Housing a guinea with chickens?

[samzoost]

Hello all!

I have 4 2-week old chicks in a brooder currently. i've been doing research and see that guineas are really good at getting rid of mosquitoes, and are just quirky characters (I am a MAJOR sucker for quirky characters...I have 4 ferrets as well...). can guineas be kept with chicks and live out a happy life?? im wondering because i'd love to get one and know someone selling them-but don't want to get one if it wouldn't be happy with a bunch of chickens. any thoughts?

have a nice sunday

 

[The Phantom]

@chickendreams24 keeps them together

 

[Rick M]

We've been thinking about adding a few guineas to our 11 chicken flock. Everything ive read said, guineas need to have a group of 3-5. So I'll be watching for answers with you.

 

[50-45-1]

Guineas have absouletly no efect on misquitoes.
They can and do eat ticks, if you have a problem with them.
Guineas must free range. They are extreemy loud. Make sure your neighbors will not mind.
They range farther than chickens also.
They can bully chickens sometimes.
Do some research before adding them to your flock.

 

[chickendreams24]

Yes as stated I do keep guineas with chickens. We currently have four.

I got them in a trade with someone I knew well. They were full grown and basically had been raised as wild tick eaters(they're amazing tick control) roosting in their pine trees.

Now everyone told me getting "wild" guineas they wouldn't integrate and would run away to their old home or at least try to find it. Well I had been wanting guineas and the person that had them couldn't keep then because of their noise. Guineas are funny little feathered armadillos crossed with pteradactyls. LoL when content they are relatively quiet but almost always communicating. However if a strange vehicle pulls in or anything they're not used to they go ballistic and make such a racket its incredible. LoL I rather enjoy their noises but I know many people would disagree. It's their sharp eyes and alarm cries that make them popular to run with chickens as a warning system. It's one of the reasons we got them and I like them for it. Although they stay in the yard/fields around our house I know many guineas don't stay close to home. My Grandma's neighbor also keeps and breeds them. They come in many colors and are very fun to watch.

They may return to the coop or may not. Ours do return to the coop. Now our guineas were never handled and I don't really know if they would be more tame if handled as keets. I know they're supposed to be more fragile than chicks when very young. I would like to get some and raise them from day olds. They also require a higher protein than chickens(although we find our heritage layers do best on a higher protein feed than they typical 16 % protein)

Guineas should be kept in groups no smaller than 3-4 but ideal minimum is 10. We have four but we didn't get a choice as to our number. I am also fairly certain all four of ours are female but guineas are not as easy to sex as chickens and hatcheries don't sell sexed keets. I believe the minimum keet orders are also something like 20-30 which is a huge number for most people. Again they're fragile. Many people also buy them in bulk for bug control and meat(it's said to be like pheasant and is even served as pheasant in many restaurants according to my research)

They also only lay seasonally but are good layers in season although most hide their eggs. They may try to hatch chicks but I'm told they aren't veryY dedicated mothers.

Guineas can fly very well and this makes them hard to catch. We have to catch ours in the coop and it takes two people and is not our most graceful act lol. We don't clip their wings as they are a natural safety for predator evasion.

Our guineas eat just about any bugs they can get their hands on but I don't know that they make a huge impact on the mosquitoes.

Our guineas generally don't stray farther than the chickens(some of our birds go up to a half mile out into the field foraging but most stay closer than that) the guineas are on the lower end for the most part. We have quite a large yard and they usually don't go more than a couple hundred feet into the field maximum. Maybe it's because they were originally raised with chickens and then imprinted on our home and flock when we got them. Our guineas aren't too much trouble unless we add new birds and usually only if it's a smaller group of birds. They also on occasion get in between birds that are bullying and being bullied. Usually they go for the bully but sometimes they join in.

While guineas are somewhat closely related to chickens they are a different species and should always have company of their own kind. I've seen people on BYC that just got one to add to their flock that is locked up in a small run all the time. It usually doesn't end well and the guineas become a problem.

Do more research and think about it. If you decide to get them I'd love to hear how it goes. I think they're really funny birds but they're not for everyone.

 

[samzoost]

Thanks everyone! I couldn't find any solid info about them when researching because everyone had different opinions. I suppose it wouldn't be the best option for me at this time- too bad! Hopefully in the future. Have a nice week!