Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[guineapeeps]

I know there's controversy about letting guineas live completely free-range, but that's what farmers in our area commonly do, and what I'm planning to do with mine once they're grown and more likely to stay on our property. We have them for tick control, not for pets or for eggs. I have tried to provide them with shelter while they're penned in my garden, and they seem to want nothing to do with it. Even a huge dog kennel with good ventilation and no door - they absolutely never go in it, even in a massive, violent, destructive lightning/wind/rain storm we had a few nights ago. I went out to check on them and they were all just sitting there getting SOAKED rather than go into the shelter. They will sit in the shade (outside the shelter, never in it!) during the heat of the day, but that's the most cover I have seen them seek. Sssssooooo.... clearly a traditional coop won't make them happy. I had bought a huge wooden crate, intending to make it into a coop for them, like I would for my chickens, but now I think I need something different. What kind of shelter would be useful for guineas, to encourage them to seek shelter from wind/rain/snow/cold (or hawks!), if they needed to? Just a wind break type of thing? A covered porch with open sides? Does anyone have a shelter that your guineas willingly go into, and you can share pictures with me? Thanks!

My coop was an old clay tile building in our property. It had rafters that were around 8 feet or so. Guineas like to roost up high and are very flighty so they don't like to go into small enclosed spaces. They also like to roost up very high....the higher the better. That may be why they won't go in to the crate. If you could build a taller enclosed or partially enclosed coop with good ventilation, you would probably be more successful in getting them inside of it. Im sure some people on this thread could provide some good plans and ideas for building a coop.
As for regretting getting the guineas...if you got them for pest control, I don't think you'll have regrets. They do an awesome job of getting rid of ticks, grasshoppers, crickets, etc. Although I can't speak for duluthralphie, I think it's an individual preference and I never regretted getting mine...I loved having them!

 

[R2elk]

Uh-oh. Now that I have half-grown guineas, I find a thread that makes it sound like I may regret them? Why did you get rid of your guineas? I tried to read backward and find that thread, but with a few minutes of clicking, I didn't find it.

Ralphie got rid of his guineas because he is NPIP certified. His guineas refused to stay home and were always visiting the neighbors and their non-NPIP flock which constantly endangered his disease free poultry. He had the guineas for insect and tick control which they could not do if they were kept confined. Without confining them, he was endangering his NPIP status.

 

[guineapeeps]

Guineas like to roost high. It is very unlikely they will be satisfied with a shelter that is low. I put a big skylight in when building my guinea coop. The guineas seem to really like roosting in the rafters under the skylight especially on cold winter days that are sunny. I also only feed and water the guineas in the coop which also encourages them to use the coop.

Nice coop....I love how tall it is and the skylight is a great idea!

 

[perchie.girl]

Ralphie got rid of his guineas because he is NPIP certified. His guineas refused to stay home and were always visiting the neighbors and their non-NPIP flock which constantly endangered his disease free poultry. He had the guineas for insect and tick control which they could not do if they were kept confined. Without confining them, he was endangering his NPIP status.

Makes sense....

 

[perchie.girl]

My very first guinea setup had perches at six feet.... (as high as I could get them) they loved it... Some of my bantams did too.... LOL.

I love your coop @R2elk

Its to hot here to do a fully enclosed one and not cold enough to worry about it...

deb

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

My very first guinea setup had perches at six feet.... (as high as I could get them) they loved it... Some of my bantams did too.... LOL.

I love your coop @R2elk

Its to hot here to do a fully enclosed one and not cold enough to worry about it...

deb

We can have horrible cold weather, but our neighbors with guineas don't have a coop for them (the guineas have the option of going in with their many hundreds of free-range egg-laying hens, as they have huge, tall, hoop frame hen houses that the hens go into at night), but the guineas stay outdoors year-round, despite weather extremes. They are apparently pretty hardy, along the lines of the wild turkeys we have in abundance around here. I wanted to provide shelter for them, just to be careful/kind/compassionate ... but I don't want to go to great expense or effort if the birds will just ignore the shelter. So gotta plan for something that will appeal to their high-roosting, light-seeking inclination, I guess!

