Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[TarheelBirdy]

Could you get some sort of movable fence? I'm thinking of getting "poultry fencing" from here for my chickens/guineas (when they're old enough) just so I can keep them within a certain boundary, but still let them out to play.

It's a good idea, but it's already what we have - they live in a building that opens out to a small fenced/covered yard.

 

[Mmmaddie13]

Mine is that way as well. I don't let my chickens free range currently because they have been getting snatched up by coyotes in the daytime (stupid dogs). But I am thinking of putting the fencing up so that they have a huge area to roam around in, which is pretty much free-ranging, just within boundaries I guess.

 

[JacqueOCS]

I know they will....and I want that for them. I just wonder if they will join up with our free-range guineas who roost in trees instead of coming back to their pen....and therefore become predator-bait. These are my breeding stock. Still, I don't want to see them stress any more, and I think it's due to a lack of free-ranging.

Hopefully they come back to the pen being they know that as "home." We kept ours in a large pen inside the chicken coop for about a month. The person I bought them from instructed us to do that. He said they'd see the chickens going out but then back in at night to roost. Thank goodness it worked out for us. Good luck!!

 

[stevhoff]

My 2 guinea hens have started laying-2 eggs/day and I think I lucked out because just prior to the guineas laying, one of my chickens went broody. So now I'm keeping all the guinea eggs under the hen. Now I've read that once a clutch of eggs are laid by a guinea, she will go broody and set on them, but my question is doesn't the prolonged cold period the eggs go through prior to the hen setting cause the eggs to go bad? Also I would imagine my eggs won't hatch all at once,so while one or 2 hatch, does the hen leave the nest to tend to the hatchlings and ignoe the eggs remaining? Should I take a newly hatched keet and put it in a brooder box waiting for the others to hatch and keep adding to the brooder as the keets hatch or leave then all with the hen? I keep my guineas together with the chickens and they get along pretty well, would the keets know enough to follow the guinea hens around or stay with the chicken hatching them? If I keep the keets with the rest of the flock, how do I keep the chick feed from being eaten by the other birds?

I'm new to this so I have a lot of questions. Live in Paonia,CO and its still getting subfreezing here at night. My first guinea egg was laid on Easter Sunday so I'm looking at first hatch I guess around April 27-29. The guineas are laying on the floor of the chicken coop, wondering if I should leave eggs there and let one of the guinea hens start sitting on them when she feels ready.

I bought 1 male and 2 female guineas from a family that was moving to the front range, they told me last year that only one hen laid and they lost all they hatched. I want to raise the keets for sale and eating and at the rate they're laying now, I think I'm going to haver lots of keets! Any advice /answers are greatly appreciated.

 

[KrisH]

My 2 guinea hens have started laying-2 eggs/day and I think I lucked out because just prior to the guineas laying, one of my chickens went broody. So now I'm keeping all the guinea eggs under the hen. Now I've read that once a clutch of eggs are laid by a guinea, she will go broody and set on them, but my question is doesn't the prolonged cold period the eggs go through prior to the hen setting cause the eggs to go bad? Also I would imagine my eggs won't hatch all at once,so while one or 2 hatch, does the hen leave the nest to tend to the hatchlings and ignoe the eggs remaining? Should I take a newly hatched keet and put it in a brooder box waiting for the others to hatch and keep adding to the brooder as the keets hatch or leave then all with the hen? I keep my guineas together with the chickens and they get along pretty well, would the keets know enough to follow the guinea hens around or stay with the chicken hatching them? If I keep the keets with the rest of the flock, how do I keep the chick feed from being eaten by the other birds?

I'm new to this so I have a lot of questions. Live in Paonia,CO and its still getting subfreezing here at night. My first guinea egg was laid on Easter Sunday so I'm looking at first hatch I guess around April 27-29. The guineas are laying on the floor of the chicken coop, wondering if I should leave eggs there and let one of the guinea hens start sitting on them when she feels ready.

I bought 1 male and 2 female guineas from a family that was moving to the front range, they told me last year that only one hen laid and they lost all they hatched. I want to raise the keets for sale and eating and at the rate they're laying now, I think I'm going to haver lots of keets! Any advice /answers are greatly appreciated.

Read the document at the link several times http://www.brinsea.com/pdffiles/Brinsea_Handbook.pdf

it is a guide to incubating, but explains a lot about eggs in general.

