Raising Guinea Fowl 101

Thank you, I think I will try the wheelbarrow idea and perhaps try to figure out some creative safe ground nests like you advised. I have 20 hens and 1 Roo, they are easy. I'm new to guineas, this is my first flock of 17. I want them to be safe. I have not introduced the 2 flocks. Not sure how to do that. My guineas have never been out of their coop but my chicken free range all day. Any ideas on introducing them?

The best way to introduce the flocks is do NOT house them together. Let the guineas have their own shelter, the chickens have their shelter, and they see each other when they are outside free ranging. They are most likely to do fine that way. Then the guineas are their own little flock, and they have their guinea flock dynamics, and the chickens are their own flock, with chicken flock dynamics. For the most part, they should ignore each other when they are outside and each do their own thing (this is what you want). The alternative, if guineas think that chickens are the same kind of bird as they are, the guineas will bully the chickens, and guineas can be MEAN to each other.

Other than that, my advice for letting the guineas out is pretty simple, just have them in some kind of pen where they can see outside, so they know a little bit about what the outside world looks like before they actually go out. Another trick that can work well is to let out only one guinea the first few days. They are very strongly flock animals, so the single animal let out will stick close to home & friends and come back in at night, but learn a little about the outside world so his/her friends can learn when you let them all out.
 
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!

My shelter is not anything fancy. Its an OLD style (like 1950s) chicken coop and the guineas get one half, the chickens live in the other half. It has lots of problems - primarily a lack of ventilation, also not very tall, but the guineas do go in. I have their food in there, and in winter there is a heated water bowl in there for them. There is a roost, some of them use it and some use the rafters. They roost outside in warm weather, inside in the cold. If bad storms are forecast I will chase them in for night but not even always then.

I took the window screens and panes out of the windows, they are always open. The guineas can go in and out through there, any time they want. I encourage roosting indoors in the winter months by having a light on a timer that stays on past dark. I know that isn't recommended but my birds (guineas and chickens) don't like to go into a dark building and this saves me from having to chase them around. I've never had any issues with it.

Their favorite roost is our wooden clothesline outside, it is very close to the coop. In general I don't mind them there, but last summer we had a lot of trouble with coons climbing the poles and getting the guineas. We put tin on the poles so coons can't climb them, now the guineas roost there quite safely.

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I was really excited today when a truck came up the driveway, and even quite far from the driveway, in their garden patch pen, they kicked up an unholy racket, letting me know that someone had come. Living remotely like we do, we like to know when someone approaches. You won't end up casually driving past here, so either someone has come to see us specifically, is lost, or is trying to sell something. In any case, we want to know about it. I am happy to see them considering our area "theirs" to guard :-D

Hmph, my guineas are abysmal guardians. I have always suspected it is because they are too used to people. Maybe not? I have only ever heard them sound an alarm for hawks and turkey vultures, both of which are minimal threat to the guineas. No alarm for people driving in (maybe because we farm, so there is always a lot of truck & tractor traffic in & out?), not for strangers in the yard, not for coon or fox attacks, not even for the dog attack that happened during the day (and I would DEARLY have loved to know about that one an hour earlier!!!)
 
Can I introduce Day old keets to a group of 3 week old keets? Or should I wait and get more keets later in the season?
I would suggest waiting to introduce the day old keets until they are at least a few weeks old. They may get injured or trampled by the older ones. Since they have a fairly wild temperament and tend to freak out easily, having the younger ones in with them may get them worked up and may inadvertently injure the little ones. A few years back, I had only one keet hatch but had a few hatch earlier that were a few weeks older. When the one keet was about a week old, I put her in with the older ones. Within a week, she had a broken foot. I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm thinking the older keets ran over the top of her and injured her. After awhile, she was able to get around again, but never was able to walk normally. I've always been very cautious mixing different ages since then.
 
90 days Guinea free and proud of my accomplishment!

Really? I still have mine, but we had a big predator attack the other night. I don't really know what happened, we eventually found most of the guineas hiding out in the soybean field and refusing to come back on the place. At least 4 different guineas were attacked, judging by all the feathers, but we only lost 1 or 2. But now all the guineas left are just slinking around, scared to come on the place and scared to make noise.
It's so QUIET around here!
How are you handling the quiet?
 

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