Trust Guinea with chicks?

woodmort

RIP 1938-2020
9 Years
Jul 6, 2010
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I have an interesting situation. This spring 3 of my 4 remaining guineas were lost to predators so I have one lone guinea. A week ago I moved my 3-week old chicks to the coop brooder--a partitioned of section of the coop with one long side hardware cloth. The lone guinea has been spending his/her time in front of the brooder, just eyeing the chicks. Usually it is the first bird out the pop door but now rarely spends much time outside. Now I'm not sure if it is male or female but it is taking especial interest in the young birds.

Having seen what guineas can do to things like mice and snakes I'm not sure whether this is a case of it trying to mother them, looking for companionship or sizing them for a meal. While I'll keep them separate I just find it interesting. I do have older chicks--two and three months--that the guinea doesn't both except to peck at them if they're in its way.

What do you think?
 
Short answer: no. :) It may just be looking for companionship, but I'd still exercise an abundance of caution. You could try a "test" integration, watching carefully and being ready to separate the guinea if needed, but I'd wait until the chicks are closer in size to the guinea.

Best of luck!
 

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