Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[BlueMouse]

we got them from JM hatchery.

we don't have any electric to any outbuildings right now, so no heat. They have a cozy home in a tractor, but it's not exactly insulated and draft proof. one half of it is enclosed and weather proofed, one half is open. That's for the ones we're NOT keeping. the six we're keeping will go into a giant dog crate in the henhouse for six weeks. I am hoping that six will be enough that they won't pick on the others. Our daytime temperatures are in the sixties through the seventies right now, but it's in the 30's and 40's at night still. Too chilly for little critters if they can't control their body temperatrue. I'm only eager to move them out so they'll have more room. they're starting to get cramped a bit in the brooder.

 

[kynewbchickie]

Well, I'm sorry, but we do clip wings. I guess that's one of those personal choice things. I cannot cover a pasture that big, and running more pasture fencing this season isn't going to happen, budget-wise.

 

[PeepsCA]

Well, I'm sorry, but we do clip wings. I guess that's one of those personal choice things. I cannot cover a pasture that big, and running more pasture fencing this season isn't going to happen, budget-wise.

Yah, I get it. I just don't feel that clipping a mostly wild bird's wings is right for Guineas (I'm also against pinioning). I'd rather just not have Guineas at all, vs clipping (or pinioning) their wings to make my life more convenient.

IMO clipping wings applies only to birds like parakeets, cockatiels etc that are raised in cages their entire lives in someone's home, not Guineas or any other breed of poultry that will need the flight feathers to be able to escape predators while they are free ranging in a pasture.

And I'm sorry too... for your birds.

 

[kynewbchickie]

I'm sorry you felt the need to be condescending towards someone else's flock management technique, too.

 

[JanO]

I don't want to seem like I'm ruffling anyone's tail feathers here, but I don't think stating a personal opinion is condescending. Having said that, I also have a problem with clipping feathers simply because if push comes to shove I want my birds to have every advantage when it comes to predators. My opinion isn't based on any specific reason other than the fact that if they need to fly up to the trees for some reason I want them to have that option. It's not bad or good management to clip or not clip, it's a personal preference that most people choose to practice. Nobody expects a pasture to be covered, but if they are in that pasture and a coyote or some other predator shows up looking for a meal I like the idea that they can get out of harms way and live another day.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:

I'm sorry you felt the need to be condescending towards someone else's flock management technique, too.

I'm not being condescending, if anything you're being overly defensive.

I'd just really hate to see 100+ posts over the next few months about people new to Guineas clipping wings of their Guineas and losing them all to predators because they saw it here on this thread and thought that it might be a good idea as far as keeping their Guineas home and safe. It's not.

And it's not my opinion, it's fact. Guineas are roamers by nature and cover a lot of space, they aren't happy in small areas, and fences do not/will not contain them, even with clipped wings. When they decide they want out they will still flap their clipped wings, scale the fence, (and then forget how to get back over).... then they are extra vulnerable to being taken by predators because they no longer have the ability to take flight to escape in a panic situation.

Best of luck with your flock.

 

[kynewbchickie]

Saying you feel sorry for my birds felt condescending. My setup isn't based on my convenience; rather what we can afford. My grandmother just lost every guinea she had on her farm (17) that were free-ranging with a barn as their coop, non-clipped wings, to coyotes two nights ago. They don't have electric fencing like we do. They also ranged on 150+ acres, whereas we have just under 3 acres that is completely fenced with both electric and barbed-wire due to cattle on either side of me, with dig-prevention and rock lining the outside. Maybe it IS a bad call for anyone to clip any poultry's flight feathers, but I've known plenty who do it successfully for a short time, including my parents. I grew up with chickens, peafowl, and turkey that had their flight feathers clipped for the first season of being turned out in order to keep them "home" - then my parents allowed each annual molt - next year, new flight feathers, birds used to "home" territory and boundaries, no problems. The only predator attack we encountered was well-after they'd grown new flight feathers, and we lost a couple of chickens and a pea hen to a neighbor's dog that got into the yard and their shed by way of a loose gate hinge by the house. The 2 or 3 roos attacking him didn't phase him, but a Ruger stopped him.

I never said what we were personally doing was applicable for anyone else; yet for some reason it's awful for me to follow what I grew up doing and advice from someone here who's not lost one to roaming in the 17 years he's been following his own advice with the guineas he raises for meat. Everyone's personal flock management and setup is different, and while some of you have far more experience in this (which I've come to value greatly), we have a difference that I can agree to disagree on, and move on. I can't afford to build a covered run that size, let alone buy aviary netting for it to keep them in our yard.

Losses are going to happen. Predators are going to happen. I'd rather keep them in my yard for the first season so they don't run off and are exposed to further danger outside the boundaries we have in place to try our best to keep all our birds safe.

 

[itsjustme]

i agree its about personal prefrence. I don't clip my birds wings. Turkeys, peacocks, chickens,ducks, guineas, everything but ducks and chickens free range 24/7. Chickens get let out in the mornings get locked up when they go in to rooste. I have lost 1 guinea to predators. I still don't no what got it I just found feathers. I've delt with stray cats, bob cats, coyotes, hawks, owls, and even had a mishap wth my own dogs. I was given some chickens with clipped wings. They kept somewhat lopsidedley flying up onto the fence then just hopping over it. I lost 3 of them( to hawks) I had 2 ducks that did free range disappeared in the middle of the night ( not at the same time) no clipped wings never even found a feather! The way I done my guineas was I got them as babies kept them in the brooder brought them out into a fully inclosed pen when it was nice. When they got big enough to stay out they stayed in a pen with a higher fence but not high enough but they were so.use to me they just followed me around and if I was in the house they were on my front porch like little spies peeking in my windows all the time. This is their first breeding season they are all over the place. They know this is home and are always close enough that I can see them. It also helps to be able to call them. I go out yelling chick chick chick they no its time to come in and I give them treats for doing so. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to raise their animals. Just trying to give a few helpful suggestions maybe?

 

[kynewbchickie]

Thanks for the suggestions and your experiences. It seems the commonality in all flock management techniques is that predators are very difficult to circumvent completely - both here in many threads for many different species, and here locally, too. An old man who's raised just about every kind of poultry/fowl/livestock you can in our area told me "you gotta think like all the predators in this area - then you might have a shot of outsmarting them."

I'd give anything to be able to afford completely covered pastures right now, as that would be ideal for just about any poultry you raise where I live. Hawks and owls are horrible out here, even buzzards, if hungry enough, will swoop down and attack a sluggish bird (never thought they would eat anything still living). We should have enough money saved up to buy aviary netting to stretch over the three pastures we have by the end of this coming winter after we raise the fence height another 2'. We're moving the big coop, as we found out that the property plat lied about the location of the septic tank - which will allow us to build the Ameraucana breeder coop and pasture right next door to the layer/guinea pasture and share a larger section of netting. Now, to figure out how to move a 1000 lb building, slightly uphill about 30 feet away, that has no wheels on its base.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

I have nine guineas who will be a year old this July. They are driving my husband crazy with the yammering. Please tell me they'll calm down once they get to a year (which I think I read somewhere, and which he is holding me to as he works from home and they set off their squawking at the slightest breeze changing direction...). Anyone know?

I don't know how much free-range area you have for them, but the only reason they don't drive us nuts is that we have 34 acres that keeps them busy. I can hear them from an acre away when they get to squawking. I guess what I'm leading up to here is, no, it doesn't get better, in my experience.....it's just the way guineas operate. Love my Little Mafia.