- Feb 23, 2013
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Last summer (2012) we got 3 guineas, wondering whether they could stand the winters (NW WI). The information we could find said they should be OK down to -10F or so, and then need additional heat. We built a 4'x4'x4' 3-sided enclosure for them with a perch inside, and used an old storm window to cover 3 horizontal feet of the exposed southern side (so there's a 1' wide strip 4' tall open). They will not go in there at night with a lamp on (too unfamiliar to them I think) so we leave it unheated.
They've been fine all winter except for just recently when we got a couple colder mornings (about -30F wind chill, about -20F air temperature), and one got a severely frostbitten foot. These temperatures are about what we expect here for much of Jan/Feb, and we have already had a week or so of windy weather at least this cold. The guineas will often be found outside roosting on top of things even in cold and windy weather, so I'm not convinced that they have the sense to get out of dangerous cold. Usually they will go inside their shelter at night, but not always...and once it gets dark they don't seem to move around much so if they are roosting outside they're liable to stay put. We're not exactly sure why they endured colder temperatures earlier in the winter, to get frostbite now.
Things we would do differently:
Socialize the keets at the start to be easier to control. Our adults are pretty friendly as guineas go, but they will not be held. They are also stubborn and do their own thing, like roosting out in bad weather. It would be nice if we could convince them to go inside. One has to spend a lot of time with the very young keets to earn their trust. They are harder to socialize than chickens.
Give yourself plenty of time to prepare an adequate winter shelter. Ours was not well planned because we were rushed trying to make time to build it around other responsibilities. It is just a bit too small, uninsulated, and has a round perch in it. Use a flat-topped 2x4 as a perch for sure. You might only need a fairly small window or two to ventilate in the winter, depending on how many birds. Our 6-hen coop has one 4-inch square opening for winter ventilation and that has seemed to work well.
Introduce them to the winter shelter / coop early in their lives. Preferably, we would have had the coop ready for them as soon as they were fully feathered. It has been a struggle to acclimate them to the new shelter and this would have been avoided if we'd had it ready to go. We thought they'd be fine in with the chickens, but the guinea rooster is mean so we separate them.
In a nutshell, they've been fine in their unheated shelter down to -20F air temperature. It would be better to have a completely enclosed, insulated shelter that they were well-acclimated to, for those low wind chills, but even this may not protect them from frostbite if the air temperature reaches -30F or -40F, or if the little boneheads decide to roost outside. I hope to go with a small heater or bulb on a thermostat for next winter, along with an upgraded coop.
Hope this helps.
They've been fine all winter except for just recently when we got a couple colder mornings (about -30F wind chill, about -20F air temperature), and one got a severely frostbitten foot. These temperatures are about what we expect here for much of Jan/Feb, and we have already had a week or so of windy weather at least this cold. The guineas will often be found outside roosting on top of things even in cold and windy weather, so I'm not convinced that they have the sense to get out of dangerous cold. Usually they will go inside their shelter at night, but not always...and once it gets dark they don't seem to move around much so if they are roosting outside they're liable to stay put. We're not exactly sure why they endured colder temperatures earlier in the winter, to get frostbite now.
Things we would do differently:
Socialize the keets at the start to be easier to control. Our adults are pretty friendly as guineas go, but they will not be held. They are also stubborn and do their own thing, like roosting out in bad weather. It would be nice if we could convince them to go inside. One has to spend a lot of time with the very young keets to earn their trust. They are harder to socialize than chickens.
Give yourself plenty of time to prepare an adequate winter shelter. Ours was not well planned because we were rushed trying to make time to build it around other responsibilities. It is just a bit too small, uninsulated, and has a round perch in it. Use a flat-topped 2x4 as a perch for sure. You might only need a fairly small window or two to ventilate in the winter, depending on how many birds. Our 6-hen coop has one 4-inch square opening for winter ventilation and that has seemed to work well.
Introduce them to the winter shelter / coop early in their lives. Preferably, we would have had the coop ready for them as soon as they were fully feathered. It has been a struggle to acclimate them to the new shelter and this would have been avoided if we'd had it ready to go. We thought they'd be fine in with the chickens, but the guinea rooster is mean so we separate them.
In a nutshell, they've been fine in their unheated shelter down to -20F air temperature. It would be better to have a completely enclosed, insulated shelter that they were well-acclimated to, for those low wind chills, but even this may not protect them from frostbite if the air temperature reaches -30F or -40F, or if the little boneheads decide to roost outside. I hope to go with a small heater or bulb on a thermostat for next winter, along with an upgraded coop.
Hope this helps.
