Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[kaitbray]

I bought guineas and bantams at the same time and raised them together in a brooder and then the coop and now the coop and run. They relentlessly pester and harass my new standard sized chickens a hen and two roosters. I have decided to have my guineas live in a fenced area that included trees a pond and lots of greenery and attaches to the run door.

Every day I chase the guineas out of the run to give my standard chickens a break.

Instead of free ranging and enjoying the out doors my guineas spend the entire day at the run door cackling trying to get back in with my bantam rooster who is their best friend apparently.

However I would like this rooster to stop tending to the guinea flock and start paying attention to the chicken flock!

How can I get the guineas to enjoy free ranging and separating from my bantams and for my bantams to accept their chicken flock and ignore the guineas?

 

[Hotcookie]

You can get the guineas to start ignoring the chickens by getting more of their own kind. To be happy, guineas need a minimum of 10 to 12 birds in their flock. You don't mention how many guineas you actually have, but trust me, if they're harassing the other birds you have, it means there are not enough of their own kind. I doubt whether they are actually "friends" with your roosters. In reality, they probably want to do what male guineas in flocks do - chase each other relentlessly around the barnyard and beyond. And the reason they do this? To establish the pecking order within the flock, as well as determining who will mate with the females (if the ratio is not even).

In reality, I think you better start thinking about your ratio of chickens, too. Two roosters and one hen sounds like problems in the making.

 

[kaitbray]

I

You can get the guineas to start ignoring the chickens by getting more of their own kind.  To be happy, guineas need a minimum of 10 to 12 birds in their flock.  You don't mention how many guineas you actually have, but trust me, if they're harassing the other birds you have, it means there are not enough of their own kind.  I doubt whether they are actually "friends" with your roosters.  In reality, they probably want to do what male guineas in flocks do - chase each other relentlessly around the barnyard and beyond.  And the reason they do this?  To establish the pecking order within the flock, as well as determining who will mate with the females (if the ratio is not even).  

In reality, I think you better start thinking about your ratio of chickens, too.  Two roosters and one hen sounds like problems in the making. 

I only have 3 guineas, so that sounds like my problem. One is 3 months old and the other two are 1 month old. (My dog got a lot of them in the beginning :/ ) I had no idea 10 was the magic number, that is going to make my husband freak lol.

As far as my chickens go, I'm just starting out so I have a lot of miss match going and again my dog messed up my first batch but we have solved our coop issues there.

By Monday I will have in pecking order

1 bantam rooster (3 months)
2 bantam pullets (3 months) ,
2 amercauna roosters (2 months) , amercauna pullet (2months) ,
4 maran pullets (1 month) ,
1 lavender Orpington (1 month)

So official count 3 roosters 8 hens. So far there hasn't been any rooster issues, my amercaunas have zero back bone.


Best friends

 

[one old chick]

Does anyone know how long the guinea keets stay with the mother? My hen just had babies. Currently she is inside the barn in her pen with her brood. They are two days old. She is use to coming and going as she pleases. Right at the moment she is being the best mom but I know soon she will want to resume her regular activities. My guineas are free ranged so I would like her to raise her own babies so they will be accepted as part of the existing flock. Three roosters and two hens. One rooster and one hen are paired. The other two roosters stick to this particular hen, to the point that they are both right now acting as mid wives to these babies. It is quite amazing to witness a rooster laying down and under him are three little babies while the other rooster is showing them how to eat. This is our first clutch under the mother. We bought the parents and raised them as keets under a heat lamp. We really don't want to that with these babies, We believe they will be more accepted if left with the mother. We just aren't sure about timelines. Can they go outside with her and at what age can they do this? We have a small pen attached to the opening they go in an out of that would keep them confined but allow them to explore a little as well as get them use to going in and out of the barn. How long will she care for them and if she decides she wants to range will they be ok left back at the barn? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thank you for reading

 

[brotchicks]

Great info!! Does anyone know of anywhere that you can get them near Southern NY? And also how are they with chickens? The info above made it sound like they can be very mean to the chickens... Thanks, brotchicks

 

[red horse ranch]

Does anyone know how long the guinea keets stay with the mother? My hen just had babies. Currently she is inside the barn in her pen with her brood. They are two days old. She is use to coming and going as she pleases. Right at the moment she is being the best mom but I know soon she will want to resume her regular activities. My guineas are free ranged so I would like her to raise her own babies so they will be accepted as part of the existing flock. Three roosters and two hens. One rooster and one hen are paired. The other two roosters stick to this particular hen, to the point that they are both right now acting as mid wives to these babies. It is quite amazing to witness a rooster laying down and under him are three little babies while the other rooster is showing them how to eat. This is our first clutch under the mother. We bought the parents and raised them as keets under a heat lamp. We really don't want to that with these babies, We believe they will be more accepted if left with the mother. We just aren't sure about timelines. Can they go outside with her and at what age can they do this? We have a small pen attached to the opening they go in an out of that would keep them confined but allow them to explore a little as well as get them use to going in and out of the barn. How long will she care for them and if she decides she wants to range will they be ok left back at the barn? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thank you for reading

