Questions about Guineas. Coop is finished! Keets were moved out today.

[StevenW.]

1. Why Guineas? What makes them so special? I for one am interested because ticks are getting horrible here! And I can always sell the extras pretty easy since we live close to farms.

2. If I decide to incubate eggs, I like to dry incubate. Can I do that with Guineas eggs are no?

3. Can I house them in this and move the tractor everyday? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172799

4. If dry incubateing guinea eggs is a nono then should I buy from here? http://www.guineafarm.com/descriptions.html


Thank you in Advance!

(Pictures are welcomed also!

)

 

[jcatblum]

Guineas will probally never cuddle with you the way a chicken will, but they are fun to watch as they run around in their flocks. Some people complain about their noise, but mine are quiet. I think it has to do with the space they have. I only hear them a couple of times a day & usually for only a few moments. We love ours, but I know they are not for everyone.

I use cattle pannel coops with some of my chickens. With the guineas the prefer to roost in trees so I have tree branches in there coop. But I am sure they would roost on anything you gave them. Think the biggest concern with the coop is that you only move it a tiny bit each day. They are really not bright birds. They would have a hard time finding there coop I think. Mine still struggle to find the door to their coop!

As far as dry hatching- it isn't an option here- but I do hatch guineas the same as I do my chicks - maybe someone else here has dry hatched.

 

[StevenW.]

Quote:
Thats okay if they don't want to be touched because none of the chickens like being touched either. I'm not worried about the noise since some people around here have those huge jacked up trucks that make a lot of noise and they like to drive 100 down our road! (I'm ready to put some kind of strips on that road! It's ridiculous!)

Theres plenty of trees to roost on our property but there's also a bunch of stray dogs and cats.
(The tractor will help my grandma out a lot since shes getting older and still mows 5 acres once a week and we are getting worried about her when shes out mowing in the 100 degree weather. We always keep an eye on her just incase something happens.)

I would love for them to free range but dont want to chance it since we've lost chickens and ducks to strays.

Now that's funny that they can't find the door to the coop! That made me wake the dog up from laughing!

Thank you for answering my questions!

I would also like to hear from others because I want to get all the info before I take the plunge.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL Cant answer the hatching question. I can pose some thoughts about keeping them in a tractor though. Where do the ticks live? In my neck of the woods we don't have grass we have Chaparral. And the ticks hang around on the undersides of the leaves waiting for some critter to brush by and pick up a hitch hiker. I have come back through the Chaparral on horseback and had to pick between twenty and thirty newly deposited ticks off legs and belly of the horse. Very few were found below the knees. When my guineas free ranged they went into the chaparral and looked under the leaves for the tasty treats....

I did a little reading and the taller the brush or grass the more possibilities of having ticks. One strategy is to mow it short.... Maybe grandma has the right idea.

You can teach the guineas to find their door. LOL. Best thing to do is put them a door on their coop as high up as you can with a landing board across the front of it. Or better yet put two or three doors with landing boards. Guineas are very good fliers and even better runners. What you can do is allow them to free range in the afternoon and just before bedtime feed them a treat like White millet. White millet is like crack to them.

I am raising up some youngsters right now and when they are old enough plan on conditioning them to hearing a noise either a bell or a whistle every time they get their millet. Then when they are old enough to free range for some time I will close off the feeders and let them out. Then when I want them to come in Give the signal and hopefully they will be jostling to get back in.

My last flock roosted in the tree at night. Kind of cute because here in the desert the trees are about head height.... The bobcats would go right up the tree after them. Sigh.... So this time I am going to try to take control of where they roost. We will see how well that works out.

 

[StevenW.]

There's hardly any trees around here since where are house and property use to be farmland and theres just a couple trees for shade. They are all in the grass and small bushes.
The ticks drive me crazy that's why I would like to get some guineas!

Anyone else have any suggestions? I would really like to know about the dry incubateing!

Thank you jcatblum and perchie.girl!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
This is what my Guineas will be in when I put them out in a tractor. I know they like to fly and roost so I will be adding lots of sticks and branches from our numerous brush piles in 2 corners of the tractor for them to have "life like" conditions.

 

[PeepsCA]

I agree with WestKnollAmy about the dry incubating... Guinea egg shells and membranes are really thick, and the lack of humidity might turn out disastrous and devastating. I'd be worried they'd lose too much moisture during the incubation and come lockdown/hatch time they might not be able to spin around in the shell to pip, zip and hatch without any issues. I've never tried it tho, I didn't want to risk a batch of eggs or keets dying while trying to hatch

If you try it, please post details of how it goes!

 

[StevenW.]

That is really really nice, Amy!

What are the dimensions for it? How many guineas would you think would fit in there?

I'm trying to find places that don't drop ship keets.


I really want to get Buff or Buff Dundottes!

 

[StevenW.]

Quote:
I might try Dry incubateing next year.

I think Keets will be a better way to go! Anyone else have anymore Pen designs or pictures?

 

[PeepsCA]

Check out this thread on a really well built hoop coop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=270088