Soon-to-be Guinea and Cuckoo Marans momma.

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TwistOfFate

TwistOfFate

In the Brooder
7 Years
Jun 19, 2012
67
0
31
Candor, New York
Hello everyone,
I am an architect turned farmer in our Twist of Fate Family Farm, in upstate NY. I share my home with DH and DS, plus a gaggle of dogs, cats, sheep, alpacas and angora rabbits.

I met my first Guineas last weekend and it was love at first sight. I've never had any chickens or guineas, so this is all new to me. Before I order these precious babies, I want to learn as much as I can about how to keep them healthy and happy, and I think I'm in the right place!

I hope to learn from all of you guinea and chicken peeps.

Stella
 
WelcometoBYC.gif
 
Hi and welcome to BYC! I am in the same boat- I've never owned chickens and guineas before either but this past week I have been researching so much that I feel like I've become an expert! I'm getting 2 silkies this week, 4 guineas on Saturday and 5 Bantams will be mailed out on Monday.

I've started a blog of my adventure with my chickadees but so far have only posted about the different major hatcheries in the US that I spent a lot of time researching. So if you're searching for where to get your chicks or guineas from, it might be helpful for you. http://www.chicksandkeets.blogspot.com

As for the rest: Chicks and Keets can be raised together. It helps to have a brooder that can be divided because since they grow at different rates, or for any reason, you might want to separate some of them out and you want to have a place to put them. We have built a wooden brooder and a piece of wood can be slid in if necessary. Be careful of drafts so there has to be some sort of protection. You can buy a cage at a local store. I read it's recommended to get a bird cage as a rabbit cage's holes are too large and the guineas and chicks can escape. I've read that lining it with paper towels is good and I've read lining it with paper towels is bad...Sometimes it just has to be up to your discretion because I'm sure that both groups, pro and against paper towels, have perfectly fine guineas and chickens today. I thought shelf liner for the cage was a good idea though. Just something so that the chicks and keets don't slip because their legs are weak in the beginning.

Chicks are really susceptible to diseases while the Keets are a lot more resilient it seems. Keets have a heavy homing feeling, so they won't wander past their line of sight to your house. Warning though: they are loud! I recommend looking for videos of them on YouTube. Since you already met them I'm sure you know their volume level but just in case! It is VERY difficult to tell the sex between Guineas. Some people believe you can listen to their call and tell them apart that way because males "talk" differently than females. Now, I don't have guineas yet but I have a feeling I will not be talented enough to figure that one out!

About the homing instinct of the guineas- I've read that if you get an adult guinea it will be VERY difficult but not impossible to re-train them to view your house as home. Otherwise, if they aren't retrained, chances are they will wander and leave looking for where their home is.

Guineas like to be in trees and some nights they won't come down no matter what. They aren't very good mothers at all. And they like to hide their eggs. Guineas also have a strong flock bond so they will all stick together very tightly. On the first day outside in the coop you are to let half your guineas out so that the ones still in the coop will cry and call out for them and those "free" guineas won't want to wander far from them. Then on the next day switch the groups.

They both are very good at being trained to being called and going back into their coop at night. I read the best way to train this is to call them and give them a special snack/treat so that they associate coming back to good things. I want to try out training them with a bell so that when I call them and ring the bell they learn to come back and eventually I'll only have to sound the bell.

Oh and guineas are AWESOME tick eaters. Much, much better than chickens.

I can't really think of anything else- I didn't go into too much depth about things (like if you need/want to know more about raising them when their babies and what you'd need) but if you have any questions definitely ask! Hopefully this was a good start! :)
 
thank you and everyone else for the warm welcome!
I too have been reading everything I can find, wanting to make sure I know how to keep the new family members healthy and happy!
glad to have found such a supportive group to learn from :)
 

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