Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[Tikkijane]

i am sorry  

Thanks. I'd love to hatch out some keets, but that means finding the nest and moving it to a safe location so the dogs (and other eaters) don't find them. *sigh*

 

[Tacampbell1973]

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

Sorry, I realized that after I posted it and reread it but forgot to go back and edit it....

 

[Tacampbell1973]

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?

Hi Tiki,
Hopeyou found your kid by now, but if not it may help you to know that when mine have gotten out, they are so good at hiding I can literally walk on top of them before I even know they re there. They are super good at blending....On a serious note, though, we had a hawk invade, a stupid red hawk, about when the guineas were two or three months and kill one of my babies. I ran around .looking to see who survived for two hours, thats how i found out how good they are at hiding. I count myself blessed that I only lost one, but still, he/she was still my baby and I blame myself because I thought they were big enough to free range but learned the hard way they were'nt. I am on edge of forest and have all the same predators you do too. Gotta love the creepy minks though, no just kidding...i have yet to see a live one, just roadkill, but I know they are here. just not in my coop amen. Also, my neighbor has guineas less than a quarter mile from us (the parents of mine iironically) and my guineas don't combine with them but I have heard another byc member say she had to go retreive hers from her neighbor. for this I banded my kids with legbands and so i could name them and tell them apart. Hope this helps a little...good luck and take care.
He's sooooo happy to be held LOL.

 

[Tikkijane]

Hi Tiki, Hopeyou found your kid by now, but if not it may help you to know that when mine have gotten out, they are so good at hiding I can literally walk on top of them before I even know they re there. They are super good at blending....On a serious note, though, we had a hawk invade, a stupid red hawk, about when the guineas were two or three months and kill one of my babies. I ran around .looking to see who survived for two hours, thats how i found out how good they are at hiding. I count myself blessed that I only lost one, but still, he/she was still my baby and I blame myself because I thought they were big enough to free range but learned the hard way they were'nt. I am on edge of forest and have all the same predators you do too. Gotta love the creepy minks though, no just kidding...i have yet to see a live one, just roadkill, but I know they are here. just not in my coop amen. Also, my neighbor has guineas less than a quarter mile from us (the parents of mine iironically) and my guineas don't combine with them but I have heard another byc member say she had to go retreive hers from her neighbor. for this I banded my kids with legbands and so i could name them and tell them apart. Hope this helps a little...good luck and take care. He's sooooo happy to be held LOL.

Still down one. Given that we've got owls, hawks, fox, coon, skunk, mink, coyotes, and the resident bobcat, I'll be amazed if it comes back with keets. Periodically, I'll be missing another royal purple, but then it'll show back up. I was outside literally that whole day and didn't hear or see anything; no pile of feathers; just gone. With the hundreds of hundreds of acres, there is no way I can cover everything on foot. I'm riding this afternoon and will definitely check. I need to find my field binoculars......

 

[Coop de Cuse]

Hello! My first post on the guinea page. I have 5, well I HAD 5 until yesterday when the busted out. I have 1 left in the coop and 4 are out in the trees...about 60 feet up. They escaped yesterday mid-morning and have just been roosting up in the trees since then. I have tried attracting them to the coop with treats and also just left them alone to see if they could figure it out...no luck. I was wondering if anyone had a special way to attract them back to the coop...? They are 22 weeks old and I can see 3 of the 4 that are missing.

They did figure out how to get together and are all on the same branch during this crazy cold and snow we are having. They are staying within visual range of the coop and have jumped from tree to tree checking out the area. They don't like walking in the snow and I am thinking that is stopping them from returning home. I opened the gate to the run and also removed a large portion of netting from the run hoping they will zip in for something to eat. My plan was to free range them in the Spring, but they decided that now is a good time to start

I am not too concerned about the cold, but I am worried since that have not had anything to eat or drink since yesterday.

Any help is much appreciated

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello! My first post on the guinea page. I have 5, well I HAD 5 until yesterday when the busted out. I have 1 left in the coop and 4 are out in the trees...about 60 feet up. They escaped yesterday mid-morning and have just been roosting up in the trees since then. I have tried attracting them to the coop with treats and also just left them alone to see if they could figure it out...no luck. I was wondering if anyone had a special way to attract them back to the coop...? They are 22 weeks old and I can see 3 of the 4 that are missing.

