how many guineas make a happy flock?

[PeepsCA]

LOL of course I understand, I ended up keeping 46 more Guineas from last seasons' hatches, plus I got 2 more Peafowl and 2 more Horses

And If I don't sell the last 32 Guineas I want to get rid of... I'll be stuck with 120 Guineas going into this coming breeding/laying season and collecting eggs from over 75 Hens

ETA... If I had extra coop/pen space I'd be filling them with more Peafowl!!!

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

I had four guineas, but they like being with the 12 other birds that were chickens.

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

I want 10-15 guineas with only one or two males.

 

[naturespace]

I ended up with 6 guineas. 4 males and 2 female. Two of the males were fighting a bit today. Hope my ratio of girls to boys is not going to be a problem. I need them all to eat as many ticks are possible.

 

[PeepsCA]

I ended up with 6 guineas. 4 males and 2 female. Two of the males were fighting a bit today. Hope my ratio of girls to boys is not going to be a problem. I need them all to eat as many ticks are possible.

I have one flock of tick munchers that consists of 8 males and 4 Hens... the males squabble, chase and posture a lot, but nothing too major. And of course ALL eggs from that flock are fertile, lol. The more free range time they can get, the better it will be. The males in your flock of 6 were probably working on establishing the pecking order, they should work it out eventually.

If they continue to fight and you see any blood, it's a good idea to clean the wound up and put a medication called Blu-Kote on the wounds to cover the blood so they do not continually peck at the wounds making them worse. (Blu-Kote is a topical antiseptic for horses/livestock, most feed stores should carry it... and be sure to wear gloves when you apply it, it stains everything it touches a dark purple color instantly!!). Guineas are attracted to the sight of blood, and will start cannibalizing a wounded bird rather quickly, so the Blu-Kote hides the blood and wound really well and prevents cannibalism from being an issue.

 

[Lollipop]

I've enjoyed reading all the experiences with guineas. They are one of my favorite birds. I had guineas in south FL until just before I moved my fowl to GA in the summer of '08. Predators finally cleaned out the last one just before the move. I started my FL guinea flock with eggs and my hen only hatched 5 of the 12 eggs I had shipped in from Texas. For the longest time I had only 3 adult males left from those 5 keats. They were the comics of my chicken yard, providing more entertainment than the entire flock of chickens, which were at times, up to about 150 gamefowl. The interresting thing is that the 3 of them were like a roving street gang. They would gang up on any unpenned rooster and beat him mercilessly. Like I said, predators finally finished them off.

Here in GA, I started with 20 keats in the summer of 2009. They roamed near and far and the distant neighbors enjoyed seeing them. Unfortunately, by spring of 2010, I was down to 3 again. The three seemed a lot smarter than any of the others and I still have them. Every time the remaining hen starts a nest, something destroys it. I recently turned a trio of chickens loose with them and they get along fabulously. They all roost together in the rafters of my pole barn. I have to scrape the concrete floor every morning, but at least the birds are safe from owlls and such and are out of the weather on stormy nights. I love these guineas and if I can resque some eggs this spring, I'll let a hen hatch some new keats.

Sure they are noisey, and sure they roam, but they don`t tear up the yard and beds like chickens, and being deep in the woods, I have noticed a remarkable decline in bugs of all kinds. I was inundated with ticks, spiders, and scorpions, but the population has become much more manageable, and besides, I have glue traps all through the house, and I haven't caught a mouse in at least a year. Gotta get more guineas.........Pop

 

[naturespace]

Peeps, thanks for the blu-Kote idea. They didn't seem to be causing any wounds, but I'll keep an eye on it. They seem to be grabbing at the back of each others neck.

Pop, I am enjoying having Guineas. I don't have them free-ranging yet. we got the on Dec 30, so they are still on lockdown in the run. Is there anyway to get them to nest in the coop or run? Do they have a favorite type of nest? Maybe I can hatch some eggs in my incubator or broody to replace the ones that get picked off.

