New bird mom; Guineas, ducks, and chickens

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Chihirolee3

Chihirolee3

Chirping
Apr 8, 2018
17
39
64
nowhere Iowa
So I've been lurking on this forum for a few months now and decided to join now that spring is here (or at least supposed to be here).
My husband and I are completely new to birds. We have wanted chickens since we got married, and this past fall it finally happened, with ducks. We got 3 chocolate Muscovy ducks, 1 male and 2 females which we got at 2 weeks old. Then a few months later, I got 8 guinea keets at a swap meet/flea market. 5 have survived to adulthood. 2 are white, both male. The other 3 are pearl, 2 are female. Last month I got dedicated egg chickens, 4 Rhode Island Red pullet chicks, which are growing like weeds.

I have learned a LOT rasing these birds over the winter. The ducks were hardy and had no problems. My husband likes them more because I can't stand their poop smell, and he finds them highly entertaining. He can't stand the guinea or chicken poop but I love those birds, so we have our favorites.
I lost 3 guineas keets withing the first 3 weeks of having them (got them at 1 weeks old). I learned they are actually harder than chickens to raise, and so I think I really jumped the gun getting them before chicks. My chicks are SO calm and sweet compared to the flighty and easily freaked out guineas when handling as babies. Back in December, one of the white guineas started to shake its head a lot and couldn't walk right. I learned it had tilt/wry head, so I separated it, spoiled it with nutrition as I caught it early enough that the guinea could calm down enough to still eat and drink. It took almost 2 months, but it recovered and is fine. My husband named it Lord Tourettes.
 
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G'Day from down under Chihirolee3 :frowWelcome!

I am pleased you delurked and hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out. There are some down the bottom of the page which are duck specific.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out ;)

Including your general location on your profile will assist others. Location, climate, season etc can be important factors when members are responding to any questions you may have and vice versa.

You might want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.

You may also be interested in these links:
 
:welcome

It sounds like you have a nice assortment of birds, thank you for telling us about them!
 
Sorry, I couldn't finish my post right, as the site kept creating errors.

Anyways, 1 guinea male is going be butchered because of how aggressive he is. I read that guineas are fairly monogamous anyways, and having an uneven number isn't good as far as male:female ratio.
We are currently raising them in our basement as our coop isn't finished and it wouldn't be good to put babies out in the cold anyways. Due to weather, hopefully we will put them out in their coop within the next week. Not the chickens as they are still little. The ducks and guineas we figure will get (or at least tolerate each other) along as the ducks like to perch and watch the guineas as well as the guineas sometimes get into the duck pen with no problems.
The coop is a garden shed (10'x20'), and half we converted to a coop. We insulated the lower part and left the ceiling (as it's gambrel style), alone as we don't want their coop to be damp, but we want to prevent drafts on the lower walls. The floor is raised off the ground so I used roofing sealant on the floor and about 2' up to make it easy to clean, not slippery for the birds, and prevent pests from getting in. The run isn't build yet, as our ground is still frozen. We plan to build a large run for them, and have it secure on the top, to prevent the guineas from escaping and to deter air predators. We also will put fencing underground because our town has a loose dog problem.
As far as legality, this is funny. So when we moved to our rural town (pop. 127), we formally asked if we could have chickens. We were told No, and that it was against ordinances. This was 4 years ago. Since then, 3 people in town got chickens and one person has had chickens for decades already. The straw that broke the camel's back was that the mayor himself got chickens. He left them free range as well, and we used to live behind the mayor's house. They had a 4' fence that did nothing to keep the chickens from jumping into our yard and roam. They finally secured them when quite a few were taken by owls, it didn't help that their yard has a lot of trees. So we decided to go the "ask for forgiveness, not permission" route. We figure that they have no leg to stand on when it comes to outlawing it now. And our birds will be completely enclosed, so they can't say we don't have proper housing. And my husband wanted the guineas because they are obnoxious. Our town is run by 2 families and we live next door to part of one of the families now (we moved away from the mayor's house, about a block away). I am not too worried about their noise ordinances, as they do absolutely nothing for wild parties in town, and the community center is kitty corner from us, and when stuff goes on there, we are kept awake late into the night and can do nothing about it. We also have dealt with the birds in our home all winter. Our home is very old and thus the noise isn't buffered. We have gotten used to the guineas and they aren't so bad. We at least know when a bat is flying around down there, as they go nuts. I figure once they get used to being outside, they will quiet down. Our other neighbors are excited to have guineas nearby. One neighbor is hardly ever home and the others don't like the families who run the town. Our community dynamic is weird to say the least.
Something I started doing for the birds when I got the chicks is play music for them during the day. I have a mixture of classical and instrumental folk for them. The guineas have really calmed down with the music. They are more compliant and not so hyper. I think I will keep doing this when they are in their coop, and add more variety to their music, especially for next winter as it's stimulating to combat boredom.
Speaking of boredom, I have bought 2nd hand simple baby toys to help with that. Holed balls with bells they seem to all enjoy. I think I'm spoiling my birds. I really don't want them to get bored and get nippy with each other.
 

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