Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

What color is this guinea? Can guineas be tamed easily?

 

[Robo]

I think it might be a pearl, but I am no expert. I didn't know you had guineas.

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

I don't, i just wanted to know what kind it was!!

Are the tamed easily?

 

[zazouse]

It's a lavender and they can be tamed but keeping them tame takes daily handling.

 

[candy023]

We raised some guinea fowl along with our chickens, a mixture of roosters and hens, turned out to be a huge mistake. We started with 8, but 6 flew the coop early and headed for the woods. We eventually relocated the 2 that stayed behind because they were terrorizing the hens, would not even let them out of the hen house all day and would bite and chase them if they tried to come out. Now that winter is coming 4 of the 6 have returned from the woods and are worse than the 2 we recently relocated. Since they are so wild it is impossible to catch them and I am concerned about the hens safety with them around. Any suggestions?

 

[xchickenpetx]

we raised our guineas with turkeys they need the same amount of protein when babies and they seem to follow what ever the turkeys do. So they really stuck around and don't go into the road much more then any other bird we have. i would suggest clipping the wings of the keets when you let them out cause them bad boys can fly! And they do not die when it's less then 95* before they are fully feathered... we only kept them that warm the 1st week same as chickens and went down every week. i suggest raising them with another more domesticated bird though if you want them to stick around cause the 1st thing they do when there are on there own is run away! and they are near impossible to catch and can hide VERY well even the white ones. good luck with them they are very interesting to have around

 

[BlakesFarm]

We started out with 6 guinea fowl a year ago and I loved them. Although a dog got in and killed all of them I plan to get more guinea fowl (5) and we are building a new coop.


They would free range from 3:00 pm until night, and they would go into there coop on there own. On the weekends and during summer I would usually let them out at lunchtime, sometimes Ive let them out first thing in the morning (to see what they will do). I kept them in there coop for a month and a half. They are great watch dogs, and I now learned what preditors I have and when they come,when the ups guy comes, mail lady, and vistors. Now that the guinea fowl are gone, I never know when a hawk or killer dog is near.

 

[Korben42]

Thanks for the picture Soccer Mom. I had been accusing all the smaller eggs I'd found of being from the banty hens but it seems the guineas have started laying too.

 

[PhoenixAngel429]

Good info! I am looking into getting some Guineas so this is helpful as I free range my chickens.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Guinea color question:


Two of the keets we recently bought have white flight feathers. One has 1 wf on one side and 3 on the other, the other keet has 4 solid white flight feathers on each side. Is this an indication of carrying the gene for Pied? No other white on them anywhere.