New to Guineas.

[jennajolynne]

I have owned chickens ducks turkeys geese and parrots but never any guineas. I was told they will protect my flock and also keep ticks down. How true is this? They are crazy little birds thats forsure lol. They are still in the brooder but super funny to watch Any advice on these 3 little guys/ girls

They are SO loud. They are comical to watch though and mine would come up on th eback steps of the house and look into the sliding glass door. Mine ended up going to live with a friend though because they were SO mean to my chickens. They would pull feathers out and chase if the chickens got near food. I only had three of them too. I raised them with the chickens as keets so I thought I could avoid it but no, they were still bullies. Maybe you will have better luck.

 

[Cryss]

No the guinea won't attack your dogs. In fact they would probably prefer to take the long way around to avoid the dog at all cost... my chickens drink from my dogs water bowl the guinea do not by thier own choice

Thank you! Ok, that takes care of question #1!

 

[Krazyquilts]

I never expected 3 of them to do much. I was thinking of adding more. I read at least 10 was the go to number. However free range isn’t an option for us as we have 4 Great Danes 1 of which has killed chickens in the past. So they would have to be kept in the coop so maybe they just aren’t for us.

From my experience, guineas don't do well in confinement. They need to be free ranged (or in my case, pastured, since my guineas were too stupid to leave the pasture that they could easily fly over). My former guineas harassed my chickens, especially the younger chickens, terribly. They are zero protection against predators except for being loud and alerting to danger, but that feature is somewhat negated by the fact that they scream "ALERT! ALERT!" to absolutely everything. The cats walk by? Scream. I walk by? Scream. A leaf blows by? Scream.

Did I mention that they are my former guineas?

 

[Krazyquilts]

I'm very interested in this also. I've read things that made me say no to guineas and then read things that made me change my mind, and then back again! So confusing.
This article really got me thinking again... https://homesteading.com/raising-guineas/
So, if I were to be accepting of the fact that I will lose my Guinea flock to predators it may be something worth considering.
Yes, that sounds horrifying, but let me give my situation. I live on an acre+ surrounded by woods. Ticks are a given. Ticks are dangerous. My 47 year old daughter who lives with me is permently disabled from tick borne diseases. She has neurological damage and is unable to do many daily things including driving. I have my chickens but can't free range them due to hawks, owls, etc so they are getting a 10x30 ft run.
I do have a lot of questions. If my dogs are outside on their chain runs will guineas attack them or keep their distance? I'm in NJ with cold snowy winters with the occasional obligatory ice storm. If I had 10 guineas what kind and how big of a coop would I need? If I can't raise them through the temperature changes that keets need will it be ok to purchase young ones at the point where they can be outdoors?
I'm positive I'll have other questions. Maybe my post here will help OP in some way. We both seem to be on the same "first page".

Unless it was truly nasty out, most of guineas preferred to sleep outside on top of the coop (the turkeys did too). We tried forcing them back inside at night for a long but eventually gave up and figured that it was a good test to see how good our livestock guardian dog was at protecting them. We used a coop for when they were younger and to make sure that they "bonded" with a particular area, but after they were full adults, they only went in to eat and very occasionally to sleep if it was raining. I'd say that to treat them as large size chickens as far as coop size and spacing goes.

 

[R2elk]

I'm very interested in this also. I've read things that made me say no to guineas and then read things that made me change my mind, and then back again! So confusing.
This article really got me thinking again... https://homesteading.com/raising-guineas/
So, if I were to be accepting of the fact that I will lose my Guinea flock to predators it may be something worth considering.
Yes, that sounds horrifying, but let me give my situation. I live on an acre+ surrounded by woods. Ticks are a given. Ticks are dangerous. My 47 year old daughter who lives with me is permanently disabled from tick borne diseases. She has neurological damage and is unable to do many daily things including driving. I have my chickens but can't free range them due to hawks, owls, etc so they are getting a 10x30 ft run.
I do have a lot of questions. If my dogs are outside on their chain runs will guineas attack them or keep their distance? I'm in NJ with cold snowy winters with the occasional obligatory ice storm. If I had 10 guineas what kind and how big of a coop would I need? If I can't raise them through the temperature changes that keets need will it be ok to purchase young ones at the point where they can be outdoors?
I'm positive I'll have other questions. Maybe my post here will help OP in some way. We both seem to be on the same "first page".