I would suggest gathering about a week or so of eggs, then let your broody at em. no, the eggs won't go bad. we have nor had guineas gather scattered eggs, only sit on the ones in or very near a nest. guinea hens don't make very good mothers (without confinement), so we generally gather up the keets and brood them inside.

RobertH

 

[kynewbchickie]

I bought my first guinea chicks a couple of days ago from the Scioto County Fair in OH. They are PRECIOUS!

This thread has been a lifesaver for me - from temp to feeding and care - I hope to have 5 healthy, happy Pearl Guinea fowl running around the yard later this year!

My father in law talked me into getting them as we have a lot of hawks out here. My dog is rather lazy and doesn't bark, and he's the biggest "chicken" of the bunch (that's saying something for a pit bull)!

Thank all of you for your very insightful, informative posts here. I look forward to learning from all of you!

 

[kynewbchickie]

I'm sorry to have to point this out, but this is incorrect info regarding the brooder temps required for keets...

Keets from hatch to 1 wk old initially need their brooder temp to be 95 degrees (only at ONE end so they can get away from it if they get too hot), then with each week of age the temp needs to be lowered 5 degrees until brooder temps and night time temps are the same, or until they reach 6 weeks old when they are close to being fully feathered. Depending on your weather you may not need to provide heat for the full 6 weeks, but in some areas they may need a heat source a little longer. Sometimes you only need a light for warmth at night.

You can lower the temp by raising the light, or using a lower watt bulb. Regular white light bulbs work fine, you do not have to use a red heat lamp type bulb. Measure the temp on the floor in the center of the brooder lamp glow.

Cold keets develop slowly, aren't as active/lively as they should be and their immune systems aren't as strong as keets that are kept at the proper temps.

So the way I raised/brooded my full-size chicken babies should work. That's good, because I'm familiar with that now!
I was a hawkeye when it came to that thermometer. We noticed one of the babies heaving really hard and fast once we got them home and put the light on them...immediately recognized the behavior as overheating. We raised the lamp, checked the thermometer again, and slid the brooder over to where the lamp is in one corner of the box, over one end of the smaller box in the brooder where the guineas are. We released the 30 6-week-old chickens yesterday into their coop and pasture, so all we have in the house now are the guinea babies.

I'll be sure to watch them closely and adjust their feed when needed. It's good to know they'll do well on chick starter/grower for their first 12 weeks, and I can switch them right around the time I switch the chickens to their layer ration!

 

[PeepsCA]

Congrats on your new keets, but... if you are feeding chick starter, your keets should be raised on high protein Turkey, Game Bird or Pheasant starter (optimally with around 28% protein content) and should not be raised on chick starter. Keets do not have the same nutritional requirements as chicks, their nutritional needs are closer to Turkey poults and Pheasant chicks, not the typical domestic backyard chicken breeds.

On lower protein starter feeds the keets will grow slower, feather out slower, they can develop fatty deposits on and around their organs, have fertility and laying issues (fat Hens are more prone to egg binding) once they mature, not to mention they may face shortened lifespans due to numerous other health issues that are caused by improper nutrition. And when raised with other baby poultry they may start cannibalizing them and feather picking to make up for the lack of protein.

 

[nailladi]

That depends on if they are free ranging or not. They will find what they need if they are out of the pen some.

 

[kynewbchickie]

Congrats on your new keets, but... if you are feeding chick starter, your keets should be raised on high protein Turkey, Game Bird or Pheasant starter (optimally with around 28% protein content) and should not be raised on chick starter. Keets do not have the same nutritional requirements as chicks, their nutritional needs are closer to Turkey poults and Pheasant chicks, not the typical domestic backyard chicken breeds.

On lower protein starter feeds the keets will grow slower, feather out slower, they can develop fatty deposits on and around their organs, have fertility and laying issues (fat Hens are more prone to egg binding) once they mature, not to mention they may face shortened lifespans due to numerous other health issues that are caused by improper nutrition. And when raised with other baby poultry they may start cannibalizing them and feather picking to make up for the lack of protein.

After talking with one of my grannies-in-law who has guineas on her farm, she said I should try to find some game bird starter. I went to every feed store today within an hour's drive to find some and all I found was adult game bird feed.
I'll have to order some in; I found some online from the company I'm ordering my chick grower/OEGB feed from. When I place my order next week, I'll definitely order them some of that. Larger feed orders with that company give discounts on shipping (I'm in KY, they're in CA) and just one bag of feed is ridiculously high to ship and would take about a week to get here. :/

Thank you for your help! I'm letting them have boiled mashed egg every night starting tomorrow night - will that help for the interim?