 

[perchie.girl]

my coops are dog kennel panels with Tarps stretched for shade. There is a gal who made a cattle panel coop for her guineas here on this thread I believe... and it is Awesome.

She first ran cattle panels length wise supported by T posts... then took more cattle panels to make the hoop part. I think it wound up being around nine feet tall.

deb

 

[duluthralphie]

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My coop was an old clay tile building in our property. It had rafters that were around 8 feet or so. Guineas like to roost up high and are very flighty so they don't like to go into small enclosed spaces. They also like to roost up very high....the higher the better. That may be why they won't go in to the crate. If you could build a taller enclosed or partially enclosed coop with good ventilation, you would probably be more successful in getting them inside of it. Im sure some people on this thread could provide some good plans and ideas for building a coop.
As for regretting getting the guineas...if you got them for pest control, I don't think you'll have regrets. They do an awesome job of getting rid of ticks, grasshoppers, crickets, etc. Although I can't speak for duluthralphie, I think it's an individual preference and I never regretted getting mine...I loved having them!

R2elk got my answer correctly. Had I not had the NPIP conflict I would have not gotten rid of mine. The other thing I had in play is a busy county road where they use to hang out and practice highway robbery. I would lose 15-20 a year to cars and trucks.

I had a high coop for them much like R2elks but not as refined, they stayed in it with no problem. It just did not make sense to have guineas I could not use for tick control and free range.

We have thought about building in the back of my 40, if I did so I would be 1/4 mile from the road, I might try guineas at that time again. I miss their hi-jinks but not there killing themselves..

Without them the bugs and ticks are noticeably thicker this year.

 

[R2elk]

My very first guinea setup had perches at six feet.... (as high as I could get them) they loved it... Some of my bantams did too.... LOL.

I love your coop @R2elk

Its to hot here to do a fully enclosed one and not cold enough to worry about it...

deb

My perches start with a set of stairs at 1' and 2'. The first perch is at 4', the next at 6' followed by the rafters at approximately 8'. The guineas work their way up and spend the nights in the rafters.

The coop has a window on the south side and a door and window on the east side. The windows are kept cracked open all winter to provide some ventilation even when the temps get down to -30°F. The coop is 8' wide by 12' long.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

R2elk got my answer correctly. Had I not had the NPIP conflict I would have not gotten rid of mine. The other thing I had in play is a busy county road where they use to hang out and practice highway robbery. I would lose 15-20 a year to cars and trucks.

I had a high coop for them much like R2elks but not as refined, they stayed in it with no problem. It just did not make sense to have guineas I could not use for tick control and free range.

We have thought about building in the back of my 40, if I did so I would be 1/4 mile from the road, I might try guineas at that time again. I miss their hi-jinks but not there killing themselves..

Without them the bugs and ticks are noticeably thicker this year.

We live on 80 acres, and our driveway is 1/3 mile from the road, so I hope our birds will stay reasonably safe. I will have to think about a high shelter for them - we want them to have the option of getting out of severe winter storms or the hottest summer sun. But I am very glad to hear that they were doing enough of a job of tick control that you can notice their absence. We have just started to see a few ticks in the spring and fall here, when there used to be absolutely ZERO in our area. We would like to have a management plan in place (not including chemical spraying, because we don't want to harm bees and butterflies!!) before the tick population gets thick.

I was really excited today when a truck came up the driveway, and even quite far from the driveway, in their garden patch pen, they kicked up an unholy racket, letting me know that someone had come. Living remotely like we do, we like to know when someone approaches. You won't end up casually driving past here, so either someone has come to see us specifically, is lost, or is trying to sell something. In any case, we want to know about it. I am happy to see them considering our area "theirs" to guard :-D