Keeping Guineas with chickens?

[brio]

Does anyone house their guineas and chickens together? If so how do they introduce the guineas to the chicken coop, at what age, did they stay in the coop??? Right now I have about 10 baby guineas my quail coop, that is housed right next to my chicken coop. Trying to decide if I should build them their own coop, or just throw them in with the chickens....any advice would be helpful!

 

[HEChicken]

Mine are together, however my situation was somewhat unique in that we were moving and I had to build a brand new coop. I had had my layers at my old house for years but when we found out we were moving to some acreage, and knowing I could increase my flock, I went ahead and got some keets and ducklings, along with some spring chicks, and had them in brooders scattered around the old house, while we prepared to move and built the new coop. Yep, a little chaotic for awhile

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So skip forward to the coop being finished and ready to move birds to, and I first moved the spring chicks because the roosters among them were crowing. A week later I moved the guineas and ducklings. Being younger than the spring chicks, there was seemingly no problem with adding them to the coop. I kept them all locked up for a week while I finished the fencing for the chicken yard. THEN I moved the layers to the new coop. Under ordinary circumstances, the layers might have reacted negatively to precocious youngsters being added to "their" coop but because I moved them last, they were the newcomers coming into territory already owned by said youngsters, so there was no issue whatsoever. I kept them all in the coop for about 36 hours but then a heat wave started and I had to let them out. 36 hours turned out to be enough for the layers and of course the younger birds had already been there a long enough time to imprint. So at the end of the day, everyone returned to the coop to the roost and that's how it has been for the last two weeks.

The only issue we have is a bit of squabbling at bed time - nothing too bad. Its just that the layers feel the highest roost is rightfully theirs because they are the oldest, while the guineas (now 7-8 weeks old), feel the highest roost is rightfully theirs because, well, because they are guineas. So if you stand outside the coop at bedtime you'll hear birds telling each other off and occasionally even pushing one another off the roosts but eventually all quietens down and there they will be all asleep.

 

[GuineaMama]

I have 6 juvinile (10 weeks old) guineas that were in the pen with the 9 week old chicks until the guineas started picking on the chicks all the time. Just yesterday I ran the guineas out of the pen and into the pen with my adult chickens. I was concerned last night as to where the guineas would end up as they have never been inside the coop. The pen with the younger chickens is totaly enclosed so they roosted in the top of it at night. When I went out at dark to shut the doors to the chicken coop I looked in and to my surprise all 6 guineas were interdispursed among the big chickens on the top roost! It was like they had always been there.

I also have 6 adult guineas that free range and was hoping that they would take to the youngsters and 'show them the ropes' (or trees) but that isn't happening. Anytime the older guineas are in the same area as the younger ones without a fence inbetween there is squabbling, pecking and feather pulling.