My guineas are growing up....

[Mourningdove]

Hello all you guinea experts out there

I had my guineas in a locked covered pen connected to the chicken coup and since they are now 4 months old I decided to open the gate and let them hang out with the chickens

and I am happy to say that they are staying with the chickens and are roosting in the coup and covered run right with my chickens

Today I noticed them testing out their flight skills and my I must say to me it is a wonderful site

This morning when I went outside all 4 guineas had flown up on top of the covered brown leghorn pen

Now I realize that it's a matter of time before they fly over the fence and start patrolling the yard!
Now I am wanting to know when I can begin to know which are girls or boys

and how long before they start to lay?
I have 3 lavenders and 1 pearl. If I were to go get a few more guineas would they all get along and stay together?

 

[robin416]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=289901

Check out that topic. I had quite a conversation going with another Guinea owner and what all you can expect. To answer your question about new introductions, it takes time. An existing flock will run off new birds if not given plenty of time to get used to them.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

In my experience guineas prefer their own quarters for roosting and such. Mine fought with the chickens...who were there first

I hope it works out for you, but just thought I'd at least warn you it may be short lived.

 

[Mourningdove]

Quote:
Robin thank you so very much for this link, I have just read through the whole thing and have learned some things

I have also subscribed to the topic so I can continue to follow it. I am sure hoping that all goes well with my babies and that out of 4 I have at least 2 hens! What maybe the odds of 2 hens? I have learned so much from BYC!!!!! Thank you again!!!!

 

[Mourningdove]

Quote:
Thank you for the warning! So far all is going well.

 

[julieschickens]

i have 20+ guineas and had the same problem when housed with my chickens. they start off fine but became aggressive and bossy to the point of nearly killing a rooster of mine. i finally got them seperated and ended up selling off the adults and keeping the babies. i have raised the babies in a different pen and luckily they have not flown over into the chicken run to hang out. i love my guineas but hated them when they were with the chickens. hopefully you will not experience this but beware!!

 

[darkmatter]

I've had good luck with Guineas and Chickens together, but I raised them together from chicks & keets in the same group. I've also used my incubator with guinea eggs for a week, then add chicken eggs to have them hatch on the same day. The Guineas do tend to hog the top roosts in the coop, but then they fly out of the run for most of the day for bug patrol. You can check out my BYC page to see how my coop and run is set up. I have also ordered keets and started the incubator with chicken eggs so I would have chicks to blend in with the keets when they arrived.

 

[Mourningdove]

Quote:
I really liked your page and set up! We ourselves have a rainbarel that we use for watering the chickens as well as the garden in dry spells of the summer. We also throw the extra or spoiled veggies over the fence for our birds, my how they act like hogs for the tomatoes! What part of Illinois are you in? I myself am from Shorewood which is just outside of Joliet!

 

[robin416]

Quote:
Do not think keeping Guineas and chickens together will always work out. Many of mine were hatched by chickens, raised by chickens but when mating season hit all bets were off. And since Guineas attack as a flock any rooster that is a target has little chance of coming out the winner.

 

[Mourningdove]

Quote:
Do not think keeping Guineas and chickens together will always work out. Many of mine were hatched by chickens, raised by chickens but when mating season hit all bets were off. And since Guineas attack as a flock any rooster that is a target has little chance of coming out the winner.

Robin do you think that with just 4 guineas that I may have the same result? I have 4 roosters in that run with 30+ hens at present, I will be adding about 12 more hens to that coup/run once they are big enough. 2 of the roosters are the originals and 2 were hatched in the spring & summer so they are grown but still young.