A lot of the information in that link is correct but there is a lot of exaggeration in it also. Guineas will not protect your flock. A small group of guineas may or may not go after predators but the most common outcome from guinea and predator meetings is a lot of noise and loss of guineas to the predators usually one at a time but if there are multiple predators (stray dogs, coyotes, fox. etc.) there may be lots of guineas lost at the same time.

Guineas are excellent at tick control but in order to be good at tick control they have to be able to be where the ticks are. One person reported that the guineas did a great job of tick removal but they still lost dogs to excessive amounts of ticks because the guineas did not have access to the dog pen which is where the ticks concentrated.

The interaction between dogs and guineas is completely dependent on the individual situation. When I had a dog, a guinea got in the pen with her and she thought the guinea tasted delicious (they really are delicious). Another person I know has small dogs and laughs hysterically when her guineas chase her dogs. Others have had their guineas walk right over their mellow dogs. You won't know how they are going to interact until you see how your dog reacts. If a dog chases them, they will flee from the dog. If a dog is terrified of them, they will pick on the dog.

I built an 8'x12' coop that has 8' high walls (at the lowest point). The ceiling joists are open so the guineas love to roost on them. I have lower roosts that they use to move up to the higher roosts and finally up onto the ceiling joists. It is a little crowded but I do currently have 13 adult guineas that spend every night and a few days of inclement snowy weather in the coop.

It is best to start with keets and can be very difficult to find 6 weeks to adult guineas for sale. Most of my keets are gone before I even have to advertise them and normally if I do have to advertise them, the ad is only up for one day.

If you can find juveniles or adults, they have to be confined long enough to establish in their minds that their new abode is now home. This can take as much as 6 weeks to convince them.

I do not imprint my keets either by me or other poultry and I do not have any of the issues that can happen. I can let my guineas, chickens and turkeys all free range at the same time in the same area and each type of poultry keep to their own kind and there are no bad interactions of any kind among them.

I lost my whole first flock of guineas to Great Horned Owls because I did not force them to go into the coop at night. I have not lost any of my current guineas to any predators because I make sure they are all in their secure coop at night. No hens are allowed to have hidden nests outside where they would be vulnerable to predators.

 

[R2elk]

They are SO loud. They are comical to watch though and mine would come up on the back steps of the house and look into the sliding glass door. Mine ended up going to live with a friend though because they were SO mean to my chickens. They would pull feathers out and chase if the chickens got near food. I only had three of them too. I raised them with the chickens as keets so I thought I could avoid it but no, they were still bullies. Maybe you will have better luck.

Raising keets with chickens causes imprinting and removes the ability of the guineas to be able to understand that there is a difference between them and chickens. I do not allow my keets to become imprinted by chickens and have no issues between my guineas and chickens. I do keep a minimum of 10 guineas so they can have their own kind to interact with and don't go looking to attack other poultry. Guineas understand guinea behavior. Chickens do not understand guinea behavior and can become very stressed by guineas that try to apply their behavior to the chickens.

 

[BlueShadow]

Guineas have a hard time protecting themselves let alone protecting anything else. They will not have any interest in protecting your flock.

I can't decide if I agree or disagree with this statement...

On the one hand, guineas protect my flock by ranging far and wide (1/2 mile radius) and providing snacks for the predators out there, so the predators are not hungry enough to come raid my chicken coop.

On the other hand, guineas range far and wide and give predators plenty of tracks to follow back to the coop. So.

Guineas have alerted me to bird predators by squawking - hawks and turkey vultures (even though the turkey vulture isn't really a threat to them, but they don't know that). However, any other predator - raccoon, opossum,fox, dog, even if the attack happens during the day, they alert me by going SILENT. Not really a very useful warning system.

 

[R2elk]

On the one hand, guineas protect my flock by ranging far and wide (1/2 mile radius) and providing snacks for the predators out there, so the predators are not hungry enough to come raid my chicken coop.