Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[perchie.girl]

I came home yesterday to one of my guineas chasing any of the other guineas as much as possible. I think it would like to mate with whichever guinea will let him, male or female. At one point he had his beak attached to the back feathers of another guinea while still running. Apparently this had been going on for hours. I should have videoed the whole thing, but I had to go to my second job!

Males chase males showing off for the female... Look for the Girl thats ignoring them but keeping them in eyesight.... too funny.
Mating season has begun .....

deb

 

[guineapeeps]

This is super interesting, going to add all this to my Word file I'm compiling. So you just leave these wheelbarrows in the coop all the time then? This sounds good,

I have just hatched 26 keets from shipped eggs, and they are in their brooder. I hope this is my last guinea incubation. We are now working on building their permanent coop. We intend to use the cattle-panel hoop-coop idea (armored with 1/2" hardware cloth completely over the whole thing), and found great plans and instructions here on BYC. My question is the size. The BYC plans create an interior square footage of 9'x15.5' or so, for 139.5 total square feet. We've been told 4sf per guinea, and that comes out to a potential for 34 birds. Do you think this size is reasonable, or should we go bigger?

--Victoria

I am certainly no expert on sq ft per guinea, so someone else would be better to answer that. I try to only keep 20 guineas or less at a time but have had more a few times. My coop is an old clay tile building that was on our property and built in the 1920's. It is probably around 15x20 or so with an outside run that I use occasionally. My main concern with space is if they have enough room to roost comfortably at night or on cold snowy winter days as they free range all day most of the year. As DR said, they do like to roost high, if possible. Mine roost in the rafters of their coop which is about 6 ft high or so. (Before I moved them to this coop, they had a much smaller one with lower roosting bars that they made due with,though, and did not complain about).

Here are pictures of my coop for size comparisons. It was here when we bought our house so it was easy to make into the guinea's new home!



And I couldn't resist posting a picture of my 2 week old keets.....because they are just so darn cute! If only they could stay like that instead of morphing into vulture like adults!

 

[harley587]

Males chase males showing off for the female... Look for the Girl thats ignoring them but keeping them in eyesight.... too funny.
Mating season has begun .....

deb

OMG it is beyond hilarious!! We just sit on the front porch watching them go by as they head around back and come back to the front and zoom by us again ad infinitum!!

 

[harley587]

And I couldn't resist posting a picture of my 2 week old keets.....because they are just so darn cute! If only they could stay like that instead of morphing into vulture like adults!

AWWWW babies are so cute! Then again, it's the ugly homely vulture like heads that make them so adorable as adults!

 

[guineapeeps]

OMG it is beyond hilarious!! We just sit on the front porch watching them go by as they head around back and come back to the front and zoom by us again ad infinitum!!

I have two males that chase each other around and around and around the outside of the coop. Occasionally, they will switch places then the chaser will become the chasee. You think they would get dizzy and fall over eventually....it's like a never ending game! Entertaining, but crazy for sure!

 

[harley587]

I have two males that chase each other around and around and around the outside of the coop. Occasionally, they will switch places then the chaser will become the chasee. You think they would get dizzy and fall over eventually....it's like a never ending game! Entertaining, but crazy for sure!

We had a neighbor who was walking his dog, stopped right at our yard for about 15 minutes to stare at them going round and round!!

 

[Raybon Farms]

The 2 I have now were only a couple of weeks old I got them. I just assumed they would want to stay with the baby chicks, that I got at the same time, until I release them all when the chicks get old enough to go into the coop. I do have the option when I get the other 2-4 at what age I want them to be. So maybe I should get them as babies and get some of the chicks as babies also. I sure don't want the 2 I have to fly off and something happen to them. We are going to cut their wings and tail feathers so they can't fly as well as they could. I am very greatful that you told me about them maybe flying off. When I let them all out of their cage while I clean it they just walk around with the chicks and look for things to get into and try to see what I am doing, I never dreamed they might try to leave when I go to put them outside. The chicks fly and sit on the hens back and they will walk around with the chick on them like it is natural for them to be there.