They still don't go in the coop at night. They roost on top of the coop. We go out after sundown and put them in. I was hoping they would start going into the coop on their own by now. I don't think they are using the roost yet either. They are about 7-8 months old, but I think a few are younger.

 

[PeepsCA]

Peeps, thanks for the blu-Kote idea. They didn't seem to be causing any wounds, but I'll keep an eye on it. They seem to be grabbing at the back of each others neck.

Pop, I am enjoying having Guineas. I don't have them free-ranging yet. we got the on Dec 30, so they are still on lockdown in the run. Is there anyway to get them to nest in the coop or run? Do they have a favorite type of nest? Maybe I can hatch some eggs in my incubator or broody to replace the ones that get picked off.

They still don't go in the coop at night. They roost on top of the coop. We go out after sundown and put them in. I was hoping they would start going into the coop on their own by now. I don't think they are using the roost yet either. They are about 7-8 months old, but I think a few are younger.

In my flocks (I currently have 6 separate flocks), I have often seen 2 young males sit on the perch in the pen and just peck back and forth at each other, over and over and over for a really long time until one finally gets hurt enough to jump down, or gets pushed off the perch (or if I go in and break it up). Sometimes they'll do this on the ground too, or continue it on the ground, fighting while jumping up in the air. And I have walked into a bloody coop/pen before to 2 males with really messed up faces, and blood everywhere (dumb birds!) I've also experienced the most aggressive bird or birds cornering the lower birds and continually pecking the head, back of the head and neck area as well as pecking and grabbing back feathers... and the low bird just hunkers down and takes it, trying to hide it's head but eventually gets turned into hamburger. Sometimes the aggressors are just completely merciless. It's usually just juveniles that do this, even if they've been raised together, it's just a pecking order thing, or a bad mood day

(the adults seem a little smarter sometimes and know when to quit or back off, or RUN... and let me emphasize sometimes). It helps to provide hiding places that the lower birds can duck behind and get away from the attacks, but make sure they can escape, and not get trapped behind something that is meant to protect them. If I have an over the top aggressive trouble maker that just likes to pick fights, he gets a time out in a cage/crate right there in the pen for several days... sometimes just the insult of being locked up is enough to change his 'tude, and at the same time it gives the rest of the flock time to sort out the pecking order without that particular bird in the mix. Again, I emphasize sometimes.

The best way I have found to get my Hens to lay their eggs in the coop or run is to provide several private places with lots of bedding for them, and then let them choose where they want to lay. Laying eggs, once they start, is regulated by their body not their brain... kinda like having to go to the bathroom, they can't hold it in for very long (LOL). In the off season I don't really regulate free range time -they get let out in the morning, back in before the sun goes down. But during the laying season I'm more strict, they only get let out after the Hens all lay their eggs. Each Hen will lay a little later each day until she skips a day, but they do not all lay at the same time or all skip the same day, so some days it gets so late in the day for me to collect the last egg that they don't get let out at all that day. But, my point is that if you can establish their laying in the coop or run habit from the start, they may stick with that habit. (I sometimes l have let my Hens out and within a minute or so they are frantically wanting back in because they have to lay an egg, now now now!). Guineas being Guineas tho... if they start laying outside once they are free ranged, chances are they will usually choose to always lay outside, unless they are given no other choice.

Sounds like you have a stubborn group about cooping up... one thing that has been fail proof for me is to let them have breakfast, then take away their feed about noon, then at coop-up time fill the feeder and call them in, and maybe give them some extra yummie treats too, being sure to always use the same call every time I feed them or give them treats. They need to learn to associate cooping up with getting called and getting yummies, which leads to them coming running whenever they are called, and also their internal clocks need to be tuned into a specific evening yummie time so that coming back to the coop to go to bed becomes a routine for them, so if you can, until you have them trained try to stick to a normal schedule. And just to clarify I'm by no means telling you to starve your flock, lol but if they are eating as much as they please all day long, the yummies aren't all that exciting, hence taking away the food until you are confident they will come running for treats any time they are called.

Guineas are a pain in the butt (cuz technically they are wild birds!), but with some effort on your part to work with them, they are manageable... usually lol.