It depends on the hen. Most of mine have wanted out of confinement after 2 or 3 weeks. One time I let a hen take her 3 week old keets free ranging and later found the keets abandoned behind the barn when they couldn't keep up with her. So most of the time I end up letting the hen go when the babies are 2 to 3 weeks old. And keeping the keets confined with a heat lamp. If she has been with them for several weeks then they will still be easier to integrate into the flock. She should accept them back without problem. If you can keep them confined together until the babies are 5 weeks old they will probably keep up with her.

I do think it's neat when the daddy wants to help raise them. I've found the males to be more careful with the babies than the hen is.

 

[one old chick]

thank you so much Red Horse Ranch, the keets are a week old now. I appreciate the information about the hen forgetting them. My babies live with my five adults (of course they are out all day but come in at night to roost) the same pen they were born in. I have not let the mother out with them. The two dads and the other pair go out in the morning and the pen is closed up keeping the hen and the babies in. The two dads come into the barn from another door and sit on the other side of the pen door and talk to her most of the day in between running outside to eat. The babies are running and jumping everywhere. They are not under her as much as I thought they would be but it has been warm here. Every once in a while I see her take them to the far corner and make them take a nap with her. They are little balls of energy. She wants to go out and I have offered her to go out the pen door but once she gets out and realizes the babies can't get themselves over a six inch board across the door she goes back in with them. I have noticed when she does step out they don't get too upset they just continue to eat and drink. I don't know if I can keep her inside for 5 weeks. I was thinking maybe two or three inside. We have an outside pen attached to the inside pen, when they are big enough to go up and down the ramp they can go out with her in that area. That is where she will be confined until they are old enough to travel with her. We are actually thinking for keeping them confined there for the rest of the summer and fall and not actually letting them roam until next spring. Again, thank you so much for your help.

 

[one old chick]

Great info!! Does anyone know of anywhere that you can get them near Southern NY? And also how are they with chickens? The info above made it sound like they can be very mean to the chickens... Thanks, brotchicks

We live in the North Shore of Mass. I would suggest Craigslist, that is where we got ours. I travelled two hours to Maine to get them, but they have been worth it. We could not live where we are without them. The ticks season here is so bad this year. They have taken care of that quite well. We just had ten babies born a week ago. They are under the mother, we don't artificially incubate any of our eggs. If you are interested in incubating your own. I will tell you we always have fertile eggs. We have two pair and a lone rooster. We had 100% hatch rate actually more because I took eggs out and left her six and somehow we ended up with ten. I think the other hen laid eggs in her nest because three of the babies are pied like the dominant male we have. We have a very colorful clutch. Three pied, three lavender, four pearl. i don't yet know what the sexes are. With my luck they will be roosters LOL anyway i don't know how far your are exactly but if you don't have any luck finding some this season we are willing to let our hen sit again next spring but only if the babies are spoken for. We don't want anymore right now but my hens do go broody.
We also have chickens, my guineas get along find with everybody even the geese and ducks. We have separate night pens for the ducks, geese, chickens and guineas but they all mingle when they are out foraging. They really just mind their own business and keep to themselves. We have raised our adults from hatchlings so because of this they are all pretty quiet most of the time. We had a birthday party with 40 eople here and they never made a sound. However, if you live in a residential area I wouldn't recommend guineas because when they are young and raised in a brooder once they are put into a real pen they yell all the time at everything they see. We were so happy when our hen decided to have them in her pen because now these babies wll be use to all the goings on here and won't be as loud, we hope ) Well good luck in your search

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Weird year for the laying seasons! I am still getting guinea eggs, they have normally stopped laying by now. Same with my geese, I have 1 still laying, 2 muscovy ducks also. They all started much later this spring also. Wonder if the cold spring weather caused this?

 

[Sunsetlake]

I have 4 pearl gray guinea fowl. I received them as keets the first week of April this year from rural king. Just last week I found my first egg. I've gotten three more since then. I guess I was just amazed because I had read where my guineas weren't supposed to start laying eggs until next spring??? Is this common? I guess I'm just very happy they are already giving me eggs! They certainly are tiny, but they are still good to eat!