Needing Ideas For A Guinea Fowl Coop And Run

[donddon]

I'm the proud papa of half a dozen 3 1/2 week old guinea fowl keets. I had to adapt my chick brooder as these guys could fly over 4 foot walls at 2 weeks.

Now I need to get outdoor accommodations ready for them. I'm thinking an elevated (6') house inside a 6' wide x 12' long x 8' high at the house end, and 6' at the run end. I will use 1/2 inch hardware cloth on all sides and top and bottom. I intend to free range them and use the coop and run mostly for sleep, once they've acclimated to their home.

Is there anything I should know, going in? Are my planned dimensions ok? Any hints or tips?

Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

I built mine as an 8'x12' with 8' walls. The ceiling joists are open so the guineas use them as their roosts.
Guinea coop is on left.

I have 13 adult guineas in an 8'x12' coop and it is cramped quarters for them.

In the heat of the summer the walk in door is propped open during the daytime to keep the coop from getting too hot. Both windows are fully open also.

The bird door is 12"x12" but one that is 10"wide by 12" high would work just as well.

My guineas spend most of their roosting time in the rafters. They do seem to like the lower roosts as steps to the rafters. The "nest box" in the lower right gets used for the first eggs of the year until they get tired of me stealing the eggs and they decide to hide their nests outside.

They really do like their skylight.

My recommendation is to always build bigger than you think that you need. It will save lots of problems in the future.

 

[donddon]

I built mine as an 8'x12' with 8' walls. The ceiling joists are open so the guineas use them as their roosts.
Guinea coop is on left.

I have 13 adult guineas in an 8'x12' coop and it is cramped quarters for them.

In the heat of the summer the walk in door is propped open during the daytime to keep the coop from getting too hot. Both windows are fully open also.

The bird door is 12"x12" but one that is 10"wide by 12" high would work just as well.

My guineas spend most of their roosting time in the rafters. They do seem to like the lower roosts as steps to the rafters. The "nest box" in the lower right gets used for the first eggs of the year until they get tired of me stealing the eggs and they decide to hide their nests outside.

They really do like their skylight.

My recommendation is to always build bigger than you think that you need. It will save lots of problems in the future.

Nice! Thanks for sharing. I really like the open rafter concept. I might have to borrow that one from you.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm the proud papa of half a dozen 3 1/2 week old guinea fowl keets. I had to adapt my chick brooder as these guys could fly over 4 foot walls at 2 weeks.

Now I need to get outdoor accommodations ready for them. I'm thinking an elevated (6') house inside a 6' wide x 12' long x 8' high at the house end, and 6' at the run end. I will use 1/2 inch hardware cloth on all sides and top and bottom. I intend to free range them and use the coop and run mostly for sleep, once they've acclimated to their home.

Is there anything I should know, going in? Are my planned dimensions ok? Any hints or tips?

Thanks!View attachment 2217994

Lovely keets! Last year, we built an 8 x 16 foot tall hoop coop, based on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/modified-hoop-coop-design-development.1120946/

Our version starts here, and is open air on one end with additional ventilation at the other end and bottom:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/modified-hoop-coop-design-development.1120946/page-10

While I want to free range our guineas as much as possible, I’ve ended up using a run quite a bit for various reasons. Their current run is about 40x20 feet of electric poultry net with a nylon covering.

 

[donddon]

Lovely keets! Last year, we built an 8 x 16 foot tall hoop coop, based on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/modified-hoop-coop-design-development.1120946/

Our version starts here, and is open air on one end with additional ventilation at the other end and bottom:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/modified-hoop-coop-design-development.1120946/page-10

While I want to free range our guineas as much as possible, I’ve ended up using a run quite a bit for various reasons. Their current run is about 40x20 feet of electric poultry net with a nylon covering.

Thank you! The hoop coop is a great idea.

 

[Sydney65]

My recommendation is to always build bigger than you think that you need. It will save lots of problems in the future.
[/QUOTE]

I came to say the same. Re keeping it cool, it was hot & humid,stuffy last night. I took a battery op clip on fan out there. It was enough to move the air w/o creating a duststorm.

 

[KirbyH]

I have plans for a coop 9’ x 5‘ x 6’ tall to house 5 guineas until they are 9 mo old and then hopefully they will free range and roost there. Are the dimensions adequate or do I need to change something. It would be fairly easy to change the height to 7’. 8’ would make it unstable, we think. Advice please.

 

[R2elk]

I have plans for a coop 9’ x 5‘ x 6’ tall to house 5 guineas until they are 9 mo old and then hopefully they will free range and roost there. Are the dimensions adequate or do I need to change something. It would be fairly easy to change the height to 7’. 8’ would make it unstable, we think. Advice please.

Depending on what materials you are using it usually works out best to use multiples of 4' since most exterior type panels are 4'x8'. I recommend wider too. Make sure that it is high enough to walk into easily.

As posted elsewhere in the thread, always make it bigger than you think you will need.

 

[KirbyH]

Depending on what materials you are using it usually works out best to use multiples of 4' since most exterior type panels are 4'x8'. I recommend wider too. Make sure that it is high enough to walk into easily.

As posted elsewhere in the thread, always make it bigger than you think you will need.

I think it is high enough to walk in easily but I would like it to have roosts high enough so the birds will be inclined to spend nights there. It has a pergola type roof and a big overhang so maybe wider with less overhang? Space for this is somewhat limited so going as big as you have is not an option. We could probably have the footprint 6’ x 9’ and the height at the most 7’. The rafters and pergola type roof will make it a foot and a half higher than the space that can be secured. We only have five birds and are not planning to get more. We hope they will socialize with the neighboring flock as we had hoped Popeye would (which she did). The roost is in a fenced area they will have to fly in and out of so, unlike Popeye, they will presumably know how to fly over fences if they make it to our acreage.