Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[Noor Waqar]

They need "see, cant touch" for a week or two longer. Able to fully see each other but cant actually touch (or peck), how old are all the birds now? Mine just started pairing and mating about 5 weeks ago, actually got my first keet hatch this weekend. Guinea are very slow to bond. My first 2 groups took almost a month to finally be social as a group. Cocks are fearless, will even take on a tom turkey! They are the most difficult IMO to add to a flock as an adult. They will pair up for attacks on other birds, and then turn around and attack each other!

Thanks for the advice and info. I had to get rid of the male, cause he was getting out of control. And i couldn't just risk the health of my hen. So i gave him away

. Now the guineas and happy and healthy.

 

[leslea]

Be sure she has access to grit. Thats all she needs to digest it.

She's got grit. She swallowed a ton of it when she downed the thing. Wish I'd seen it!

Everyone is acting fine this morning.

 

[leslea]

She bought them from a local place at 1-2 days. It's was a few days later it happened. So not that old. As a rule, I always cut up weeds, grass etc that I give babies. That or most often I give them a clump of grass with the dirt still attached and let them eat it at their leisure.

That's exactly what I did. Dug it up by the root.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Have my first broody guinea hen.. not budging UGH and not wanting this.. But may let her. Its my lavender hen, and she is paired with a lavender roo

I love the color! He is being fickle and already ran off with my pearl hen, so am really happy how this season is going.

 

[Kim Z]

I hope your broody hen has picked a safe spot and best of luck to you and her!

Our lavender was taken by a mink a few months ago and I miss her. She was stone deaf and by far the loudest guinea hen I have ever heard. We were suprised she lasted as long as she did. That neurotic girl was quite the character.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I hope your broody hen has picked a safe spot and best of luck to you and her!

Our lavender was taken by a mink a few months ago and I miss her. She was stone deaf and by far the loudest guinea hen I have ever heard. We were suprised she lasted as long as she did. That neurotic girl was quite the character.

Fortunately it is in their coop! She is settled into the nesting spot she made under my quail pens drawer. My pearl however is setting a nest under the box blade for the tractor. Hope we wont need it anytime soon! going to make a few more hiding spots in the coop.

 

[veggiegirl]

When the Hens in your flock are old enough to lay (the Spring after they are hatched) try to keep them all penned until they lay each day before you let them out to free range so they learn to lay in the coop right from the start (and not out in the bushes). Makes collecting eggs way less of a chore (and you can replenish your flock much easier too).

How do you know when they ALL lay for the day?

 

[veggiegirl]

(I am pretty lucky when it comes to free ranging my breeding flocks, my birds respect my fences and stay in their own pastures... took a lot of work/correction to get to that point tho, lol).

How did you do this?

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote: I work from home so I can keep an eye on them, and correct them/herd them back in if they fly over the fences. I always make it dramatic for them when I catch them on the outside of the fences (I usually get behind them to make sure they will go the right direction and then shake an empty grain sack at them, telling them what I think of them while I am chasing them back in, (lol), After a couple times of this they learn pretty quickly that they want back in as soon as they see me coming towards them. They learn from repetition tho, keep correcting them and they eventually figure it out. Sometimes it takes several months of corrections, but eventually they learn that life is much easier on the INside of the fences here.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote: I know how exactly many Hens I have in each of my flocks, and I collect eggs frequently every day from the AM thru the afternoon... so I just keep a running total of how many eggs I get from each flock (keeping each flock's eggs in it's own egg carton), so I know when all (or at least most) of the Hens in each flock have laid.