Keeping Guineas away from the Chickens

[perchie.girl]

My free range guinea flock lives on one side of my property & my chickens live down @ the barn. For at least 6 months the guineas never knew about the barn, they had never made it onto that side of the property. Once they found the barn it is the first place they have gone every day since & they hang out at the barn almost all day! The chickens are doing better than they were at first. A few of my chickens try to bully the guineas, but the guineas are asking for it! They go in & eat the chickens feed, drink their water, get on their roost & even inside the nesting boxes! They dont' lay eggs in the boxes, they just like to play in them. I tried penning the guineas up for a wk & hoped they would forget about the barn, but no luck! I also tried giving the birds each their own days to free range. No help at all, the guineas stand outside the chicken coop screaming let me in all day long! In the begining I was scared the guineas were going to try & sleep @ the barn, but as of right now they begin heading to the other side of my property about an hour before dark. I do notice if the weather is bad they come up mid day. I give up on telling the guineas what they can do, they listen as well as children.

 

[PeepsCA]

My free range guinea flock lives on one side of my property & my chickens live down @ the barn. For at least 6 months the guineas never knew about the barn, they had never made it onto that side of the property...

Sorry to wander off topic,I'll make it quick, lol.

Hey jcatblum! I was just thinking bout you the other day... and wondering how your mystery Bronze Guineas feathered out!?! Any chance we could see some current pics of them???

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

I never had problems with grouping guineas with chickens. I grouped with baby ducks when all the birds were babies and it was ducks verses other birds. Sure, at first the guineas were in a group together, but the group was close to the chickens and they got along still.. the ducks attacked the other birds, and that was all. When the ducks took to water, they forgot all about the chickens and the guineas. but the guineas and chickens stuck together.

But they would be in groups of like the male guinea with a female guinea or two female guinea with some chickens and the other group was the other missing guinea or guineas with the rest of the chickens. they always stuck together most of the time. they never seperated.
Now I have one guinea out of 4 I originally had, because they free-ranged, the male got ran over and two females just disappeared and never came back for a long time, which is something that happens sometimes to all my birds.
The last female guinea runs around with the rooster and his hens. It's like the rooster is her boyfriend, she sticks to him for support and she runs with the chicken-hens too. She thinks she is a chicken I guess.

 

[jcatblum]

Sorry to wander off topic,I'll make it quick, lol.

Hey jcatblum! I was just thinking bout you the other day... and wondering how your mystery Bronze Guineas feathered out!?! Any chance we could see some current pics of them???

I was honestly looking at them the other day, thinking I should try & snap some pics & get a head count. I will ask them nicely if they would like to take some pictures later this wk (it is suppose to rain for the next few days).

 

[bayvistafarm]

I have both guinea's and chickens all living together, and they do get chased around by the guinea's, but not terribly. They guinea's were hatched by a hen... who then hatched out 4 more chickens later, from eggs a friend gave me. The guinea's are now 6 months old, but are still bullied by mom chicken, and especially when they chase the 2 roosters from her other family, lol. But.. the 2 roos are getting more mature every day. I wonder what will happen then. I won't be able to let the guinea's out until this coming spring (but am hoping mama chicken will hatch the guinea eggs I am also hoping to get someday)!

Hmmm....My neighbor has guineas who I know are terrible moms. I think they are really cool birds and she would like more. So when I have broodies we will have her sit on guinea eggs in the spring. Is this a terrible idea? I will have about 20 large breed layers at that point.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
LOL, hope they say yes, I wanna see how they turned out.

 

[farmhouse]

I must say Guineas are bullies, I hate to see how they pick on my hens but once they are gone, you miss their noises. Last year I kept my 3 guineas out of the chicken pen and have them free range. Unfortunately they disappeared when the crops were a little tall. I guess they were hunted by some wild animals where they were far from the pen, and could not find a tree to perch! In the meantime some of their eggs were being sat by a brooding hen and amazingly I manage to have 2 survivals and they were kept together with the brood of chicks. Today they are good buddies, about 6 months old hanging out with the hens! I believe it must be the way they were being tame as little chicks where they were handled daily. They are very neat looking and truly are good watch dogs!

 

[farmhouse]

I love to see them hanging out together, isn't it cool?

 

[farmhouse]

Let me know if Mr. Roo will have off spring from Mrs "Guineas!

 

[chseeads]

I use Peepers on my guineas. That has curbed the majority of their chasing, feather pulling, and bullying of the chickens. They will occasionally act out a bit, but for the most part it puts a damper on it.


On another note in regard to guinea bullies... Baby guineas can be brutal to other species if you try to brood them together too...the guineas like to peck the beaks of other birds, usually right below their nostrils and will peck them totally raw if you don't watch.