Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[Victoria-nola]

This is why I was asking about whether we ought to buy an adult or two as guides for the keets about to be hatched here, but people said, and I think you said this too, that guineas don't take too well to keets not their own. But I totally know that the mother birds would be passing on important cultural knowledge to the keets and I'm concerned about starting a flock without that ability.

I think the keets will be fine without an adult role model. I started my flock with 4 keets (with no adults) and they did just fine. In fact, 2 of those original ones are my best mothers today! Most Guinea qualities are inborn and come as instinct. I think the inherent "wildness" they have is what makes them so hard to tame, even if you handle them a lot as keets.

awww sweet. Yes, I don't actually intend to handle them like I do the chicks. I don't pick up chicks that fuss either, actually, let them decide they want to know me better. But I know keets/guineas tend to stay wild and I actually want them to be wild and wary and self-sufficient as much as possible.

For what its worth when i had poultry I housed the guineas separately from the chickens but free ranged them together. At the time I had five adult males at least four years old. So there was no "breeding" season commotion.

but there were scuffles over food and water and surprisingly they shared roosts occasionally. Yep I left the door open between them after a while.

I put the roosts up high for the guineas and most of the chickens stayed on the lower ones. But there were a few roos that were up to the challenge....

didnt feed in the coop at that time I fed out in the yard. so I setup about three or four feed stations and a couple of water founts so that when one ran everyone off they could go to another.

My success was dictated by not having Guinea Hens.... The social dynamic changes every spring. My last flock of guineas had females. I raised them from Keets so they all became sexually mature at the same time... Oh the running and the feather pulling they could even run along the perches....

but once they pair off life settles some.... and I hear they mellow a bit each year.... So far the coyotes have terminated that experience for me.

deb

Yes, I understand there will be some communal sharing one way or another even with separate houses. Added feeders and waterers when I added the new chicks, will add more when the guineas emerge, but that's now months down the line.

Thank you very much for your thoughts, everyone.

--V

 

[cabinchicky]

 

This is why I was asking about whether we ought to buy an adult or two as guides for the keets about to be hatched here, but people said, and I think you said this too, that guineas don't take too well to keets not their own.  But I totally know that the mother birds would be passing on important cultural knowledge to the keets and I'm concerned about starting a flock without that ability.

I think the keets will be fine without an adult role model. I started my flock with 4 keets (with no adults) and they did just fine. In fact, 2 of those original ones are my best mothers today! Most Guinea qualities are inborn and come as instinct. I think the inherent "wildness" they have is what makes them so hard to tame, even if you handle them a lot as keets.

awww sweet.  Yes, I don't actually intend to handle them like I do the chicks.  I don't pick up chicks that fuss either, actually, let them decide they want to know me better. But I know keets/guineas tend to stay wild and I actually want them to be wild and wary and self-sufficient as much as possible. 

 
For what its worth  when i had poultry I housed the guineas separately from the chickens but free ranged them together.  At the time I had five adult males at least four years old.  So there was no "breeding" season commotion. 

but there were scuffles over food and water and surprisingly they shared roosts occasionally.  Yep I left the door open between them after a while.

I put the roosts up high for the guineas and most of the chickens stayed on the lower ones.  But there were a few roos that were up to the challenge.... 

didnt feed in the coop at that time I fed out in the yard.  so I setup about three or four feed stations and a couple of water founts so that when one ran everyone off they could go to another.

My success was dictated by not having Guinea Hens....  The social dynamic changes every spring.   My last flock of guineas had females.  I raised them from Keets so they all became sexually mature at the same time...  Oh the running and the feather pulling they could even run along the perches.... 

but once they pair off life settles some....  and I hear they mellow a bit each year....  So far the coyotes have terminated that experience for me.

deb

Yes, I understand there will be some communal sharing one way or another even with separate houses. Added feeders and waterers when I added the new chicks, will add more when the guineas emerge, but that's now months down the line.

Thank you very much for your thoughts, everyone.  

