- Jun 15, 2008
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Someone tell my guineas why they should be afraid of the outdoors. Whenever I let a new group out I spend the whole time following them around cause they immediately run for the wild blue yonder. Once they are turned around they wander back to the coop and then strike off a new direction. If left alone they will just keep going and fail to return. Even if I raise them from eggs mostly in the coop and keep them there for months. Even if they are raised with other poultry that stick around and always return to the coop. I also have a very high incidence of dead guineas for obvious reasons. Only about 1/4th of my first batch survived to the next year and we seem to have doubled that to 1/2 now that we are clipping wings to keep them from roosting in trees.
A redtail can kill a large chicken. They can kill an adult guinea. I'm not saying they can haul it off but those talons can pierce vital organs or rip off heads of poultry and they'll eat them where they land if nothing interrupts them. I've seen them strike and then land to eat bigger game than that in the fields. Technically your guineas are never big enough to be safe. However guineas are pretty observant of hawks. Many use them to alert their chickens and all the poultry will run for the trees or other shelter as soon as the guineas start yelling.
A redtail can kill a large chicken. They can kill an adult guinea. I'm not saying they can haul it off but those talons can pierce vital organs or rip off heads of poultry and they'll eat them where they land if nothing interrupts them. I've seen them strike and then land to eat bigger game than that in the fields. Technically your guineas are never big enough to be safe. However guineas are pretty observant of hawks. Many use them to alert their chickens and all the poultry will run for the trees or other shelter as soon as the guineas start yelling.