Sense of Direction

[southwind00]

My 10 guineas that are 15 and 16 weeks old are all being let out of the pen everyday but are very reluctant to venture very far. Is that normal? And when they do maybe mosey 30 or 40 feet from their home within a couple of minutes they all freak out and run and fly back to their coop. Is it that because they don't have a very good sense of direction and fear getting lost or something? I'd love to hear from people who have experienced having a young new flock with no leadership like I have.

 

[R2elk]

My 10 guineas that are 15 and 16 weeks old are all being let out of the pen everyday but are very reluctant to venture very far. Is that normal? And when they do maybe mosey 30 or 40 feet from their home within a couple of minutes they all freak out and run and fly back to their coop. Is it that because they don't have a very good sense of direction and fear getting lost or something? I'd love to hear from people who have experienced having a young new flock with no leadership like I have.

It is common with young guineas that are not around adult guineas. Guineas tend to not like change and take time to adjust to new situations such as a different waterer or feeder than the ones they were accustomed. To them it is a whole new world out there and it will take time for them to adjust.

 

[perchie.girl]

x200

 

[southwind00]

H'mmm, so what i am looking at pretty much is these young guineas will be close to home til next spring when love is in the air and their breeding instincts take over?

 

[R2elk]

H'mmm, so what i am looking at pretty much is these young guineas will be close to home til next spring when love is in the air and their breeding instincts take over?

Most likely.

 

[southwind00]

Ok , so back to the sense of direction. My home and yard area is in the middle of conifer woods as you can kind of see behind my coop in my avatar and when they do want to roam they seem to pick the darkness of the woods were they can go easily under all the dead branches and I can't. I have a few hunting trails but like all the other game that hangs out there they can move easily. So! if they go lets say a 1000 feet due north behind me do they have any sense of direction to find there way back or do they become fox food? For some reason they pick going to the woods with really nothing to eat to my lawn, fields, and garden areas that are filled with goodies that they have not ventured to find. So far I have been able to herd them back but I'm sure my luck will run out when they get spooked and run like only guineas seem to do.

 

[R2elk]

Ok , so back to the sense of direction. My home and yard area is in the middle of conifer woods as you can kind of see behind my coop in my avatar and when they do want to roam they seem to pick the darkness of the woods were they can go easily under all the dead branches and I can't. I have a few hunting trails but like all the other game that hangs out there they can move easily. So! if they go lets say a 1000 feet due north behind me do they have any sense of direction to find there way back or do they become fox food? For some reason they pick going to the woods with really nothing to eat to my lawn, fields, and garden areas that are filled with goodies that they have not ventured to find. So far I have been able to herd them back but I'm sure my luck will run out when they get spooked and run like only guineas seem to do.

Guineas can be trained to avoid certain areas. You have to be consistent and always make them uncomfortable in an area where you don't want them to be. The guinea expert @PeepsCA posted that she would run at her guineas waving a big towel to chase them from where she didn't want them to where she wanted them. She also used treats and had her guineas taught to come to her call for the treats.

I just herd mine away from where I don't want them to be to where I want them to stay. But I am almost always home so I can get after them within minutes of their transgressions. Now I rarely have them leave where they are supposed to be.

Good luck.

 

[Ghosty]

How young were they when you put them in the coop and then out to free range? Start em young. Put them in the coop at 4 weeks and leave the door open to the run. They will go out on their own and adjust much quicker than an older bird. My 7-8 week guineas are so used to free ranging already that they roosted on the trampoline tonight whereas they usually put themselves up. The light brahmas stuck it out too. My wife finally found them.

 

[Flockandfowl46]

That's completely normal. My guinea are in transition right now and they will become more confident with time

 

[southwind00]

I got them at approx 2-3 weeks old and put them in my coop 5 weeks later. I started putting a few out at a time a few weeks after that. The ones out never went more than two or three feet away. So after a few weeks of that I started letting them all out at once.They are now getting maybe 20 -30 yards from their coop but still very tentative. One kind of strange occurrence is that they have made it to my garage and love to hang out on the concrete apron in front of it. Nothing there to eat or dust themselves in but that's where they hang much to the chagrin of my dog who lays under my truck to get out of the sun. And so yesterday while watching them the phone took me inside to do some business and 15 minutes later when I came out they had actually been in the garage and pooped in the exact location where their crate was when I first got them. Did that location some how get imprinted in their bird brain? Or is it just a coincidence? They'r still hanging out on the apron and I have to keep shooing them out of the garage. Any thoughts,?