How do I catch my guineas?!?!

[Candice's Peeps]

I bought 4 guinea hens back in June...before we had a coop. I had intended to let them free range so they could eat ticks and other bugs here in the area...the guy sold me 4 chickens that had lived with them because the chickens would be more likely to stick around and hopefully the guineas would stay around as well. Well...that day, 3 of the guineas took off...another one stayed around for about 2 weeks with the chickens before it too wandered off...the chickens stuck around.

Because the chickens were sticking around...my husband ended up building a coop and a fenced in enclosure for them. I can hear the guineas in the area and lately, 2 of them have been out in the yard periodically and actually approached the chickens. Whenever I go towards the guineas, they run off.

I am looking for advice on how to lure them back? I threw feed out on the ground by the chicken coop but they didn't seem to pick at it...I thought if I could get them coming closer on a more regular basis I would be able to catch them. I don't know where they sleep. I hear them in the area more often than I see them.

I appreciate the suggestions...sorry for the long message but wanted to give some background info...

Thank you!!

Candice

 

[cowdogcadillac]

Put a sandwich under a tilted bucket held up by a stick with a string tied to it. When the guineas come to eat the sandwich pull the string. Bamo!!! My kids saw it in a cartoon and it worked.

Seriously good luck,,buy some more Guineas and keep em penned up. Maybe the others will show up to where you can close a door on em

 

[Candice's Peeps]

Thank you! I will give it a try and hope nothing else comes by and eats the sandwich!

Candice

 

[PortageGirl]

Go to the feed store and get some white millet. Guineas favorite!! keep scattering some where they'll get it so they'll taste it and want MORE. LOL, then gradually lure them closer and closer till you can get them into a pen. Leave it open so they can come and eat then leave just as freely till you have the right moment to get them all at once. It's going to take some time, but if you don't catch them all at once it'll make it harder to catch the leftovers!

whoever said you should just go get some more, may be on the right track though. Thing is, once you have them coop trained, (which takes a good long time really) and if you do leave them out during the day and they come back for the night nicely, the new ones may bring the old ones in to the fold, or the wild ones may lead the new ones astray! At least they'll be out there picking bugs though!

 

[Candice's Peeps]

Thank you for the suggestion...I am going to try my darndest to catch these two...I have no idea if they are two girls, or one girl and a guy, but I hope to catch them again and hopefully they will live peacefully with my chickens.

Thank you again!!

Candice

 

[bigdawg]

good luck catching them. it is very hard to teach full grown guines to stay around. if you raise them as keets, in there own pen and after they are a few months old start letting a few out at a time, the ones you let out wont go very far from the pen. after a few weeks you can start letting them out in the evening for few hrs and watch them close and get them all used to coming in at night. mine are 3 months old and free range during the day, late evening most of them are sitting on top of the house. i just walk out and they fly down and go up for the night. you could try a live trap with a millet trail leading inside. they are curious critters.

 

[noodleroo]

Your guineas will go where they want to. The trick is to make your yard more attractive to them than anywhere else. White millet for treats and a mirror are a good start. Now for catching them; find where they are roosting and get them from the roost after dark. Guineas will not fly at night (that's why they are easy for predators to pick off if not in a coop). Then keep them in the coop for at least a week. The first time you let them out, do it about 30 minutes before dark so they won't go far. Keep letting them out a little earlier each day. Good luck. Guineas can be challenging....

 

[guywood]

I agree with noodleroo except it is two weeks at least and is recommended to do four or six. Clipping there flight feathers keep them from flying and let the Guinea out one at a time the first one will not stray to far from its friends. Then the next one wont want to leave his friends there either and I would incorporate the idea of getting other Guinea I would say at least twelve then you have a whole flock and If you let them out one at a time until they are all out this will keep them in the area, and cutting there flight feathers is how you keep them out. As far as finding there roost Look up they love to roost in the highest trees.

 

[BantammChick]

They should come back if you keep feeding them by the coop.

 

[R2elk]

This thread is from 2010. It should not have been revived. The OP has not even been on BYC since Feb. 21, 2014. Please check the dates on threads before you reply to them.