--V

Oh boy,I have 2 females left that adopted the BA pullets. So next year they could become chicken bullies when they hit the urge. Great,no male to chill them. Crap on toast!

 

[pattyhen]

Lol, you got it - I'll let you know how it goes. We are totally new to owning open land, and the guineas were our first animal purchase - mainly to keep pests (insects, rodents and snakes at bay). I've done quite a bit of Internet exploring and some ppl have had luck at conditioning them to go out and come back using treats and sounds....but who knows? As I said in totally new to all this (been a city girl all my life, now we're raising our boys county

). Lol...but I'll check in and let you all know if it works..Wish us luck (fingers crossed)

Please let us know how you all are doing. I've heard of people using the bells and treats to get them to come back to the coop. I wish you luck with yours .

 

[pattyhen]

All the guineas went into the Chicken coop again last night. Except for one. (Maybe that one is the well behaved one I have) They would rather go into the chicken coop than go into there own coop. Their own coop is nice. It has a 12ft high ceiling. It has roosts at different heights.

It has high protein game bird breeder feed in it.

The chicken coop has no feed in it. The Guinea Gulag is attached to the Guinea coop, it is a 50x50 covered run with a very high cover.
The chicken coop has a small 20x20 covered run with a low cover.

The guinea run has a pickup topper on posts to crawl under and over. it has straw bales along the topper to make a shelter from sun.

the guinea coop is far nicer than the chicken coop. The guineas refuse to use the guinea coop. The one that did not go in sat on the roof of the chicken coop and screamed for 2 hours at the rest of them. We could not hear each other it was so loud, The others, of course, had to yell back at it.

It did bring a good discussion between the WWD and myself over whether it was saying "Come Back" or "Buck Wheat". This went on until the WWD could no longer stand the guineas noise. ( the chicken coop is only 2 ft from the edge of our deck).. The WWD went and found a long 2x2 and came back to chase the Guinea off the roof. The 2x2 was way too short to reach the peak of the roof. The guinea knew this and made fun of the WWD, laughing and calling her names as she walked around trying to get it off the roof. I was enjoying the show. The WWD would go one way, the guinea would follow and look over the edge of the coop to see what the WWD was doing next. Then scream obscenities at her.. (the Guinea was swearing not the WWD)

I finally went inside as the skeeters were coming out. When the WWD came inside I asked her if she got "it" down. The reply was a "no" but did include a little profanity....


I went out after dark to shut doors and the guinea was down and inside with the rest...

I am not sure why this Guinea decided to act out last night. Maybe it has ADHD and needs meds or something.

They are trying ot live up to your expectations. You expect them to be bad so they are.

 

[Tikkijane]

You have me all wrong...


I have never had a Guinea I am not deathly afraid of...


I would never put a Guinea on my lap.  I would be afraid of losing my genitalia.  They cannot be trusted.

I have Speckled Sussex that sit in my lap and wait their turn to be held.  I also have JJ and Ethel  (Turkeys) that want to be held.  Holding is an award for good behavior. If I held a Guinea it would be rewarding their bad behavior.


When I let the birds out this morning, the Guineas were upset. I suppose at me, but they did not attack me.. They were just vocal about their being in the coop, However, they were short tempered.

Sven (my EE rooster) came running out of the coop with 2 guineas on his tail literally. They each had a feather and ran him out the door.  Sven will miss those feathers I am sure.  I asked Sven what he did wrong but he would not say.

I have never even seen a suburban Guinea let alone meet one. I never knew they existed until I joined this thread.  I always remember what my 3rd grade teacher told me 60 years ago.:


Believe none of what you hear,  none  of what you read, and little that you see, question it all.   I question the existence of "good" guineas.

 

[Tikkijane]

If you make her a dinner guest make sure you have nice comfortable chair that she can perch on.   Yes I buy store bought eggs.  I know the factory farms are discusting.  I just can't eat one of their future babies.  I've had chickens 11 years and I'm not going to change my mind.  

