New to Guineas. Would like Advice. *Pics*

[glutten]

Hi Colourful,
I am also from Australia and have Guineas, chickens and ducks all living happily together. We are in quite a cold area (not compared to our American friends though!) and they handle it no worries. They suprise me how tough they are. We get very strong winds and my birds roost in the tree outside our house. They hang on no problems all night long!
My Guineas roost in a Eucalypt tree. I have 8 mature birds and they mostly nest in the same tree every night. I did try and pen them but they hated it and would complain all evening and morning till I let them out again.
I have eight keets now too that one of my Guinea hens hatched last week. I have penned them up to keep them safe whilst they are on the ground.
All of our birds seem to get along ok. Occassionally the cocks will have a few goes at one of the roosters and amazingly they seem to have the upper hand!
The males also chase each other around which is hilarious to watch. They do laps of our house at full pace but never seem to make contact with one another.
I hope you enjoy them.
Oh and ours really like rasberries. They fly up and nick them all before I can get them! I also read somewhere on this forum that lettuce and egg yolk is good for them while they are young.

 

[Colourful]

Wonderful. Eucalyptus trees it is. We'll have Mulberries in the new yard, so it'll keep them happy.

On another note, one of Lavenders is growing slower than the other two guineas.

It's the lady closest to the Camera. She started the tiniest bit shorter, but now it's more pronounced. She's still healthy and she has about the same amount of muscle on her than the other two, but her neck and legs are just a bit shorter.

Here is a photo I took just now.


...do you think I should isolate her?

 

[ms4runr]

Since you didn't raise them from babies, keep them penned up as long as you can stand it. I recommend at least 7-8 weeks. I got some a couple of years ago that were a few months old and I penned them up for a month. They left the premises exactly one and a half minutes after I let them out and I never saw them again. Since then, I hatch and raise them. I might lose them to predators occasionally, but they stay close by.

Also, I would recommend that when you are ready to let them out to free-range, let only one out. If that one is coming back at night for a couple of nights, then start letting another one out with it, repeating this process until you eventually have them all successfully doing this.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

The breeder I got my week old keets from suggested 2-3 months. It will not hurt them to stay in and you will increase the chance of their longevity. That said, IF they are with a gang of chickens they will probably stay with them, but I would not consider letting them out for at least 2 months if you really want to keep them. My breeder has raised all birds but settled on guineas in the end. He has appr. 200 on his property and hatched all eggs by hand. The 'best' book on them says 6 weeks, but he was adamant about at least 2 months.

 

[ms4runr]

On another note, one of Lavenders is growing slower than the other two guineas.

It's the lady closest to the Camera. She started the tiniest bit shorter, but now it's more pronounced. She's still healthy and she has about the same amount of muscle on her than the other two, but her neck and legs are just a bit shorter.


...do you think I should isolate her?

This is just an opinion, I wonder if she is getting enough protein. Also, I had to pull a keet that got stepped on at 1 week and a friend suggested bringing in a healthy one for company. You may want to consider that. They are not solitary birds.

 

[lillydaisy]

There really cute

 

[Colourful]

This is just an opinion, I wonder if she is getting enough protein. Also, I had to pull a keet that got stepped on at 1 week and a friend suggested bringing in a healthy one for company. You may want to consider that. They are not solitary birds.

I'm going to go boil some eggs now for protein. Thank you for all the advice!

And Thank you lillydaisy