How old to free range?

[Sancharosa]

This is our first time with guinea's so we are not sure at what age we should turn them loose to free range. We are learning as we go so any advice is welcome

 

[zazouse]

I start mine ranging as soon as they can start flying, they will stay close to the pen for a couple months till they get their big guinea feathers usually about 4 months.

The main thing you have to worry about is snakes getting them at least at my place cause my dogs keep preditors away but they walk right over snakes like they are not their unless they are venomous .
You may loose a few as they wonder as they get older but they will learn when that happens.

My guines range way into the woods as well as open feilds here and Imo if something can catch one it is a well deserved meal cause it rarely happens here .

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
A lot of people (myself included) raise them for 6 weeks in a brooder situation, then move them to a permanent coop/run/pen situation for another 6 weeks so they learn that is where home is, and where they should roost at night. During that 6 weeks if you consistently make the same "food call" over and over to them when feeding them and giving them treats, they learn to associate that call with food and will eventually come running/flying to you whenever you call them.

I start letting mine out to free range for short periods in the late afternoons/early evenings at about 12 weeks old, when they stand a better chance of not being nabbed by hawks or any other predators. I usually take their food away around noon before letting them out later that afternoon, so they are a little on the hungry side when I want to get them back in their pen. The food call they are used to by now is usually very helpful in this situation. I make sure to herd all of them back into their coop/run/pen before dark, before they decide to roost in the trees, and I do this consistently, gradually letting them free range for longer periods of time. Eventually they will learn the routine... get let out, go free range and then at feeding time they go back to the coop when I call them in, fill their feeders and they chow down

After they get the routine down, I open the door to their pen in the morning, they stay out all day and then I call them in at feeding time at night. Breeding/laying season is a different routine for my flocks tho, I don't let them nest outdoors, so they get kept in until all the Hens lay eggs, then they get let out to free range.

Everybody has their own way of dealing with their flocks, but this is what works for me, with my predator situation (I have a lot of them, and I prefer not to lose any Guineas or eggs!)

Best of luck with your Guineas!

 

[Sancharosa]

Thanks so much, I am sure I'll be back with many more questions.