Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[Tacampbell1973]

I have three Guineas and one of them just laid the first egg wow is it small .......
How can I tell the mails from the females ,,,,, approximant age 5 months ........

Hello, just wanted to let you know what i learned,,, yes you can tell the male from female bytheir call, but this wont occur until about 2- 3 months. the female will call a distinctive two syllable call that some describe sounds like buckweat. however i say it sounds like soo wee soo wee. but to each their own eh> the male will have a one syllable sound, but just easier to pick the femalees and assume the rest are male... so far so good with me. i have five male five female and have paired off to mate,..bless their little pearl hearts... so come spring i think i will be crawling with guinea fowl and chickens. so be it... good luck.btw the guinea egg IS a lot smaller than large fowl egg by half...

 

[Tikkijane]

I knew they would get it... but dont be surprised if they forget some days... I have days where i have to go look for a pair or two at twilight. I always feed at 3:30 or 4 pm and then coop them in the \run at 430 to 5pm then shut the actual coop door at 6 to 8 pm depending on weather. they are like two year olds. some days they go in with no prob, some days i get two in and four run back out. I love them dearly though. dont get me wrong. I raised these babies from hatch and each one has a name and a legband and an identity that is completley unique. just like kids. of those i raised three... ask Granny Hatchett, and Starkasm too. These are some of the craziest fowl you will ever encounter  but also they are the sweetest and the most primitive too. Dont expect a lap pet like a chicken. But do expect a beautiful strange bird that will shreik to make your eardrum bleed for no reason whatsoever, but that will look to you for food, comfort, safety and guidance, beyond that, not much more than a big pearl bug catcher that will make you love it.....and you will, guaranteed... have fun

I am prettu sure I'll never be without them. Coop changing wasn't in the original plan, but stuff like that rarely is.

My guinea kids are actually pretty easy going for guineas, lol. They will hop in a lap once in blue moon and will allow a brief pet. They don't even care that I'm standing right there to let them out in the morning.

My nesting boxes are all in the chicken side of the coop. They will go in there periodically- they have a hardware cloth door between the sections as well as the top being open so they can share hest- point being, they are around and mix well with the chickens overall (with tge exception of a single white male we've affectionately named Dinner who terrorizes the girls; catching them by the tail, etc.

In a perfect world, they would lay in the nesting boxes on that side of the coop. I just know I'll lose them if they nest outside somewhere because we have so many predators (including two of my young dogs).

 

[Tikkijane]

*heat*- so they can share heat. *sigh*. Mine do the round and round before they pretty much all hop in. The last one in every night is one of the lavendar girlies who lost her mate last summer. She still calls and looks for him all the time. So, so sad.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
That was susanj's bird not mine. good advice tho!

 

[Tikkijane]

Ugh. So I'm down a guinea.

No idea why. I did my usual head count at bedtime and a royal purple is missing. I don't know who is gone, but if it's a she, could it be a nest even though it's February? Wouldn't the mate have stayed with her? They have a history of chasing a royal purple, but I don't know if it's the same one. I did see some chasing today, but I have no idea when it disappeared, and I was outside most of the day {babysitting a burn pile, etc}. Besides the hay guy, they didn't really get alerted to anything today. Anyone have guineas who've killed another or otherwise chased it off? We spent over 2 hours looking in the dark; no body; no pile of feathers. I checked about 1/4 mile of the road on either side of the property in the event it was road kill or otherwise injured.

Did it run away and join the circus? There is a flock of wild guineas around here somewhere, but I haven't seen them in a while. There's also a large flock of wild turkeys.

Will wee little hawks get a guinea? Including two of my young dogs, there are a boat load of predators out here; owls, fox, coyotes, coons, possum, mink; the bobcat that hangs out at the end of the driveway; and probably more that I'm forgetting. I have not had good luck with guineas out overnight; most don't come back and I find the bodies later. Has anyone really had success with a hidden nest? Gah. I'm just really worried, and not even so much so about the freezing temps tonight.

Thoughts?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

she is not nesting this time of yr. look up. she is more then likely in a tree roosting because of others picking on her.

 

[Tikkijane]

she is not nesting this time of yr. look up. she is more then likely in a tree roosting because of others picking on her.

Not any trees that we could see- spent over two hours looking. 'Course, there are hundreds of acres here, combo of fields and woods. If she's in a tree, it's out there. I do hope she comes back.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

did you find her?

 

[Tikkijane]

did you find her?

Nope. The others are looking for her today.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

i am sorry