Raising Guineas with Chickens

[RedheadErin]

I got 3 adult guineas at auction last year. Two of them got killed within a few months because they would not hang with the chickens, no matter what. The last one started hanging on the edge of the flock, and eventually, very slowly, integrated into the flock. I knew she would be all right when I went out to the shed and found her cuddled up to my big rooster Connor, with Connor's "queen" Molly sulking on his other side.

If I had it to do again, I would quarrentine them for a month in the basement, then give them another whole month on lockdown in the chicken shed, so they would get the hang of sleeping in there, before letting them out in the pen during the day and back to the shed at night for another whole month. They seem a little slow to catch on to the whole sleeping indoors thing.

 

[Dee Montano]

Good idea to keep them confined until they feel like it's home. I read that it takes 6 weeks for them to call it home. Better to raise them from babies so they know where they belong.

We tried to shut our guineas out of the chicken house last night so that they wouldn't bother the chickens, but they lined up on the ramp and we didn't have the heart to do it and let them go in like always.

 

[LR Gamefarm]

they do great with chickens but the males need to be raised with the chickens or they will chase your roosters but the females wont chase them i usaully get them when they are a week old and put them in with the chickens and then let them free range after 2 weeks in the pen one of my male guineas i keep in the pen with some hens and he does okay bu he doesnt like roosters i got him when he was 1 yr old and he didnt know what chickens were so he fought with my main rooster that runs with my free range hens and after that he didntlike roosters at all he pulled all the tail feathers out of my rhode island rooster and then he got in to my game yard when i was feeding my game stags and got in a fight with one of my kelsos and almost got killed by the tie cord he got out in the middle and just got tangled up and my kelso wasattacking him with 3 inch long spurs so i have to keep him in my guinea pen so that away he doesnt get attacked anymore

 

[RedheadErin]

I should add the my guinea hen is so well integrated that she now has babies, either with one of the roosters or else she adopted some eggs from somewhere. However, she is NOT so well integrated that she wants to take her babies in the shed.

If these babies don't make it, I think I would like to get some keets next year.

 

[gltap]

My chickens are now 14 weeks old, and my guineas are almost 6 weeks old. I have been keeping the guineas in a cage in the coop (to keep them separate from the chickens) for a week or so. The chickens free-range during the day and the guineas have the coop/run to themselves. I am wondering when I should be able to put them all in the coop together. The guineas are still a bit smaller than the biggest chickens.