Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chippysmom327]

Question for those of you with guineas. Are they hardier than chickens? Will I have to chase them around to slather their wattles with vaseline too? And do they go out in the snow? Or do they sit inside on the roost and look grumpy like my chickens?

No worries about frostbite & they will be out running everywhere regardless of weather. You will have trouble keeping them cinfined. They love to roam.

That's lterally exactly what I was hoping for! Thanks! If I have a broody hen raise them, do you think it will help them want to come back to the coop/lay eggs there? Or are they just free spirits? I'll probably get 3. That's a good number right?

 

[zinia8]

This really blows !!!

No no no snow. Everybody chant this maybe it will miss us. HaHaHa.

 

[oletymer]

I got cold this morning, and I don't have a fireplace. So, I set fire to my bedroom carpet right next to my desk.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Question for those of you with guineas. Are they hardier than chickens? Will I have to chase them around to slather their wattles with vaseline too? And do they go out in the snow? Or do they sit inside on the roost and look grumpy like my chickens?

No worries about frostbite & they will be out running everywhere regardless of weather. You will have trouble keeping them cinfined. They love to roam.

That's lterally exactly what I was hoping for! Thanks! If I have a broody hen raise them, do you think it will help them want to come back to the coop/lay eggs there? Or are they just free spirits? I'll probably get 3. That's a good number right?

I brooded & penned mine with chicks. Didn't free range them. People have varying degrees of success getting them to lay & roost in the coop but I would think training them with the chickens as they grow would give a higher success rate.

 

[dheltzel]

That's lterally exactly what I was hoping for! Thanks! If I have a broody hen raise them, do you think it will help them want to come back to the coop/lay eggs there? Or are they just free spirits? I'll probably get 3. That's a good number right?

They are definitely free spirits and will figure out they are not chickens and go do their own thing. They might roost with the chickens or they might roost in the trees or a neighbor's barn, they are basically wild birds that use wherever they were raised as "home base" (you hope).

Having just one would certainly make it bond more tightly to the chickens, but they are so fun as a group of wild things, I wouldn't recommend it. We love having them around the farm. The only downside is that the foxes pick off the hens when they nest out in the fields, and we have to buy new keets every few years. This spring I'm buying some buff dundottes, they are sexable by color (at least mostly). I'm going to keep a group confined with the peafowl or turkeys and use them as breeding stock for future years. They are popular for their (well deserved) reputation as tick predators, so I anticipate selling keets in future years.

Did you know they use them in the south to clear rattlesnakes like we use them to eat ticks? Like a mongoose that can fly!

That's one "onery bird" right there.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I agree on the dog crate too. This is the one we're using and we'll be connecting a second one once these girls get a little bigger All I have is my phone and it's not cooperating this morning. It wouldn't let me do the quote grrrr.

 

[PAchickenlover]

I agree on the dog crate too. This is the one we're using and we'll be connecting a second one once these girls get a little bigger All I have is my phone and it's not cooperating this morning. It wouldn't let me do the quote grrrr.

I like this idea! I might have to try this after my eggs hatch.. Set 30 eggs in the bator last night.. Oh and I got a fan for my bator to turn it in to a forced air. Hope I have better success with the forced air version. Time will tell..

 

[chiques chicks]

I don't get really hung up on humidity when I incubate. I keep one or two open containers of water in it. I do put a lot of water pans in my hatcher. I hate to lose them to shrink wrapping. My incubator is a mini-fridgerbator, my hatchers are coolerbators.
I have discovered animals are far more adaptable than we give them credit for. Really, I have a broody on the floor of am elevated Coop right now and the temperature is cold and humidity is low. She'll probably succeed even in those conditions!

 

[PAchickenlover]

I don't get really hung up on humidity when I incubate. I keep one or two open containers of water in it. I do put a lot of water pans in my hatcher. I hate to lose them to shrink wrapping. My incubator is a mini-fridgerbator, my hatchers are coolerbators.
I have discovered animals are far more adaptable than we give them credit for. Really, I have a broody on the floor of am elevated Coop right now and the temperature is cold and humidity is low. She'll probably succeed even in those conditions!

Frigerbator? Did you convert an old refrigerator into an incubator? And if so how? I just got a new refrigerator and still have the old one.... What do you mean hatcher? Your eggs don't hatch in your incubator? Sorry, this is a new theory if you are saying what I think you are... Might have to re think some things... Thanks

 

[threesons]

New to byc. I am in central pa near williamsport and looking for eggs!