New To This Site!!!!

[Elgoody]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this site and was told about this site by quite a few other Guinea Owners that I have met on-line. I've asked about 100 different people the same question in the past week and now that I've joined another new site I figured I'd get everyone elses input on here as well. Some of you may notice this is a familiar question as you've probably seen this on other sites. So here it goes.

"Sorry for the long detail. I'm trying to give as much information to get the best possible advice from all you Master Guinea Owners. We've adopted 4 Guinea's about a month and a half ago. They are about 6 months old now. The previous owner told us to keep them in their pen for 2 weeks to become used to their new "home" before letting them out to free range in our yard (about 1 acre) which will be fenced in (although I'm aware they can just fly over). I've attached a picture of their pen and what I call their "coop" inside that sits a few feet off the ground. Every morning my partner John goes out and lets them out of the coop but still keeping them in the pen. I come home from work in the afternoon to feed and water them and then around dusk every night we lock them up in their coop where they perch.....they go right in. The routine works nice. I also give them lots of treats like millet, apples and worms. I have read the book Gardening With Guinea's which was very helpful and also asked other long time Guinea Owners on another message board for advice and quite a few have said the "confinement" period should be at least 6 weeks. I personally feel better about the 6 week period so I've decided to stick with that. Around Father's Day will be the 6 week mark where we can take them out of "confinement". We were also told to let one out, one at a time, each day for about a week. I've been told to Millet train them. Do I do that BEFORE I let them out of confinement and how do I do that in one week when their confinement period will be up? Do I let them out for short periods of time at first, making the times longer and longer as the days go by? Do I only let out half the flock at a time at first or all of them to avoid stress? Some people say they only let their Guinea's free range when they are home. I feel bad not letting them free range all day. I need some major help and tips on keeping them in our yard (for the most part) and more importantly, getting them back into their pen/coop at night to keep them safe from predators. I'm afraid that I should've been "training" them BEFORE I let them free range and I don't believe I have done that correctly or even how to."

 

[PeepsCA]

Hi and

Seems you have a routine that's already working well with your birds, and they are already used to you and their coop/pen so you are already off to a great start. You can integrate the treats now, in the PM when you'd normally be getting them to come back into the coop after free ranging. It really really helps to use the same call to them over and over whenever you feed them or give them treats.... so that they associate food to that call, and will come running when you call to them. So keep up with the treats once you start letting them out, and keep a routine of getting them in at the same time each evening until they learn the normal nightly routine. They learn by repetition. Once they learn you can deviate from the routine a little and not have too much trouble... but the key is establishing the routine well to begin with.

As far as how to start letting them out (after the 6 wk mark) and how long is a personal choice based on what works best for you and your birds (and tho it works great for some, I am not at all a fan of letting out just one or a few at a time, IMO it just creates stressed, separated birds). What works best for me is to take away their feed about noon the first few times I plan on letting them out... then I let them out about 4 or 5 PM, HUNGRY. I stay with them and herd them back if they wander too far, but basically just let them do their own thing. I let them forage, explore, discuss all the new sights and sounds etc until the sun starts to set (which is the visual cue for them that it's time to coop up)... but will come running when they hear the food call or food or treats being poured into the feeder, and your birds should (hopefully) come in for you too, business as usual.

I do not let my birds free range when I am not home... too many risks with predators and wandering too far etc, especially when the birds are new. But again, that's also personal choice.

I'm pressed for time, so this was the short version... but hope that helps. If you use the search option here on the BYC Guinea forum, you will find pretty much any answer/advice to any Guinea question you may have.

 

[Elgoody]

GREAT advice!!!!!! We have one week left until the 6 week mark and I think we're going to have your message in our hands!!!!

Now, since we ONLY have one week left, are we totally screwed in trying to train them with our bell that we got? Also, I've heard a lot about Guinea's liking mirrors. I was going to hang a couple of mirrors in their pen and then mirrors on the inside of the fence on our property to try and let them know where their boundaries are. Good idea? Bad idea? Not going to work idea? Lol

 

[indigo3]

sometimes guineas seeing their reflections think they are seeing competition so mirrors on the fence may cause stress. try one in the coop and see how they react to it maybe

 

[PeepsCA]

Ehhh, indigo... Guineas love mirrors and I'm not sure where you heard or read that they get stressed by them, but I've never seen a stressed Guinea in front of the 10 mirrors I have around here for the hundreds of Guineas I've had them out for, lol (I use mirrors in my brooders tooo, to comfort the keets). The mature or maturing males may attack their reflection a few times during the breeding season (they do this in the reflection of chrome hub caps and bumpers on cars/trucks too), but they figure out after a few bonks to the face that the guy staring back at them is no threat or any fun to spar with... so they lose interest and preen (primp) in front of it instead. Mirrors are actually a useful tool many of us use to help keep the birds in our own yards...

Elgoody, I'd go ahead and start using the bell consistently with food and treats now (and yes it would have helped to start this sooner, but they will still learn). But keep it up, especially after you start letting them out. You may have to use it quite a bit and do some herding to get them all in each night for a while, but they should still make the connection that bell = food/treats. As I mentioned before, routine is key with Guineas. You may be surprised at how quickly they will learn, especially if food/treats are involved each time, lol.

 

[Elgoody]

I placed two hand mirrors in their coop and I believe the dominant male pecks at it every once in a while but I don't think he's against it. I'm assuming he's just playing around. I'm planning on putting more around our yard on the fencing once it's all put up.