Let 4 week old guineas loose in the garden?

[Blondie]

I have a 10 X 20 garden that is fenced in so the chickens can't get in there. Yesterday I noticed some beetles and bugs, and I do not want to use pesticides. What do you think if I let my 4 week old guineas in there to clean up the bugs? The fence is about 4 feet high. I wonder if they would get out? I know I would have to put hardware cloth or something in front of the gate. I'm not worried about the perimeter. It's pretty secure. I want to know if they get get OVER the fence.

Here's the garden:

Here are my guineas in a brooder with some chicks:

 

[BeccaOH]

Nice garden. So far ahead of mine that I just got finished planting this week.

I haven't worked with keets yet to know when they start flying, but I do know that adult guineas (mine are at least a year old) can easily scale 8 foot barriers. Mine will also pick at and seem to eat vegetation when there are no bugs around, so don't completely assume that they won't harm the plants.

Looks like you may be able to stretch deer netting over the garden to encourage them to stay in.

 

[LA~Poulet]

I don't know the exact age of our keets-maybe 5-6 weeks old at the very oldest? They are slightly smaller than our 6 week old Salmon Faverolles chicks. They like to fly and have no problem getting about 4 ft. up... when we tried to catch them in a tractor recently to relocate to another pen they flew over our heads when we crouched down.

Ours don't fly for fun, just to the roost or to escape, so I would guess they would stay in your boundary until you tried to get them out, but then it would be wild. I think you'd need netting over the top to be safe.

 

[bUg_Farm]

They will fly if they feel threatened or if they want to get out. But, at 4 weeks they're pretty young and I don't see it being a huge problem. Most likely they'll try to get out at the bottom of the fence. And, if one gets out you will know it. The others will call to it constantly.