Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[CTL7]

I have raised guineas for about 2 yrs, chickens for more. I give all my keets and chicks Poly-Vi-Sol, in their water, for the first week. I also like to give them boiled egg to eat for the first couple of days. I have free ranging adults and I noticed all my keets from my adults, including a couple incubator keets I had to help hatch, are much stronger than some I ordered from a large guinea farm. I have not had any trouble, nor lost any, that were from my birds.
I love my guineas, my family thinks they are ugly, I guess they kinda grew on me, I think they are cute lol.

 

[starlingdaly]

I have raised guineas for about 2 yrs, chickens for more. I give all my keets and chicks Poly-Vi-Sol, in their water, for the first week. I also like to give them boiled egg to eat for the first couple of days. I have free ranging adults and I noticed all my keets from my adults, including a couple incubator keets I had to help hatch, are much stronger than some I ordered from a large guinea farm. I have not had any trouble, nor lost any, that were from my birds.
 I love my guineas, my family thinks they are ugly, I guess they kinda grew on me, I think they are cute lol. 

I do the vitamins/electrolytes in water while they are in the brooder and also the boiled egg (though I only offer the yolks) and sometimes raw egg mixed with ground beef.


When I was a kid, my family had about 12 guineas raised from keets. Over the course of a year, all went missing except one. My mother named it Igor and it would roost outside my bedroom window.
I found out this past week that Igor didn't disappear like the rest. He was shot by my dad because he would get on top of the neighbors cars and look at his reflection in the sun roofs. I think my dad tried to catch him first, but he was a pretty wild guinea once he grew up.
So that was a sad thing that I never realized!

 

[nikiandalex]

We are new to raising birds and have 15 three week old guineas. One of them has hardly grown at all. The rest are of similar size (pic attached). Is it just a female or is there another issue? Also, they are frightened to death of us. Is this normal? We're planning to coop train them w/ our 12 week old chickens who come to us when called. We don't want to lose any guineas as soon as we open the door. Thanks!

 

[LPAllen]

I live in eastern NC and we have a few guineas but would like more,I have been to a few auctions but no luck around this area.

 

[starlingdaly]

I live in eastern NC and we have a few guineas but would like more,I have been to a few auctions but no luck around this area.

It's too bad it isn't 2012.... Last year this time, my friend had guinea keets out the wazoo and couldn't get rid of them as fast as they were hatching! Beautiful birds, too. He is in central NC tho.

 

[nikiandalex]

We just purchased 15 from Cackle Hatchery online a few weeks ago. I just checked and they hatch them from May to August.

 

[lizzybaxter]

I am surprised by all the posters who mention feeding some type of raw meat to their keets. I thought you never fed poultry any kind of meat. I mean, I know they eat bugs and stuff, but I thought that was the extent of their "carnivorous" side. My mama guinea is sitting on 21 eggs, and I planned to take them when they hatch and put them in a brooder then a small pen for awhile. Besides the DuMor chick starter, which I mix with DE, what all are you recommending? Boiled egg and... ? For my young chickens I always mixed in some grit and a squirt of "Kickin' Chicken". Advice?

 

[starlingdaly]

I am surprised by all the posters who mention feeding some type of raw meat to their keets.  I thought you never fed poultry any kind of meat.  I mean, I know they eat bugs and stuff, but I thought that was the extent of their "carnivorous" side.  My mama guinea is sitting on 21 eggs, and I planned to take them when they hatch and put them in a brooder then a small pen for awhile.  Besides the DuMor chick starter, which I mix with DE, what all are you recommending?  Boiled egg and... ?   For my young chickens I always mixed in some grit and a squirt of "Kickin' Chicken".  Advice?

I haven't had adult guineas so I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is true for them, but...
My chickens readily eat frogs and mice and other small animals/amphibians/reptiles that they manage to catch (or find dead...). I think people who feed raw meat to chicks and keets do it because they realize the importance of an animal/insect protein for a growing chick but don't have the time to catch insects and rodents all day like a mother hen and getting a pound of ground beef at Walmart goes a lot further than the two dozen small crickets or single mouse for the same price at the pet store.
It is a good compromise.

 

[JLeigh]

Chickens and guineas are opportunistic carnivores. Bugs, worms, etc., qualify as meat (for THEM, not for me, LOL) and both are very high in protein. They'll eat small, baby snakes, etc. but other than bugs and worms, meat isn't their primary diet. Lots of people feed meat to their chickens and guineas. It's good for them in reasonable quantities, and it's a good supplemental protein for bag feed that is at a lower protein level. What's the protein level of your Dumor feed? Consider switching to a higher protein %, like a turkey starter or game bird feed. Guineas grow very fast, and the higher protein level helps them. I use Purina Game Bird Chow - Starter and Grower (30% protein). I have to order it though, but that's not a problem for me.

 

[LPAllen]

thanks everyone for the information.