Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[guineapeeps]

Im sorry, I've never had chickens, only guineas, so I'm probably not the best person to comment on this. I have heard that mixing guineas with chickens is more successful when the guineas are younger, so probably sooner is better. Hopefully someone with more experience on this subject can comment further with more suggestions. Good luck with your guineas!

 

[Providence Chick]

1 covered
2 depends
3 they will always need to be managed

Its a good idea to condition them to come to a call or noise for feeding time. Unless you plan to replenish your flock as they get picked off one by one.

By two weeks they can fly up and over a six foot fence... maybe not gracefully but they can do it. Guineas want to roost high so Trees will be their target roosting spot unless you can teach them to come in to a coop at night. I have had bob cats go right up a tree to do take out.

At this age I call them Bacon heads....

Even though Guineas are pretty wild as youngsters expect them to take a few days to explore the strange outside world and be comfortable with it.

And most importantly Dont fall into the trap of thinking of them as chickens....

deb

I read a blog somewhere that shared how she got them to stay in a coop of their own (I guess they a coop bullies). She would let only 1 out on day one, then 2 out on day 2, 3 on day three etc. This way they would come back to stay in their flock. The 1st time she had them she let them all out at once & they were gone, never to be seen again. I haven't had them but have been reading & researching because the ticks are so bad. Just not sure our place is adequate for their disposition.

 

[guineapeeps]

sounds like a great plan i should try that , but one thing about having my guineas up in the tree over my porch & front door , they are a great alarm system , they yell at strangers who come to our front gates and usually that's how i know i have visitors HA, so its a good feeling some one is paying attention at night since i dont have a watch dog & im here alone living on the Mexican border, so my guineas are my eyes in the sky seeing every thing going on down under their tree

@
That is a good arrangement! Now, if you can just get them to attack any unwanted trespassers, it would be perfect!

 

[Diannastarr]

i read a few years ago that guinea chicks raised with chicken chicks had at some point killed one of the young chickens..? so i never raised my guineas in with my chicks , but they could see each other as they grew in pens side by side they were all born on the same day, so when they all became good size birds i let them all out with my older flock, it worked out fine, they all hang out together with no problems.

 

[Diannastarr]

I read a blog somewhere that shared how she got them to stay in a coop of their own (I guess they a coop bullies). She would let only 1 out on day one, then 2 out on day 2, 3 on day three etc. This way they would come back to stay in their flock. The 1st time she had them she let them all out at once & they were gone, never to be seen again. I haven't had them but have been reading & researching because the ticks are so bad. Just not sure our place is adequate for their disposition.

i would just keep at it, dont give up mine took off almost every day so every day , i was out feeding my hens and yelling dinner...lol.. they were use to me calling dinner time girls come and get it & they would come back home to sleep in their tree so as they got older they stopped leaving , but its all about favorite foods & there favorite place to sleep, my neighbors even asked why the guineas were staying home a lot more HA ,so feeding them at the same time all their favorite foods can help to get them to come home at bed time and getting them to become more friendly and stay in your yard, but they certainly are a more wild breed of bird i must say HA

@
That is a good arrangement! Now, if you can just get them to attack any unwanted trespassers, it would be perfect!

i have been working on it making them into guard guineas....lol... i trained my geese back in the 1970's to do that ...lol. but when i told them to leave my visitors alone they did, its was a great arrangement , and geese can really give a good bite...lol..but never any trouble from the dog warrden....lol...like when i had guard dogs HA.

 

[Diannastarr]

I found that my guineas didn't really like traditional nesting boxes. Most of my hens ended up laying in communal nests in wheelbarrows filled with straw inside the coop. I stumbled on this solution by accident when I left a wheelbarrow in the coop for a few days during nesting season and they started laying eggs in it. Every year I still had a few young hens that would try and lay outside the coop in a remote hidden area but I was usually able to find and move the nest. There were a few times where I couldn't find the nest and the hens got picked off by a predator before I could find them. I would suggest making several different secluded nesting areas in your coop to encourage them to lay inside and keep a careful watch for signs of where they may be laying outside, as they are easy prey for predators outside on a nest at night.

thats their nature laying eggs in communal nests, from their wild heritage,

 

[Diannastarr]

my Guineas, at 2 years old , i just got a dog house and its in this box in the pic its waiting for some one to build it HA : )

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

I am getting rid of them. 4 go tomorrow, they will all be gone on or before the 13th.

Uh-oh. Now that I have half-grown guineas, I find a thread that makes it sound like I may regret them? Why did you get rid of your guineas? I tried to read backward and find that thread, but with a few minutes of clicking, I didn't find it.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

I know there's controversy about letting guineas live completely free-range, but that's what farmers in our area commonly do, and what I'm planning to do with mine once they're grown and more likely to stay on our property. We have them for tick control, not for pets or for eggs. I have tried to provide them with shelter while they're penned in my garden, and they seem to want nothing to do with it. Even a huge dog kennel with good ventilation and no door - they absolutely never go in it, even in a massive, violent, destructive lightning/wind/rain storm we had a few nights ago. I went out to check on them and they were all just sitting there getting SOAKED rather than go into the shelter. They will sit in the shade (outside the shelter, never in it!) during the heat of the day, but that's the most cover I have seen them seek. Sssssooooo.... clearly a traditional coop won't make them happy. I had bought a huge wooden crate, intending to make it into a coop for them, like I would for my chickens, but now I think I need something different. What kind of shelter would be useful for guineas, to encourage them to seek shelter from wind/rain/snow/cold (or hawks!), if they needed to? Just a wind break type of thing? A covered porch with open sides? Does anyone have a shelter that your guineas willingly go into, and you can share pictures with me? Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

I know there's controversy about letting guineas live completely free-range, but that's what farmers in our area commonly do, and what I'm planning to do with mine once they're grown and more likely to stay on our property. We have them for tick control, not for pets or for eggs. I have tried to provide them with shelter while they're penned in my garden, and they seem to want nothing to do with it. Even a huge dog kennel with good ventilation and no door - they absolutely never go in it, even in a massive, violent, destructive lightning/wind/rain storm we had a few nights ago. I went out to check on them and they were all just sitting there getting SOAKED rather than go into the shelter. They will sit in the shade (outside the shelter, never in it!) during the heat of the day, but that's the most cover I have seen them seek. Sssssooooo.... clearly a traditional coop won't make them happy. I had bought a huge wooden crate, intending to make it into a coop for them, like I would for my chickens, but now I think I need something different. What kind of shelter would be useful for guineas, to encourage them to seek shelter from wind/rain/snow/cold (or hawks!), if they needed to? Just a wind break type of thing? A covered porch with open sides? Does anyone have a shelter that your guineas willingly go into, and you can share pictures with me? Thanks!

Guineas like to roost high. It is very unlikely they will be satisfied with a shelter that is low. I put a big skylight in when building my guinea coop. The guineas seem to really like roosting in the rafters under the skylight especially on cold winter days that are sunny. I also only feed and water the guineas in the coop which also encourages them to use the coop.