leaving the property

[maggiegigs]

First question: I have an acre of land surrounded by a 6' solid fence. Will the hens be content to stay within the acre w/the chickens or will they hop the fence. I plan on getting two as keets and my broody orpington raising them. My neighbors have been tolerant of the chickens but I don't know about two guinea hens in their property.

Second question: Can you hear their "buckwheat" an acre away?

I apologize if these questions present themselves as idiotic but with neighbors even an acre away one can not be too careful.

Thank you!!!

 

[smileyfacecat]

Not sure about your first question, but if their wings are not clipped or the enclosure is not covered they may fly out.
I have not had a first-hand experience with guineas, but a friend/neighbor of mine has.
My neighbor owned a guinea when she lived on a farm in Maine. She was not fond of the bird, it apparently was quite loud, aggressive toward her chickens, and would only roast on her roof. She only kept the bird around because it would scare off other birds of prey (not sure if that is typical of guinea behavior, but that is what her bird did).

 

[chickenology]

Our guineas are able to fly over a six foot fence if they want to and their call can be heard over an acre away. Whether they will want to leave your yard is a good question, and I would not rule it out (I would guess they will leave to go exploring at some point). They have a large run with six foot fences, three acres (unfenced) and when they are out free ranging they routinely visit two or three of our neighbor's yards, making quite the racket. So far the neighbors are not complaining, but we have limited the amount of free ranging they are able to do. The older guineas don't seem to fly over the run fence very often, just the young ones.

We started with three last summer (raised them with the chickens) and had to separate them this winter when the male guinea matured and started jumping on our favorite chicken hen and pulling tail feathers from the other hens. So they were separated, we hatched some keets to add to our guinea flock and now maintain them separately from the chickens most of the time. We have learned a lot about guineas from our mistakes, but watching their antics is highly entertaining! Good luck!

 

[maggiegigs]

thank you. much to consider!

 

[BarbaraNH]

Your first question: I would expect that your guineas would fly over the fence at some point, especially if they are able to perch or land on top of it. Some guineas are content to stay within a fenced in area, but most are not. If your guineas are raised with chickens, they may choose to stay close to them and not wander as far as they would if they were on their own.

Your second question: You can definitely hear guineas calling from over an acre away. In fact, you can hear guineas "buck-wheating" at least a 1/4 of a mile away and probably farther than that, depending on the number of guineas involved. I've learned to love the sing-song sound of my females, but I do worry that my neighbors aren't as fond of the "music" as I am.

 

[SuperChickenDude327]

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