How to raise Guinea Fowl - for a total beginner

[YASIN]

Assalamualikum .. and Hello

I am totally new to Guinea fowl ... i dont even know the abc's of it .... i came to know which bird is called a guinea fowl jus yesterday , i had seen it in the market but didnt know its name ...

So anyway , i have already raised chickens and pigeons for some time during school , now i have some quails and two pigeons which i bought today ....
i want to keep guinea fowl as well
so here are my questions
1. what should i feed them ? will the ones that i feed my quails and chickens be okay for them
2. how to know their sex and age?
3. how long would it take to tame them ?
4. do they go broody like chickens?
5. can i keep them with my quails and pigeons in my caged garden or do they need a larger space

Plz help

 

[R2elk]

Assalamualikum .. and Hello

I am totally new to Guinea fowl ... i dont even know the abc's of it .... i came to know which bird is called a guinea fowl jus yesterday , i had seen it in the market but didnt know its name ...

So anyway , i have already raised chickens and pigeons for some time during school , now i have some quails and two pigeons which i bought today ....
i want to keep guinea fowl as well
so here are my questions
1. what should i feed them ? will the ones that i feed my quails and chickens be okay for them
2. how to know their sex and age?
3. how long would it take to tame them ?
4. do they go broody like chickens?
5. can i keep them with my quails and pigeons in my caged garden or do they need a larger space

Plz help

Read the Raising Fowl 101 thread and pay particular attention to the posts made by PeepsCa.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101

 

[MeepBeep]

1. what should i feed them ? will the ones that i feed my quails and chickens be okay for them 

They need a higher protein food vs chickens, get a game bird or turkey feed... OR you can use the chicken food if you supplement with some cat food to boost the protein (this is what I do as game/turkey feed isn't available locally)... For young keets I supplement with nutritional yeast to boost protein levels of the chick starter...

2. how to know their sex and age?

Really a guess until they mature, they have different calls so once they mature you can listen and identify males from females... Or you can take a guess an try to distinguish them by looks but that can be a roll of the dice many times... Males will generally have bigger crest and wattles but that is a generalization not fool proof...

3. how long would it take to tame them ?

Their personalities are not tame, you might get them more friendly by enticing them with treats but I doubt you will ever get them to what most would consider tame... They are grumpy and ornery by nature...

4. do they go broody like chickens?

Yes, but they will clutch a ton of eggs before they do and they are not the best parents...

5. can i keep them with my quails and pigeons in my caged garden or do they need a larger space 

I would not keep them with the smaller birds, they can be quite aggressive towards other birds in confined spaces, especially smaller ones... I would hazard to say if you kept them in a confined area with pigeons and quail you will almost certainly experience losses in short...

 

[YASIN]

Thank you very much MeepBeep and R2elk

I guess i will hav to keep them open along with my grandma's chickens (if i get the permission to buy them) .... as for the feed i will let them be natural jus like the chickens

 

[chickbird]

Read the Raising Fowl 101 thread and pay particular attention to the posts made by PeepsCa.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101

NEW ALSO, HAVE 5 FEMALES AND ONE MALE, CAN THIS ONE MALE FERTILIZE THE 5 FEMALES EGGS? OR DO GUINEAS PAIR UP? THANKS

 

[R2elk]

NEW ALSO, HAVE 5 FEMALES AND ONE MALE, CAN THIS ONE MALE FERTILIZE THE 5 FEMALES EGGS? OR DO GUINEAS PAIR UP? THANKS

There are people raising guineas successfully with ratios as high as 1 male to 8 hens. It is my preference to have equal numbers of males and hens.

 

[mommaguinea]

I have a free ebook and a couple of brochures on my website- they are in pdf so you can print them out and use them. They address a lot of questions.

www.fowlplayguineas.com

Also, if you join guinea fowl international, they send you a ton of stuff. Facebook has a lot of areas for guinea fanciers too.

Good luck with your birds! Enjoy them

 

[countrydream7]

will guniea hen stay around if you hand raise them..

 

[ludwing]

for what experienced on guineas is that they can be tame but not naturally tame. they do stay around but will wander as the breeding season comes