"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[kuntrygirl]

I need some advice about getting guineas.  I want about 6 guineas.  Not sure why I came up with this number...it just sounded good.  Room is not an issue.  Here is the question.  We will be putting our house up for sale in Feb. or March (10 acres with house).  We will then build our new home on the property (20 acres) next door.  All animals will be making the move.  Moving the chicken coop and run should be great fun.  NOT!  If I get guineas now, will they "move" with us to the new place next door, or will I have difficulty getting them to adjust because of the proximity to the "old" house?  Can I get them now, or would it be the "grown up" thing to wait until we are at the "new place"?  Thoughts?
Thanks,
Laurie

Congrats on building the new home and 20 acres!!!!!!!! Forget the animals, can I move in? I know how to clean chicken coops VERY well.

Seriously though, if it were me (and this is just my 1 cent worth of a thought), I would wait until I am at my new place . Guineas are strange birds and mine tend to follow the same routine day in and day out year after year. They roam and free range as a team. When you see 1, you pretty much see them all. My guineas have a schedule that they follow and tend to not change, however they tend to change their roosting spots every few weeks or so. I think they do that in the event a predator strikes, they won't be in the same spot. They set out in the morning and do their mischievous deeds during the day but they high tail it home. I would hate it if you got them now and they were "conditioned" to be at your place and then you moved next door and they stayed at the old place. :/

Maybe Terri or anyone else who has guineas can chime in on their personal experiences.

6 is a good number but 10 is a better number. With that much property, they could cover a lot of ground and kill a lot of snakes. They are very independent and you will not have to worry about them as you will your chickens or other animals. My guineas are the birds that I DO NOT worry about because I know they will be ok.

Talking about guineas, I'm sorry that i sold 6 the other day. I want them back now.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Did you get a count of how many chicks that it killed? Did it swallow them? Bite them? What happened? Too bad you don't have guineas (or do you). They would have tore him UP!!!

Just finished head count. It got 4. It keep trying to coil up when I grabbed it and tried to pull it straight so I hope it swallowed them. No I don't have any Guineas yet, I was thinking about getting some but not sure if I have the money in the budget until next week. Mostly, I need to know if they can be housed with the chickens or if I need to build housing for them. Also, I have no clue on what to feed them. I was going to spend this week researching them and then buy some as I have heard so many great things about them.

Yes, they can be housed with chickens. You don't have to build anything extra for them and they eat the same thing as chickens. However, I do feed mine a higher protein when they are newly hatched because they do burn off so much energy because they are non stop from the time they wake up to the time the close their eyes. Those little suckers are NON STOP!

 

[CackedNut]

Congrats on building the new home and 20 acres!!!!!!!!

Forget the animals, can I move in?

I know how to clean chicken coops VERY well.

Seriously though, if it were me (and this is just my 1 cent worth of a thought), I would wait until I am at my new place . Guineas are strange birds and mine tend to follow the same routine day in and day out year after year. They roam and free range as a team. When you see 1, you pretty much see them all. My guineas have a schedule that they follow and tend to not change, however they tend to change their roosting spots every few weeks or so. I think they do that in the event a predator strikes, they won't be in the same spot. They set out in the morning and do their mischievous deeds during the day but they high tail it home. I would hate it if you got them now and they were "conditioned" to be at your place and then you moved next door and they stayed at the old place.

Maybe Terri or anyone else who has guineas can chime in on their personal experiences.

6 is a good number but 10 is a better number.

With that much property, they could cover a lot of ground and kill a lot of snakes. They are very independent and you will not have to worry about them as you will your chickens or other animals. My guineas are the birds that I DO NOT worry about because I know they will be ok.

Talking about guineas, I'm sorry that i sold 6 the other day.

I want them back now.

Thanks for the advice!

From what I've been reading, I kind of figured that would be the answer.

I do want to go about it the "correct" way. So, GULP, I'll be a "grown up" and wait. I do like your idea of 10 though! What's your favorite color, would you do all the same or a mix?
As far as building the new house...not to sound ungrateful, but putting your house on the market and showing it, is a REAL PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!