We have been working on the coop, runs and yard to make it as safe as we can for the chicks and guineas. It will be about 4 to 5 months before the chicks will be old enough to be put in with the chickens. Hopefully I can get everything in order for them.

Thank you so much,
Bonnie Frank

 

[duluthralphie]

Again I have the odd Guineas. Mine seem to chase the roosters more than each other.


And before I forget. Who could not find a 2 week old Keet cute?


Back to my Guineas mating habits, they do chase each other, but more the roosters, Right now they have split up and no longer travel as a gang but are in two-somes and three-somes.

There was a hen yesterday about 20 ft from me as I was working outside. doing the " I am lost:" call. There were a couple males answering her about 200 ft away. I know she could see them, She was just being a demanding witch! I finally got tired of the racket and told her where the others were, pointed them out to her and chased her towards them. Of course, she just circled around me to stand where we started from yelling some more.

She did not shut up until the boys came to her. I am convinced she wanted to be a Diva and just prove she could make them come to her. I will be glad when September comes and the noise quiets down.


One of the boys made a little error in judgment. He decided to chase the turkey hen I grafted some BA chicks onto. She is plumb loco. I have cuts and bruises on my body from just feeding her and not getting out of her path fast enough. He decided to chase her and her babies into their "tractor". She went in, he ran in, and then she realized he was in her home.

He ran out extremely fast and without a lot of noise, until he was a safe distance away then he slowed down and started chattering and walking slow, as if to say ". I'm Bad. I'm bad, no one is tougher than me" I think the whole time he was proclaiming how bad he was, he had one eye on the turkey hen incase she decided to argue with him about it.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote: I'm not intending to keep the guineas locked up except for the period when you have to keep them locked in, 12 weeks or so? To make sure they stay? We'll add some kind of run for the lockup period but in general, after that, we have 29 acres that they'll have, we have a 13-acre field. I hope they don't wander into the road, that's my main worry, but I can't really fix that part. The coop is 6-ft tall according to the plans I have. Sorry for not including this information with my question.

I am certainly no expert on sq ft per guinea, so someone else would be better to answer that. I try to only keep 20 guineas or less at a time but have had more a few times. My coop is an old clay tile building that was on our property and built in the 1920's. It is probably around 15x20 or so with an outside run that I use occasionally. My main concern with space is if they have enough room to roost comfortably at night or on cold snowy winter days as they free range all day most of the year. As DR said, they do like to roost high, if possible. Mine roost in the rafters of their coop which is about 6 ft high or so. (Before I moved them to this coop, they had a much smaller one with lower roosting bars that they made due with,though, and did not complain about).

Darling littles! As I mentioned, the coop we have in mind to build is 6ft tall, but of course any roosts would have to be somewhat lower than that. We live in Southwest Mississippi and have zero snow, so the only time they will be in it is at night, we hope, and whenever else they might choose.

 

[guineapeeps]

I'm not intending to keep the guineas locked up except for the period when you have to keep them locked in, 12 weeks or so? To make sure they stay? We'll add some kind of run for the lockup period but in general, after that, we have 29 acres that they'll have, we have a 13-acre field.  I hope they don't wander into the road, that's my main worry, but I can't really fix that part.  The coop is 6-ft tall according to the plans I have. Sorry for not including this information with my question.


Darling littles!  As I mentioned, the coop we have in mind to build is 6ft tall, but of course any roosts would have to be somewhat lower than that.  We live in Southwest Mississippi and have zero snow, so the only time they will be in it is at night, we hope, and whenever else they might choose.

I'm certainly no expert, but it sounds like your coop plans would be just fine for your Guineas, especially since they will be free range most of the time. Like I said in a previous post, before my current coop, my Guineas roosted only a few feet off the ground and did Not complain or take to roosting in the trees in protest. For their time locked up to get used to their new coop, I would think 6 weeks would be plenty. Maybe someone else could give their opinion on this as well, though? As for the road, I wouldn't worry too much. I only have 5 acres but my Guineas roam the surrounding corn and soybean fields and I see them crossing the road fairly frequently. During harvest time, there are always trucks racing down our gravel road, but the Guineas seem to scatter quickly. Over the last several years, I've only lost one to road kill.