Want to buy guineas

[fowl farm]

Okay, so I want to buy guineas, but I have 10 chickens (1 rooster and 9 hens). I know they can co-exist peacefully, but that the male guineas cause trouble with roosters. So my question is, can you tell the sex of two day old guineas? I would like to get all females, but would male guineas and roosters get along at night? Because if they did, then it wouldn't matter the sex of the guineas since they'll free range all day (and be penned at night). Thanks! And any other info on guineas would rock.

 

[Kevin565]

To the best of my knowledge you can not tell the sex of two day old guineas. I don't think Vent sexing is effective when there that young but I'm not sure. Your male guineas and Rooster could fight but that has alot to do with space and individual personalities

 

[fowl farm]

Okay, thanks. We live on 50 acres, so we should be good on space. How about penning them together at night? It's a kind of small coop. Plus, I want eggs from my chickens, so I don't want them to stress out if there are chicken/guinea fights at night.

 

[Jared]

I have 1 Turken rooster that co-exists with 17 guineas, of which I believe about 9-10 are rooster guineas. I have never seen a fight between them yet. Perhaps because the guinea roosters are too busy chasing each other around, or perhaps the Turken's harem of 23 hens keeps him out of the guinea's business. Up until a few days ago, they all shared the same coop, which was too small for the number of birds I have.

 

[Oakieridge]

We have 3 dozen guineas, 8 of which live in a fenced yard and coop with a Golden Salmon Marans rooster. They don't even bother each other. BUT I did have one breeding pair of guineas in with my Splash breeding pair of Marans and the male guinea all but killed my splash roo. So it really is a personality issue. The rest of my guineas free range with 2 modern game banties and they all get along just fine. Of course when breeding season started this year I thought I would have to kill them all they just couldn't get along with each other let alone any chicken, lol. But that only lasted a few weeks thankfully!!!

 

[JLeigh]

My experience has been guineas and chickens (roosters included) get along well enough, but need adequate space to "self-segregate" if they want to. My chickens give my guineas a wide-berth. My guineas are at the top of the pecking order. Enough space in the coop for everybody will likely be the key. Personality has a lot to do with it, too, but can be mitigated with enough space in the coop. Their personalities are "nicer" if they have enough space to get away from each other. At least that was my experience.

My guineas have the entire run at night and the chickens get the coop - their choice, not mine. My husband is going to build another coop for the guineas for the winter, so they'll each have their own coop to get out of bad weather. Each coop on either end of the run. Should work out just fine.

 

[Lollipop]

I had three guinea cocks in FL before moving to GA in '08. They were like a street gang and would surround any loose rooster and mug him. Here in GA I have two guinea cocks and one hen. They free range with my yard cock and 3 hens. They all roost in the rafters of my pole barn and get along fine, except,LOL, when everyone flies off the roost in the morning. The rooster is always first. He thinks he has to breed everything that hits the ground after him. You can imagine how the guinea cocks feel about that.Heh, heh. I don't think he actually catches them, but it's a wild scene for a few minutes and quite a show. Guineas and chickens do fine together. Guineas are the entertainment around here. I have two chickens raising keets right now. Start with keets, you'll be glad you did.........Pop

 

[fowl farm]

Thanks for the help! We decided to build another coop because the current one is kind of small and we ended up getting more keets than planned.

 

[JLeigh]

IMHO, that's a great idea. Never hurts to have another coop! In my case, the new guinea coop will be big enough to house the ones I have, plus a FEW MORE. Woohoo. They all share the run though, and it's large enough for everyone to have their own perches, etc.

 

[Lollipop]

Thanks for the help! We decided to build another coop because the current one is kind of small and we ended up getting more keets than planned.

Ya gotta get more than ya want as they are prime targets for most any predator. I started with 20 keets and ended up after a year with 2 cocks and a hen. So far, and we've started on our 4th year, they seem to be smart enough to survive. Good luck........Pop