Question about Guineas?

[lesliet]

DH wants to get Guineas but I know nothing about them,

1) do they need a coop like chickens?

2) If you let them free range how far do they go?

any information would be great, have till spring to make up our minds

 

[speckledhen]

http://guineafowl.com/ This website will help and so will that book, however, it does not cover the problems many encounter, inc myself, with combining guineas with chickens. Guineas are wilder, they fight in packs by bodyslamming their victim, they roam farther than chickens, they are LOUD and loud often, they are seasonal layers, etc. I loved my guineas, but if you have close neighbors, you may not want to go that route. Just depends on the neighbors, I guess. They are crazy, entertaining, goonie-birds. If you want them to live long, they need a safe place to roost at night. Mine were tame, as you can see in the pics, but it takes alot of effort to get them that way.

 

[lesliet]

we have 10 acres and the back is on a swamp so no neighbors really, i can make out 1 light from a neighbors, so not worried about noise.

thanks for the website

 

[Chirpy]

This is my first year with Guineas and I, also, love them (so far

). Thus, my experience is very limited at this point. The girls are obnoxiously LOUD so Speckledhen is most certainly right that if you have close neighbors you'll want to really think whether they are the best bird to have.

I have heard over and over again that if you want your Guineas to be with your chickens you need to raise them from birth together (and even then, I've heard where they get aggressive to some chickens but that seems to lessen it) and that you need to keep them locked up in the coop for a minimum of 8 weeks before letting them out so they really know where to come back to roost at night.

At this point my Guineas roost every night with my chickens and spend the days very close to them, even when free ranging. I do have several Guineas who fly out of the run every day (it's a six foot fence) and then fly back in at night if I haven't let everyone out to free range that day.

I've also heard some people say that you can leave one or two Guineas locked in the run while letting the others free range and that makes them stay close and come back. I haven't tried that... no need here... yet.

 

[the1much]

i have 13 guineas of all ages right now,,they grew up with chickens of every age,,,i get them at 1 day old,,and once outside,,,they can go wherever from day 1,,,what usually happens is,,,,after they get big nuff to fly,,,for a month they fly over the fence,,,and then run back and forth trying to get back in,,haha

the only place in my fence where it looks like theres a "trail",, is on the outside,, from them.
mine dont go farther then they can hear my chickens,,,,they go next door and chase people from "their" corner,,,,the business next door thinks its funny as can be. i used to feed all my birds in the evening to "make sure" my guineas always came back,,,but i dont do that any more,,,, they fly to the "outside" of the 4 foot fence,, and scream at me to let them in,, about 1/2 hour before its time for me to close em up.