Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[duluthralphie]

If you built a huge, netted enclosure over your garden, could you keep these fellows in there free range for pest control?

I would think if you covered your garden with fence and a net they would stay in the pen/garden.. I am not sure how many plants would be alive after a couple weeks.. When they finished killing the bugs they would turn to destroying the garden. I have a 50x50 pen I keep guineas in during breeding season, When I first put them in (about a dozen) it took about 3 weeks until I have dead barren ground where there use to be sod and weeds.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

I would think if you covered your garden with fence and a net they would stay in the pen/garden.. I am not sure how many plants would be alive after a couple weeks.. When they finished killing the bugs they would turn to destroying the garden. I have a 50x50 pen I keep guineas in during breeding season, When I first put them in (about a dozen) it took about 3 weeks until I have dead barren ground where there use to be sod and weeds.

Alright, so you'd have to rotate them to new pastures fairly regularly, depending on the size of the garden and the size of the flock?

 

[duluthralphie]

How would you move them from pen to pen?

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

How would you move them from pen to pen?

A mobile coop of some sort, like a chicken tractor.

 

[duluthralphie]

A mobile coop of some sort, like a chicken tractor.

Have you discussed this idea with your guineas, to see what they have to say about it?

You do know Guineas are not at all like chickens?

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

Have you discussed this idea with your guineas, to see what they have to say about it?

You do know Guineas are not at all like chickens?

I have none at the moment, so not yet.

And yes, they are significantly wilder, much better at flying, less inclined to become friendly. Have to be captured and handled differently. I have read that they can be acclimated to dwelling in a coop though.

 

[guineapeeps]

If you built a huge, netted enclosure over your garden, could you keep these fellows in there free range for pest control?

My guinea are free range during the day and spend a lot of time in my garden. They don't bother the plants at all but then they are not penned in and move on once they've had their fill of garden pests. I think they would make a mess of the garden with their dirt baths, droppings, and nest making, at the very least. You could rotate their location frequently which would help with this. If your planning on a chicken tractor, would it have a roosting areas? Guineas really like to roost up high and would not be happy to have to sleep on the ground at night. I would also be concerned about predators at night with just netting and no actual flooring to keep predators from digging under.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

My guinea are free range during the day and spend a lot of time in my garden. They don't bother the plants at all but then they are not penned in and move on once they've had their fill of garden pests. I think they would make a mess of the garden with their dirt baths, droppings, and nest making, at the very least. You could rotate their location frequently which would help with this. If your planning on a chicken tractor, would it have a roosting areas? Guineas really like to roost up high and would not be happy to have to sleep on the ground at night. I would also be concerned about predators at night with just netting and no actual flooring to keep predators from digging under.

Yes, the coop would be relatively tall with a floor 3-4 feet above the ground, and the perches another 4-5 feet above that. Made up of 2X4s and thick plywood with meshed windows.
The coop is more a mobile house than the run, which will be the garden and parts of the yard, fenced in well with netting overhead to prevent raptor predation. The fencing for any area with fowl will be sunk into the ground 1.5-2 feet, with cinderblocks or an equivalent on the outside, also sunk in to surface level.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

My guinea are free range during the day and spend a lot of time in my garden. They don't bother the plants at all but then they are not penned in and move on once they've had their fill of garden pests. I think they would make a mess of the garden with their dirt baths, droppings, and nest making, at the very least. You could rotate their location frequently which would help with this. If your planning on a chicken tractor, would it have a roosting areas? Guineas really like to roost up high and would not be happy to have to sleep on the ground at night. I would also be concerned about predators at night with just netting and no actual flooring to keep predators from digging under.

The plan would be to have a panel of dancing I could move aside, and push the coop against it and let them into the protected area, then when I needed to rotate their pasture I would move the coop at night when they were all closed up.

 

[duluthralphie]

Guineas like to roost 15-40 ft in the air, not 3-4.

Guineas would not take kindly to being moved like a common chicken in a tractor.

They do great in a garden if allowed to come and go. Guineas are contrary birds. they will like anything you do not want them to like.

They will attack other birds, dogs, cats and almost anything. They are fearless.

They really need a lot of room to roam. A tractor would not be good for them.


Read this ad from Craigslist. It is not mine but I got a chuckle out of it

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/grd/5918291881.html

I am not sure you are prepared for the guinea adventure. When Breeding season comes Guinea behavior goes from contrary to rude, mean and dangerous to other critters.

There is a person on here @BantyChooks Talk to her about guineas. She had them for a short time. Many people have them a SHORT time.

How close are your neighbors? If it is not 1/4 mile or your neighbors do not mind the noise I would say do not get them, I have seen mine over 1/4 mile from the coop. Training a guinea does not happen..\

Sorry if this seems cruel but it is a fact. I have a friend that got guineas from me, until they decided to have a turkey dinner. A turkey is no match for guineas... They are the piranha of the bird world.