1} They are only future babies if you have a rooster AND they have been fertilized.

2} If they HAVE been fertilized, it takes 3 days of incubation {high heat} to grow the blood vessels to candle them.

There really is no danger of eating future children. Really. Collect eggs frequently and keep them out of the higher heat. That's it. You'll love your own eggs.

 

[Tikkijane]

Ok, as I've said, I have 30 guinea eggs in my incubator about halfway through hatch. I must have been out of my mind when I ordered the eggs.  No, I just thought we'd have things together by now.  But, we don't have the coop built for them, and there really isn't room in our chicken coop even to brood the keets, given that we've just doubled our population in there.


1.  Do people generally co-house the chickens and guineas or separate them even if they are raised by a broody hen?


2.  Would it be reasonable to build a smaller, armored cattle-panel hoop house for the keets (they will be brooded there with MHP), knowing we have to build the larger house for longterm?  Will they be willing to move to a new/bigger coop and view it as an improvement and not as an interruption to the enforced-confinement that is part of their raising (as I understand to be the norm)?

Seeking input and answers.

Thank you all for your good humor and incisive intellects.

--V

1} I do. Although I have a 'side' for the guineas complete with a door. I have some solar lights as night lights on that side to help them go to bed.

2} I would not use cattle panel. You'll want hardware cloth; always. Keets are small. Predators are small. You'd be amazed at what can fit into little gaps.

 

[Tikkijane]

1} I do. Although I have a 'side' for the guineas complete with a door. I have some solar lights as night lights on that side to help them go to bed.

2} I would not use cattle panel. You'll want hardware cloth; always. Keets are small. Predators are small. You'd be amazed at what can fit into little gaps.

Oh- they should move just fine. When we changed coops, the guineas actually made the move sooner. I was surprised. But, seeing as how they see so little at night and that we moved their lights, it kind of makes sense.

 

[Nizzanlady]

Please let us know how you all are doing.  I've heard of people using the bells and treats to get them to come back to the coop.  I wish you luck with yours .

Absolutely! Thank you

 

[perchie.girl]

All the guineas went into the Chicken coop again last night. Except for one. (Maybe that one is the well behaved one I have) They would rather go into the chicken coop than go into there own coop. Their own coop is nice. It has a 12ft high ceiling. It has roosts at different heights.

It has high protein game bird breeder feed in it.

The chicken coop has no feed in it. The Guinea Gulag is attached to the Guinea coop, it is a 50x50 covered run with a very high cover.
The chicken coop has a small 20x20 covered run with a low cover.

The guinea run has a pickup topper on posts to crawl under and over. it has straw bales along the topper to make a shelter from sun.

the guinea coop is far nicer than the chicken coop. The guineas refuse to use the guinea coop. The one that did not go in sat on the roof of the chicken coop and screamed for 2 hours at the rest of them. We could not hear each other it was so loud, The others, of course, had to yell back at it.

It did bring a good discussion between the WWD and myself over whether it was saying "Come Back" or "Buck Wheat". This went on until the WWD could no longer stand the guineas noise. ( the chicken coop is only 2 ft from the edge of our deck).. The WWD went and found a long 2x2 and came back to chase the Guinea off the roof. The 2x2 was way too short to reach the peak of the roof. The guinea knew this and made fun of the WWD, laughing and calling her names as she walked around trying to get it off the roof. I was enjoying the show. The WWD would go one way, the guinea would follow and look over the edge of the coop to see what the WWD was doing next. Then scream obscenities at her.. (the Guinea was swearing not the WWD)

I finally went inside as the skeeters were coming out. When the WWD came inside I asked her if she got "it" down. The reply was a "no" but did include a little profanity....


I went out after dark to shut doors and the guinea was down and inside with the rest...

I am not sure why this Guinea decided to act out last night. Maybe it has ADHD and needs meds or something.

this vignette typifies life with Guineas.... and the HUMOR of it all. Ralphie I truely enjoy your stories....

deb