I've decided keets are dumb

[sawilliams]

I'm thinking of a turkey in a few years but my next project will be goats n and for that I have a lot of work to do.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Goats aren't to bright either.
Gotta love it when they stick their heads through a fence and get stuck. Get them loose and they walk two foot over and stick their head back through and get stuck all over again.

 

[buggymuffin]

We've had guineas for years. They sure do have some stupid moments but probably no more then I've seen chickens having.
Ours never stay out on the ground. We free range 24/7 but have many shelters. They don't seem to like roosting inside. Ours roost on out buildings or in the trees. Only ones that liked going up at night are some that roost in the barn rafters.
My biggest issue was always the hens leaving the yard to nest in the pastures which most times means they aren't coming home.
Besides that yes I've seen them hop a fence them immediately run the other side panicking to get back and stuff like that.
Guineas are far less domesticated then other fowl so their wild tendencies probably makes them seem dumber because they are so different from chickens.
Imo you want to raise something without a lot of common sense try turkeys.

Mine do the panicked "How do I get through the fence" thing almost daily. We keep them in with our ducks and they like to hop the fence around dusk and inevitably a couple get "trapped" and can't figure out how to get back in. I have to go out and let them in through the gate. One evening, I got out there after dark and the three that were out scattered. One flew 20 feet up into a tree and another off into the brush. Luckily we were able to get the two of them back in. I have no idea where the third one spent the night. I was pretty sure we would be down to six by morning (we started with 12 this year, one drown in the duck pool and the other 4 were picked off by predators), but it returned to the pen the next morning. Luckily, now that snow has arrived, they tend to stay inside most of the day.

 

[Potrack]

I have 3 keets, lavender I think. They were suppose to be about 3 months when we got them a month ago, honestly i have no idea but it doesn't really matter.

Anyways like i said I've had them about a month. We have let them out of their pen 4 times the first they stayed right by thier pen but a'll 3 other times we have to find them and walk them back to thier pen. I'm talking ground nesting right out in the middle of the field as prime fox or cayote bait. I mean of they at least went up in a tree or something I wouldn't even bother. But no they are on the ground. And even though they follow the chickens aroundand act like my rooster is thier mama, they won't even go in chicken pen and just sleep on the ground there they have to find a wide open clearing to bed down.

Anyways when we moved in 6 months ago there was a flock of 3 guineas that wander the neighborhood, they have disappeared. Apparently before we moved in there had been at least 6-8 left of the flock but we guess the foxes have gotten most off all of them. Mine and one of the other neighbors hope is that when these 3 are big enough they can free range and hopefully join thr other flock (if it still exists). Honestly it looks like this spring ill have to get a few more to help increase thier numbers.

I just wish these keets will either return to their pen (a mini store bought coop) or start roostinf in a tree already.

I have my pen in a young pecan orchard and have found the guineas, who have a home and know it, “roosting” on the ground numerous times. But it is usually when something has disturbed and scattered them either just prior to going to regular roost, or disturbing them after they’ve gone to roost. It seemed to me they would scatter widely and get in as open an area as possible. It seemed like a survival bid to me. Scattering instinctively so that a predator would not be able to decimate the flock, and getting in as open an area as possible to hopefully sense the approach of a predator earlier, giving more time to flee. This may be giving the birds too much credit, but they’ve survived this far. Some things that look mighty stupid, at least to me, on second thought, do make a bit of sense in a wild situation. But in response to your statement, yes, I have found my guineas squatting all over the pecan orchard and thought, “you idiot, what are you doing squatting out here in the wide open?” Lol. But guineas eyesight goes nearly to zero with darkness, so maybe finding a hideyhole isn’t an option when they’re disturbed at night. And if they did happen to find a hideyhole, they might not see the predator squatting in that hideyhole with his eating utensils ready. Maybe best to get out here in the open and hopefully see or hear something coming in time to run like a scalded guinea!
I have raised guineas for many years, and in my area there are plenty of predators who work them over constantly. It leads me to believe that their native environment does not have a great plethora of predators, so they thrive ok, but when placed in a ‘prey hell’ like my locale, they have a time of it, and seem stupid. They just don’t have the background necessary to deal with some of the environments we humans put them in, so we have to take extra measures for their safety if we expect to continue to have a flock of them. Where I am, it is hard to strike a balance between giving them the free ranging chance that I insist they have, and at the same time try to keep the hawks and bobcats and raccoons and foxes and a menagerie of other ne’er do wells away from my easy guineas and instead continuing to persue their normal not so easy prey. I have had to accept that fact and when my flock gets low and it’s time to order some more guineas, I order more than I really need in the knowledge that Br’er Bobcat and his cronies are going to get their share no matter what I do. It’s a fact of life.

 

[Huntergatherr]

OMG so true! Guineas are stupid on a level of "How have you survived as a species!!!!" When talking about my flock, I always refer to the guineas as Stupid Guineas.

Seriously so dumb.....mean too.
3 purple guineas, and 7 lavender to start, all raised with chickens the same age.
3 lavender & 3 purple left, but 1 purple male guinea named pearl terrorizing all birds constantly!!!!

Soooooo so dumb.....