How do you limit free-range Guineas?

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
this kind of conditioning works with guineas. Budgies and Finches are a little smarter. LOL... I used to raise both.

Part of the problem is when they free range to forage for bugs like ticks, grashoppers, creepy crawlies.... they kind of loose their conditioning and go into search mode. Though they REALLY love millet or sweet grains. I am starting with mine every time I go up to the house I feed them Treat Treat Treats and toss out some wild bird seed. (lots of millet in there) Now when I show up they to a one shut up and watch for me to come to the coop.....

Picture 40 rubberneckers giving me the stink eye..... tapping their toes and looking at their watches......

I only go up every two or three days

 

[Candace Marie 653]

I started with 8 guineas. Lost two while they were young. Lost four more from an attack by some animal at night. Feathers were everywhere, so it probably wasn't a fox. Most likely my neighbors yellow lab. Today, my wife said that my last two guineas went over to the neighbors yard and their lab killed one! It makes me sick! The last two were a male/female pair and they were laying eggs, so I was hoping to increase my flock.

I want to allow my guineas to free-range so they can eat up all the bugs and weed seeds, but how do I keep them on my property? I have found out from some of my other neighbors that they have been wandering around their yards too. I let them out in the morning and they are back in the coop at night when I lock them up for protection. My neighbors don't mind them wandering around their property, but I can't get mad at them either when their dog kills one on their own property.

I live out in the country with 7+ acres and woods all around. Unless I put the "invisible fence" collars on each guinea like my dog has, I don't know how to keep them 'home'.

Any help would be appreciated.

I don't have guineas, but I had a thought about this. I work in a lab and we have budgies and zebra finches. We restrict their feed so that they are hungry when they go in the testing booth (they get food rewards for correct answers), then give them a little snack before we close the lab. They are weighed daily, so we know right away if one needs supplemental feeding.

The second part of my thought came from here:

Now here's what I was thinking -- what if you tried some training? Remove their feed from their coop, but give them a little "snack" just as you lock them in. Come morning, let them out, have food ready to throw on the ground, and play some sound like in the peafowl vid I posted. Keep playing the sound every time you throw down food, so they associate the sound with being fed. If you then repeat the "play sound/feed birds" routine a few times a day in the same area, they might stick around, knowing this is where they get their goodies.


Worth a try?