People always want to come see it during homework time, dinner time, and bed time! Plus, we have to put the dogs away so that they don't "eat" anyone.

Thanks again for the help.
Laurie

 

[foreverlearning]

https://www.google.com/search?q=bla...m52AXtrYDgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=623

It is a black rat snake or in other words around here anything that eats chicken eggs and/or biddies is a "chicken snake" thats a big mamma one more than likely. I killed one in the garage the other night over 6 ft long and had been eating my setting hens eggs and some new borns too. I fixed its wagon right quick and fast and in a hurry.

Jeff

Good, I can handle rat snakes. I was mostly worried about the kids. Thank you for your help.

Yes, they can be housed with chickens. You don't have to build anything extra for them and they eat the same thing as chickens. However, I do feed mine a higher protein when they are newly hatched because they do burn off so much energy because they are non stop from the time they wake up to the time the close their eyes. Those little suckers are NON STOP!

WOW perfect bird! looks like I will be in the market for some. I was thinking on building costs, my coop on paper was $80, found a lot that I didn't like while I was building it and tweeked it along the way. It ended up costing a little over $300, plus about 20 different water/feeder combos that I just didn't like for some reason.

 

[foreverlearning]

Looks like I am headed to the store so I can now build a snake proof run. I have one for about 6 babies but nothing snake proof for the 52 I have now. I have 1" hex wire on the one they were in today, got to find smaller, I might just put bird netting on top of my chicken wire to prevent weakness in the top.

 

[LemonMeringue]

I always am setting my DVR to record PBS shows. I love the no commercial, change of pace shows. NOVA is one of the ones that I sometimes enjoy, depending on the subject. This however is VERY disturbing to me! SPIDER GOATS, REALLY?!!! YIKES!!! I had to go find it online and see if I am the only person with this reaction.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june11/nova_01-19.html

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Thanks for the advice!

From what I've been reading, I kind of figured that would be the answer.

I do want to go about it the "correct" way. So, GULP, I'll be a "grown up" and wait. I do like your idea of 10 though! What's your favorite color, would you do all the same or a mix?
As far as building the new house...not to sound ungrateful, but putting your house on the market and showing it, is a REAL PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!

People always want to come see it during homework time, dinner time, and bed time! Plus, we have to put the dogs away so that they don't "eat" anyone.

Thanks again for the help.
Laurie

x2 what Julie said. Wait to get them until you get your new place.
Mine typically go into the coop at night w/the chickens & in the morning fly up & over the 6' fence & roam our property all day long. I have 5 of them. We have not seen ANY snakes & we have a bayou back of our place & everybody else around us kills snakes all the time. LOVE my guins! I also feed hi protein when brooding them - game bird feed - and they still eat that plus chicken feed out of the chicken's feeder - plus scraps, corn, etc. whatever they can find.
They are like having a living, breathing cartoon!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

https://www.google.com/search?q=bla...m52AXtrYDgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=623

It is a black rat snake or in other words around here anything that eats chicken eggs and/or biddies is a "chicken snake" thats a big mamma one more than likely. I killed one in the garage the other night over 6 ft long and had been eating my setting hens eggs and some new borns too. I fixed its wagon right quick and fast and in a hurry.

Jeff

Jeff you don't have any guineas? You need to get some! The only snake I've seen in two years was one getting torn up & eaten by my guineas!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

I always am setting my DVR to record PBS shows. I love the no commercial, change of pace shows. NOVA is one of the ones that I sometimes enjoy, depending on the subject. This however is VERY disturbing to me! SPIDER GOATS, REALLY?!!! YIKES!!! I had to go find it online and see if I am the only person with this reaction.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june11/nova_01-19.html

That is just......weird. For lack of a better word...

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Laurie, I forgot to add - when my guineas hatched out keets on their own this summer, I tried to "relocate" some of them across the 10 acre field to my folks' house.

Didn't work.. 15 minutes after I got them set up in a brooder over there, my Mom called & said "come get them. the parents are over here & raising all kinds of sand". Sure enough, the adults had flown across the field to their babies & were raising cane!

I had to put the babies in a bucket & carry them back across the field to our house, fending off Mama guin & her mates who kept trying to attack me the whole way back!