Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[frigginchi]

Good info. Just read all the posts. Yes, I have no life. I was wishing for guineas. The wish gods must have gotten my message. I have 18 guineas now...lol I don't know where they came frome. Hope they stick around. Loud as hell tho

 

[PeepsCA]

You don't really know loud... 'til ya come by my place, lol (99 adult Guineas, but sometimes upwards of 150+ noisy birds towards the end of every hatching season).

Once your new flock gets acclimated to their new home they should settle down/quiet down, unless there's really something to fire off the alarm calls about.

 

[FlaDave]

Just wanted to add that my 15 guineafowl were released to roam and did so right away. Gradually dogs destroyed several and other varmits. The latest was a large owl. I am down to only four left which are nearly full size. the lighter colored whites and pearls have apparently been easier to spot for owls and hawks as they have been the first to go. My chickens on the other hand are put into their coop nights and I have not lost one yet. No more heartache guinea deaths for me. They have been sweet and stuck pretty close and avoided road traffic. Also they have put a large dent into our tick population here in north Florida.

 

[scastamom1]

Thank you! I live south of Dallas, Texas and we had a horrible grasshopper invasion this past summer. Guineas will be a great addition to the animals on our farm. I hope the guineas and my growing chicken flock, plus some great freezes make a difference in the grasshopper population this coming year. We are surrounded by big farming which I am sure use GMO's so I am guessing that we are a refuge farm for pests. We will fight back as naturally as possible.

By the way, I love your closing lines at the end of your post.

Blessings!

 

[thegoodfarm]

hello fellow GF folk. i am currently into day three of re-homed guinea fowl. the previous owner did not want them as they were too noisy. i think they just want someone to talk to! they are fitting it well and are happiest when the other birds, indian runner ducks, heritage chickens and my great dane are close by. i currently have them in an Eglu - it gives them a secure run and coop at night that is predator proof - great little thing. i know that they like to range however as they are teens, i am hoping that i do not have to confine them much more than a week. will they follow the other birds to the big coop?

an interesting point to get them to go inside of the eglu, they do not like going into dark, unlit spaces(well neither do i) so i dangled a flashlight and voila - off they went. then i took away the flashlight and they made quite a ruckus so i dangled it again but on the outside so it was not too bright (an LED) and quietly they sat. amazing!

any advise for someone who has taken in a pair of young guinea fowls?

thanks
b

 

[PeepsCA]

If you let them out in only a week... you may never see them again. They do not/will not know where "home" is, and if they get spooked/startled and happen to scatter they may not find their way back... which can lead to them ending up predator food really quick. They may also just fly off/leave on their own, searching for their previous home/flock. I doubt they will go into the coop with your other birds that quickly either, the coop is all new to them, and they will be scared of it. So that probably won't happen willingly (on their part) until after they've had a chance to get used to your other poultry, and have had plenty of time to get used to/imprint on the coop as their new home and safety. (Guineas are typically a lot more difficult to re-home and integrate into new flocks than other types of poultry, but there are always exceptions to that rule).

6 weeks confinement is the recommended time for reprogramming them to a new permanent home (some get away with less time, but sometimes even 6 weeks is not long enough). A lot of people have complete success with reprogramming and integrating Guineas into their existing flocks by sectioning off an area inside their coop, keeping the Guineas in that each night, then after the rest of the flock has been let out to free range each AM the Guineas are let out into an attached (covered) run during the day, and herded back into their section of the coop each PM for the rest of the confinement period... this allows the Guineas to get learn all of the sights, sounds and regular routine around your place while being safely confined, plus they get used to you and of being herded in each night, which you will want to make routine for them.(They can be extra difficult to get into the coop without the aid of an attached covered run, but if you start a routine with them and stick with it consistently they will eventually stick to it all on their own).

Also, Guineas are scared of snow and anything else new to them, so if you have snow on the ground already, or it snows and you let them out to free range they may take to the trees or a rooftop instead of returning to the coop in the PM. Some Guineas have been known to refuse to come down until the snow is gone, or until they die of dehydration/starvation...

I don't mean to be a wet blanket, just want you to know what you may be up against

Best of luck.

 

[thegoodfarm]

thank you so much for taking the time to post to the 101 forum. my reading and your advise of 6 weeks plus will be a long haul - they are settling in it seems and see how gentle the rest of the farm yard is - dogs, cat, chickens and ducks....so let's hope in 5 weeks time that they like it well enough to return.

until then i will lease the nightlight on for them to head back to the coop - snow will be an interesting one. we get it but not tons and none at the moment. they are funny little birds!

 

[cassidy22]

THanks a million for posting this photo. I have no idea if or where my guineas are laying, so seeing this will help me know if they are laying in the chicken nests!!

 

[WayOutHere]

Is there a way to "un"coop train my guineas. Right now I have 7 chickens (including 2 roosters) and 3 guineas. I am getting A LOT more chickens this spring and I would like to get about 10 more guineas BUT my guineas harass my chickens too much. I tried to train my guineas to roost in the trees but they insist on roosting in the coop with my chickens. I wouldn't mind them harassing the chickens too much except that they have picked at the tails of my beautiful roosters until they are nubs. I want the guineas to be wild and roam the acreage to eat ticks but they insist on staying close with the chickens. I'm wondering if they had a larger flock and if I start the new keets far from the house if the 3 adults will go to them or if the keets will only come up to the house to join the adults. Any advise on how to make my guineas "go away"?

 

[AlienChick]

I didn't have much luck with UNtraining my guineas to stop using the coop.
I would lock them out each night which meant I had to stand there at the door as each chicken went inside in the evening and shoo the guineas away.
They just flew up to the top of the run and roosted there each night. I wish they would have chosen the trees or the beams inside the pole barn, but they didn't.

I figured a few weeks of this and the guineas would stay outside.
Some of them would stay outside and some would still come inside the coop.
Eventually, they all came back inside the coop.

I ended up selling them all since I had 20 guinea eggs hatching.
This time I raised the keets up in the large barn so they could roost up in the rafters.
I open the barn doors during the day so they can go outside.
My plan is to have them eat up all the bugs and worms in the pastures there to help minimize the worm load on my livestock.

So right now I have two guineas inside the coop; but they were both raised under one of my broody hens (a Silkie) so they are quite gentle.