What did your guinea/s do today? 😁

[Pastel the Rooster]

Yesterday I tried to catch my Guinea hen and she flew away and smacked her face on a table

Typical clumsy guinea!

 

[cvamoca]

My guineas think they are chickens, but I've never had a dustbathing chicken stretch out on their sides with feet pointing straight out- cracks me up. They particularly like laying beside the Showgirl's pen. STRETCHING is good for you, right?
Because mine think they are chickens, they run towards me, come lay on the doorstep waiting for us, and basically consider humans part of their little weird flock. I've had chickens forever, geese for 10 years, but this is my first year with guineas. Absolutely love them. They are dopey fun birds, yesterday one flew over our big barn, over this pen, landing down by the other chicken barn, then ran around announcing that everyone else was lost. They INSIST on having their chicken Mom as part of their flock, doesn't matter that they are bigger than her now, and she is mean to them-- they just put their heads down and chase her.

 

[parsnips]

I've seen so many mixed verdicts about raising them with chickens. My chooks are about 8 weeks old, my 2 keets about 4 weeks old, i suppose there's too much of an age gap really to mix them. as chickens can be such savages I really hesitate to put them together. their behaviour is so different already, the keets are hurtling around their pen like dingbats and the chickens are... chickens.

realistically the keets should go and live with the rest of the guineas when they grow up but i do wish there was a way to tame them just a LITTLE, our older birds are pretty daft and wild

 

[parsnips]

My guineas think they are chickens, but I've never had a dustbathing chicken stretch out on their sides with feet pointing straight out- cracks me up. They particularly like laying beside the Showgirl's pen. STRETCHING is good for you, right?

Totally normal... nothing to see here...

 

[R2elk]

I've seen so many mixed verdicts about raising them with chickens. My chooks are about 8 weeks old, my 2 keets about 4 weeks old, i suppose there's too much of an age gap really to mix them. as chickens can be such savages I really hesitate to put them together. their behaviour is so different already, the keets are hurtling around their pen like dingbats and the chickens are... chickens.

realistically the keets should go and live with the rest of the guineas when they grow up but i do wish there was a way to tame them just a LITTLE, our older birds are pretty daft and wild

I have raised them both ways, with chickens and by themselves. I will never raise them with chickens again. You think chickens can be savages, they have nothing on guineas.

The majority of people who raise them with chickens say how wonderful they are. Once the first breeding season starts you don't hear from them anymore or if you do it is: "Why are my guineas attacking my chickens."

The people that get away with having chickens and guineas have lots of room where they can segregate from each other. Guineas need a lot more "personal space" than chickens need.

If you want tame guineas, spend time with them. Bribe them with treats but let them approach you, don't go after them. Try to meet them on their level when keets. They have an instinctual fear of anything approaching from above.

When they are in the brooder, put some feed in your hand and hold your hand down on the bedding. Let them come to you and they will eat from your hand with little ones even crawling into your hand to get the feed.

 

[cvamoca]

Totally normal... nothing to see here...

They make me laugh every day with their sheer dorkiness. OOPs, not sure why these pictures are here but- the ducks are wild...raised here and decided to be tame, come when called and come for their breakfast.

 

[cvamoca]

I have raised them both ways, with chickens and by themselves. I will never raise them with chickens again. You think chickens can be savages, they have nothing on guineas.

The majority of people who raise them with chickens say how wonderful they are. Once the first breeding season starts you don't hear from them anymore or if you do it is: "Why are my guineas attacking my chickens."

The people that get away with having chickens and guineas have lots of room where they can segregate from each other. Guineas need a lot more "personal space" than chickens need.

If you want tame guineas, spend time with them. Bribe them with treats but let them approach you, don't go after them. Try to meet them on their level when keets. They have an instinctual fear of anything approaching from above.

When they are in the brooder, put some feed in your hand and hold your hand down on the bedding. Let them come to you and they will eat from your hand with little ones even crawling into your hand to get the feed.

My barn is 16X12 and has 2 pens that I keep my Seramas and Silkies in, plus a large crate and I can put up more pens- for the amount of chickens its great-has loads of rafter space. I'm hoping it'll be big enough for guineas in winter- if not, they can come out the small door (under the sunshaded part of the barn) I have quite a few roosters, all get along fine, and am hoping that won't prove to be a problem with the guineas- I'm pretty sure there are 2 and 2 males and females, no idea on the 5 wild ones yet.

 

[tnctx]

I've seen threads here and there on BYC like this, just not with guinea fowl.
I figure that this will be a fun opportunity for us guinea owners to share our guineas antics!
And for those who want guineas, come see how fun they are!

I really hope that you all will enjoy this thread, and please keep this thread peaceful. Please do not argue, or swear.
Thanks, and enjoy,
Pastel
Ps (you can also tell what your other birds or horses, or goats, etc did!)

My Bonehead babies fight over which one of them gets to sleep on Mom’s back!

 

[tnctx]

I have raised them both ways, with chickens and by themselves. I will never raise them with chickens again. You think chickens can be savages, they have nothing on guineas.

The majority of people who raise them with chickens say how wonderful they are. Once the first breeding season starts you don't hear from them anymore or if you do it is: "Why are my guineas attacking my chickens."

The people that get away with having chickens and guineas have lots of room where they can segregate from each other. Guineas need a lot more "personal space" than chickens need.

If you want tame guineas, spend time with them. Bribe them with treats but let them approach you, don't go after them. Try to meet them on their level when keets. They have an instinctual fear of anything approaching from above.

When they are in the brooder, put some feed in your hand and hold your hand down on the bedding. Let them come to you and they will eat from your hand with little ones even crawling into your hand to get the feed.

Unfortunately, these six babies weren’t in the brooder so I didn’t have an opportunity to approach them on that level but Mom and Dad have brought them close to me. We have four chicken hens that have just started laying along with the 3+ mo old guineas and four chicks in the brooder. Right now everyone is giving the keets a wide berth to avoid the wrath of M&D; I wonder how much longer they will enjoy this superior protection! The keets at 25 days seem so much more advanced than the almost 4 mo old Boneheads that were raised in the brooder; I suspect it’s bc the keets have had the tutelage of M&D. All of that to say, all of the guineas chase the chickens but aren’t trying (yet) to seriously harm them but I’m guessing that could change as the Boneheads and keets get older. PS…the keets fight over which one gets to sleep on Mom’s back!

 

[Sequestered Ridge Ranch]

Just kicked them out of their pen tonight I raised them in with ducklings, they got kicked out too. Now the 16 guinea fowl, 28 ducks and 5 geese are together in the Waddle Inn, we will see the results in the morning