They did figure out how to get together and are all on the same branch during this crazy cold and snow we are having. They are staying within visual range of the coop and have jumped from tree to tree checking out the area. They don't like walking in the snow and I am thinking that is stopping them from returning home. I opened the gate to the run and also removed a large portion of netting from the run hoping they will zip in for something to eat. My plan was to free range them in the Spring, but they decided that now is a good time to start

I am not too concerned about the cold, but I am worried since that have not had anything to eat or drink since yesterday.

Any help is much appreciated

How long were they cooped? that will help a lot determining if they are imprinted.
Mine will wander but always come back to the coop at night.

good luck.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

How long were they cooped? that will help a lot determining if they are imprinted.
Mine will wander but always come back to the coop at night.

good luck.

Same with mine....they wander far andwide during the day but always come back for meals and I still pen them at night. Too bad they are so highup....if I was closer, I would shimmy up the tree in the dark and catch them at night when dark works against them, but even I aint going up 60 foot of tree...I am, however, known to climb up the carport at 3 AM in my bathrobe to retrieve them the odd night I am to stupid to remember toclose the pen

no joke, thank god we dont have neighbors. Other than that, they are a stubborn, stubborn bird and food is theonly thing that I can think of...Im pretty sure if they know there is food to be had, they will come back.As long as they can see it or know its there. Mine were already free ranging daily by the time they were three months old. My math is not good and I gave up counting their age by weeks, but I think mine are younger than yours....They were born Septembe 22...ok I feel dumb now, i guess they are exactly the same age...anywho, I know that my little ones did NOT like the snow not ONE little bit. .and they let the whole world know...If there is anyway to scarethem down out of the tree without hurting them, mine have absolutely no idea how to perch in a tree yet.They fly like champs but not a clue how to land in a tree. Gosh I wish I could give you better advice, but best of luck, they are definitely stubborn.

 

[dtreadway]

We are moving to WV on 14 Mar on 3 acres and I can't wait. We have a chicken coop with six girls, and my husband is going to build me a much bigger one. Can the guineas live in the chicken coop with them or do we need to build them a separate house. You all can tell I am a first timer.

 

[Coop de Cuse]

How long were they cooped? that will help a lot determining if they are imprinted.
Mine will wander but always come back to the coop at night.

good luck.

They went right from the brooder to the coop at around 5 weeks, so they have been cooped for 4 months. I will try something new today since I can only see 2 now, so 2 are missing

We are moving to WV on 14 Mar on 3 acres and I can't wait. We have a chicken coop with six girls, and my husband is going to build me a much bigger one. Can the guineas live in the chicken coop with them or do we need to build them a separate house. You all can tell I am a first timer.

Yes, guineas and chickens can live together

I don't do any special treatment and I don't have a super special coop

Same with mine....they wander far andwide during the day but always come back for meals and I still pen them at night. Too bad they are so highup....if I was closer, I would shimmy up the tree in the dark and catch them at night when dark works against them, but even I aint going up 60 foot of tree...I am, however, known to climb up the carport at 3 AM in my bathrobe to retrieve them the odd night I am to stupid to remember toclose the pen

no joke, thank god we dont have neighbors. Other than that, they are a stubborn, stubborn bird and food is theonly thing that I can think of...Im pretty sure if they know there is food to be had, they will come back.As long as they can see it or know its there. Mine were already free ranging daily by the time they were three months old. My math is not good and I gave up counting their age by weeks, but I think mine are younger than yours....They were born Septembe 22...ok I feel dumb now, i guess they are exactly the same age...anywho, I know that my little ones did NOT like the snow not ONE little bit. .and they let the whole world know...If there is anyway to scarethem down out of the tree without hurting them, mine have absolutely no idea how to perch in a tree yet.They fly like champs but not a clue how to land in a tree. Gosh I wish I could give you better advice, but best of luck, they are definitely stubborn.

I am tempted to climb the tree, but....that's a bit too high. If they do come back THEY ARE SO GROUNDED!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

We are moving to WV on 14 Mar on 3 acres and I can't wait. We have a chicken coop with six girls, and my husband is going to build me a much bigger one. Can the guineas live in the chicken coop with them or do we need to build them a separate house. You all can tell I am a first timer.

If you start with keets, they will be fine together. When it comes time to introduce, they need to be penned in an area until the chickens have adjusted to them.
Keets are very tiny until they are several months old, so if the hens are a dominant breed, they could harm them.
Usually by 4-6 months or so, they defend themselves just fine tho!