Raising Guineas with Chickens?

[HereChickChickChick88]

(I'm long-winded so feel free to skip the "because" and go right to the question in paragraph 2)

My daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at 2 years old. She's 4 now. That's what started my whole "backyard bird" idea - that and I thought it was a great opportunity for her to learn some thoughtfulness, responsibility, and kindness (actually worked great - one of my parenting wins among many fails... Real Housewives may be my guilty pleasure but they have been a dictionary for my child - yikes!). Anyway, my goal is excellent foraging to curb, even if just a little, our tick population (YUUUGE). I purchased 3 guineas from a hatchery and they all ran away - they hated us! I tried to do everything by the book and I'm a stay-at-home mom so we raised them inside and handled them often... I've never seen anything like it. Our chickens are MUCH different. From speaking with other guinea owners I do think we had an out of ordinary experience, but I want to try again.

My idea, after searching for our wants for our next generation this coming spring, was to raise bantams, guineas, and chickens together (about 10 all together) as a flock from chicks. Has anyone had success raising guineas and chickens together? I know they are "wild" game, but I would really like them to stick around this time. They were impressively stupid last time - not even exaggerating. I had them shipped and wondered if it was poor handling? Seriously, I've been around and raised/trained animals my entire life and I've never seen anything like it. Our local pet and farm center sells guineas as well as chicks so I figured I would pick some up together this coming spring and we might be fine.

 

[Chicken_Guru]

(I'm long-winded so feel free to skip the "because" and go right to the question in paragraph 2)

My daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at 2 years old. She's 4 now. That's what started my whole "backyard bird" idea - that and I thought it was a great opportunity for her to learn some thoughtfulness, responsibility, and kindness (actually worked great - one of my parenting wins among many fails... Real Housewives may be my guilty pleasure but they have been a dictionary for my child - yikes!). Anyway, my goal is excellent foraging to curb, even if just a little, our tick population (YUUUGE). I purchased 3 guineas from a hatchery and they all ran away - they hated us! I tried to do everything by the book and I'm a stay-at-home mom so we raised them inside and handled them often... I've never seen anything like it. Our chickens are MUCH different. From speaking with other guinea owners I do think we had an out of ordinary experience, but I want to try again.

My idea, after searching for our wants for our next generation this coming spring, was to raise bantams, guineas, and chickens together (about 10 all together) as a flock from chicks. Has anyone had success raising guineas and chickens together? I know they are "wild" game, but I would really like them to stick around this time. They were impressively stupid last time - not even exaggerating. I had them shipped and wondered if it was poor handling? Seriously, I've been around and raised/trained animals my entire life and I've never seen anything like it. Our local pet and farm center sells guineas as well as chicks so I figured I would pick some up together this coming spring and we might be fine.

I have read an article about guineas and chickens, just warning you, guineas can be super mean. At this age, while chicks, they are about equal, but when they grow up, the guineas might turn on them, or still be "friends" with them since they were raised together. I'm wondering why you are getting guineas, because they can protect your flock or for their beautiful black-spotted eggs!

 

[guineapeeps]

(I'm long-winded so feel free to skip the "because" and go right to the question in paragraph 2)

My daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at 2 years old. She's 4 now. That's what started my whole "backyard bird" idea - that and I thought it was a great opportunity for her to learn some thoughtfulness, responsibility, and kindness (actually worked great - one of my parenting wins among many fails... Real Housewives may be my guilty pleasure but they have been a dictionary for my child - yikes!). Anyway, my goal is excellent foraging to curb, even if just a little, our tick population (YUUUGE). I purchased 3 guineas from a hatchery and they all ran away - they hated us! I tried to do everything by the book and I'm a stay-at-home mom so we raised them inside and handled them often... I've never seen anything like it. Our chickens are MUCH different. From speaking with other guinea owners I do think we had an out of ordinary experience, but I want to try again.

My idea, after searching for our wants for our next generation this coming spring, was to raise bantams, guineas, and chickens together (about 10 all together) as a flock from chicks. Has anyone had success raising guineas and chickens together? I know they are "wild" game, but I would really like them to stick around this time. They were impressively stupid last time - not even exaggerating. I had them shipped and wondered if it was poor handling? Seriously, I've been around and raised/trained animals my entire life and I've never seen anything like it. Our local pet and farm center sells guineas as well as chicks so I figured I would pick some up together this coming spring and we might be fine.

I had guineas for quite a few years and loved having them (I recently had to rehome them due to a move and miss them a lot). As far as tick control, you can’t beat guineas...they are worth their weight in gold for controlling outdoor pests like ticks, grasshoppers, and crickets and do an awesome job in controlling bugs in the garden. I wish I could advise you on how they did with chickens, but I only had the guineas, no chickens. I would try posting your questions on the guinea talk thread here on BYC.
Here’s the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guinea-talk.1105889/page-171#post-19028210

A lot of the people on there have both chickens and guineas together and I think they would be super helpful!

 

[HereChickChickChick88]

I have read an article about guineas and chickens, just warning you, guineas can be super mean. At this age, while chicks, they are about equal, but when they grow up, the guineas might turn on them, or still be "friends" with them since they were raised together. I'm wondering why you are getting guineas, because they can protect your flock or for their beautiful black-spotted eggs!

I'm desperate to curb our tick population - my daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at age 2. She's 4 now - can't keep her in a bubble but every little bit helps. We live in an area with a large tick population.

 

[Chicken_Guru]

I'm desperate to curb our tick population - my daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at age 2. She's 4 now - can't keep her in a bubble but every little bit helps. We live in an area with a large tick population.

Sorry for your daughter. Hope they cure her.

 

[guineapeeps]

(I'm long-winded so feel free to skip the "because" and go right to the question in paragraph 2)

My daughter was diagnosed with Lyme at 2 years old. She's 4 now. That's what started my whole "backyard bird" idea - that and I thought it was a great opportunity for her to learn some thoughtfulness, responsibility, and kindness (actually worked great - one of my parenting wins among many fails... Real Housewives may be my guilty pleasure but they have been a dictionary for my child - yikes!). Anyway, my goal is excellent foraging to curb, even if just a little, our tick population (YUUUGE). I purchased 3 guineas from a hatchery and they all ran away - they hated us! I tried to do everything by the book and I'm a stay-at-home mom so we raised them inside and handled them often... I've never seen anything like it. Our chickens are MUCH different. From speaking with other guinea owners I do think we had an out of ordinary experience, but I want to try again.

My idea, after searching for our wants for our next generation this coming spring, was to raise bantams, guineas, and chickens together (about 10 all together) as a flock from chicks. Has anyone had success raising guineas and chickens together? I know they are "wild" game, but I would really like them to stick around this time. They were impressively stupid last time - not even exaggerating. I had them shipped and wondered if it was poor handling? Seriously, I've been around and raised/trained animals my entire life and I've never seen anything like it. Our local pet and farm center sells guineas as well as chicks so I figured I would pick some up together this coming spring and we might be fine.

Forgot to mention that guineas need a long time to know where their home is. Even if you raise them inside, if you transfer them outside to a new coop, they need to be locked inside any new home for around 4 weeks or so to really learn that is where they need to come back to each night. I’m wondering if that’s why yours ran off? When I first got my guineas I left them in their home for a month before letting them free range. When I got more guineas, I moved them to a new bigger coop and had to lock them inside for another month to make sure they would return to the new place. Even after a month in their new coop, they wanted to return to the old one at times. They are definitely on the wild side and are a bit quirky, but I highly recommend them. I’m no expert, but glad to help with any questions regarding guineas.