidae.

Just because a "featured snippet from the web" which gives no source for its claim says something does not mean that you should believe it. By their logic you could also say that chickens are related to other game birds which they are in the same way that guineas are related to turkeys and all other domestic poultry.
 
Last edited:
If he's roosting just fine with your chickens on his own...I guess pretty much of the work is done..it can only get better .........intergrating birds into the older ones has always been the most challenging....
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom