I just recently got four guineas, they are, maybe, 1 to 1.5 months old. I have them in my spare bathroom bathtub, fenced in. How old should they be before I release them into the wild?
Thanks!
Eric
Welcome
I am knew at the guinea thing as well. We have 15 that are going on 7 weeks old, the only difference is we got ours 2 days after they hatched.
I believe you are talking about free ranging not setting them out to the wild so I will list a few tips I have learned from all the wonderful people that have posted here. If anyone
sees I have made an error in my information please let me know.
1. don't plan on letting them out for at least 8 weeks. They have to learn where home is before they will return. You should get them out of the tub and into a pin where they can start learning
to identify their home.
2.white millet is a treat you can use to train them with. A treat only not for a meal, they love the stuff and watching them devour it is like seeing a child with candy.
no more then a handful for your 4 guineas. We always give ours the treat at night inside the corn crib..
3. develop a call system like a cow bell, whistle or something loud. Guineas fly and when they free range you want to be able to call them back. Always make your
noise then feed them the white millet treat. This will train them.
4. Guineas are pack animals when you start to let them free range only let 2 out at a time so they stay close to the cage. After a few weeks you should be able to let
them all out but make sure you wait that initial 8 weeks so they all know where home is.
5. Guineas are nothing without their legs and snow will injure them. Ours are about the same age as yours give or take. We will provide them with a nice warm shelter
for the winters because we get snow. We will also cover the run so they can stretch their legs without being injured by frost bite.
6. Guineas will sleep in trees at night and coons will kill them. It is best to lock them inside to keep them safe at night.
Hubby and I see our guineas as pets, at 2 weeks we put them in a tractor inside a corn crib where we keep our chickens. This helped introduce them to the chickens.
We go sit inside the corn crib every evening for at least an hour. We watch all the chickens and guineas from inside the crib (its quite large). Anyway, we have done this
from the beginning so our chickens and guineas have become very tame. Still when we let them free range we keep half the guineas in the tractor while the other half get
to peck around in the grass with the chickens. We will continue to do this for several more weeks. They have all learned to come when I call and they do run into the crib
when they hear me. We used to close the guineas into the tractor at night but we stopped doing that after they had been in the crib 2 weeks. By that time they were 4 weeks
old and big enough to run from the chickens or fly at them to egg them on =).
I think those are the main points. The other advice I would give is to feed them at least a 27% game bird starter feed they really do need the extra protein for good health and
chicken feed just doesn't have it. Also game bird feed is un-medicated, I have been told by many this is better for them. I use apple cider vinegar with mother in their water to
help keep them healthy. It's just a tablespoon or so added to a gallon of fresh water daily.
I suggest going through some of the past posts and reading up a bit on guineas I think you will find how enjoyable these lovely birds really are.
Also, check out youtube videos on keets/guineas they are not real directional but are a bit helpful and I enjoy watching them.
Good luck =)
