More guinea questions

[Akane]

Nope not french guineas. http://www.guineafarm.com/ Actually looking at it again it says eggs are available into september and they keep their guineas outside. Also guineafowl.com says french guineas lay fewer eggs than helmeted guineas.

 

[doodledoo]

We have 4 adult Guineas (3 males,1 female) and nine younger ones (unsure of all their gender) and they live happily with the 80 or so chickens that we have. Every now and then the males will peck some of the smaller roosters but not as often as the other roos pick on each other. I just caught my RIR rooster *having fun* with one of the younger Guineas. Ours free range all day so I am not sure how they would act if they were confined all day together.

 

[chickmamawannabe]

Quote:
I've always heard that if you want to free range your guineas, you should have at least 5 acres. Otherwise, they will end up in everyone else's yards. Also, I would imagine that your neighbors would not be to thrilled with the noise if they're very close.

 

[feathersgalore]

You definitely need a good relationship with your neighbors. At first ours were loud when they ventured over the fence to the neighbors, but now are quiet. Our neighbors appreciate all the bugs they eat. They do roam a greater area then chickens.

 

[mamaKate]

Thanks,everyone! I guess I'm not willing to take the risk right now-or rather in the spring- when I'll have baby chicks for the first time in seven years I already have two male dogs that I've had to keep separate for the last five years. It's been gates, doors and "DOGFIGHT!"

I don't want to end up doing that with birds. They're supposed to be fun.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have 5 adults (3 roos 2 hens) and three juvies around 7 or 8 weeks old (not sure of the sex yet). My babies get along well with the chickens, usually it is the chickens picking on them. The adults are a different story. When I go out to feed, I will toss some cracked corn down for the chickens. The guineas don't eat much of it, if at all, but they will run all the chickens off. I have even seen one of the guinea roos pulling tail feathers out of my bantam roos. Darn guineas look so much alike though, so I don't know which is the culprite, or if all 3 are. They seem to run the guinea hens off a lot as well.

 

[tmb3fan]

I started with 4 (4 week old) guineas. I put them in the pen with my 8 week old chickens and everything was fine until the guineas were the same size as the chickens. One of the lavender guineas started picking on the runt chicken to the point she was hiding under other chickens all the time. If I sat in the pen, nothing happened, but as soon as I left and closed the door, the runt would get attacked. This was only one guinea that caused all the problems and I couldn't catch him/her in the act to remove it. I would always loose track of which one it was. I finally built a pen for the guineas and this helped the problem. The guineas and chickens would free range together and seldom had problems. Anyway, 2 of the guineas were taken by hawks in one morning not long ago. I hoped it was the mean one, but I don't think so. That was about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and now the 2 that are left have started being mean to all the hens. I believe I have a female and male.
I just wonder if the one mean one taught the other one to be mean and if I had been able to get rid of the one when it all started, if I would still have a problem. Or would one of the 3 have turned mean. Sorry if that was confusing.
Just wanted to let you know my experience with them and I am not terribly thrilled. I have 4 more keets that are 5 weeks old and I hope they turn out better. I think I am going to keep the 2 remaining juvy's penned up for a while.
If they all get mean, then out with them and I will get another breed of chicken.

Teri