What to do with guinea fowl!!!!!!!!!Any pics????

[swampducks]

Quote:
Mine will drink out of my dogs' water bowls, and if that's empty will run back into the coop/run to get a drink from their own waterer.

They've jumped onto water filled buckets for a drink, too.

 

[Badhbh]

I have 4 guineas (Bosley and the Angels) that I got at Milton last week. In the less-than-a-week that i've had them, I can tell you a few things...

Guineas= no smrt. Really. Not bright at all.
Guineas= LOUD LOUD LOUD. They haven't hit me full effect yet, but they are working up to it. I'm totally prepared though. My Granny had Guineas, and i've wanted them ever since. I love the noise they make.
Guineas= Pigs. They'll eat anything. Except layer crumbles.

I built a smallish coop box type thing, and gave them a broom handle to roost on. They seem fine honestly. I'm planning on keeping them in the coop until at least November. I dont' want them running off on me. I'll likely also incubate some eggs.

 

[freerange freaks]

Guineas are easy to lose! Mine are 5 months old and have been raised with my chickens. They are all the same age. None have been able to freerange until last week. They have been on a rotating pasture up until now.

So last night, only five days into freeranging, all the chickens made it back home before night fall. Only 3 out of 5 Guineas made it home. They were all back together again this morning. And off they went again. Even my Chuckars and Pheasants made it back home last night. They are wanderers and very difficult to keep home.

I think they get distracted when they are out and about. The sun goes down and they are stuck out in the middle of nowhere before they even know what happened. Like someone said before me, they are none too smart!

Good Luck at keeping them yours.

 

[the1much]

im not going against anybodies advice,, but my guineas were EASY to keep home. ( of course i think ALL my birds are a little "special" hehe) i have over a dozen now,, from 4 months up to 9 months,,i get a few to sell,, add 1 or 2 to my flock,,,and so on,,, but they live with my chickens, and ive never kept them inside for days to "train" them,,and never clipped their wings. BUT my keets are only a few days old when i get them.
my first flock,, when i got them,, i fed all my birds at night so they would learn to come in at night,, now it seems the "young ones" learn from the older ones by just following them in at night. but now i feed them in 5the morning,, and all come back every night.( i had to teach a couple a lesson 1 night,, they wouldnt come in,, so i threw down a handful of feed for the others in the coop,, walked out and closed the screen door,,, and let them stay out and SCREAM to get in with the others to eat.,, i havent had problems with them 2 anymore,,haha)

 

[petitesphinx]

Wow!

Thanks for the question. Yesterday, I just bought 10 small Guineas (about a month old (?) they have feathers but are smaller. And I thought I could just let them out in a few days! I would be sooo disappointed if I lost them so soon.

So they need to be kept inside for months??

Now they're in a large dog kennel/crate thing inside the coop beside our 3 new Peafowl, also in a crate...

I'm concerened about them wandering off on me now...


If I let them go with the chickens....won't they learn from them?

Thanks, ALL!!

 

[swampducks]

Quote:
My first 2 are now 15 weeks old, they and their 4 barred rock buddies free range every day and go back to roost in the coop before dusk every night. I've been free ranging since they were around 6 weeks old (I got the keets on May 21st, they were released the first time on July 8th).

When I first let them out I intended to let out only one with the chickens and the others (had 3 at the time, lost one due to my stupidity, not the guinea's) but for some reason they would not cooperate and all 3 got out. I don't know if it worked for me because they spent one week only being allowed into the fenced run or not.

With my current batch of 5 week old guineas I am going to again try the free range only some while the others watch from inside the fence. I can't imagine I'll be lucky twice.

In direct answer to your question whether you have to keep them inside for only days, weeks, or months seems to be dependent on your guineas. What works for some of the BYC posters seems to be a disaster for others.

Guess I'm not much help there, am I?

 

[HaleMoa]

( i had to teach a couple a lesson 1 night,, they wouldnt come in,, so i threw down a handful of feed for the others in the coop,, walked out and closed the screen door,,, and let them stay out and SCREAM to get in with the others to eat.,, i havent had problems with them 2 anymore,,haha)

haha,,thats an awesome idea!​

 

[CindyS]

If you have cornfields near, be careful. I had a group of 11 that I raised from babies, they were in an outside pen so they could see their surroundings and know where home was. When they were almost full grown, I let them loose. They dissapeared in the cornfield and got lost. 2 weeks later only 1 came back.

 

[EC]

I have had Guineas for a couple years now. In my experience, the male Guinea fowl keep very well together. (Except during mating season)

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

I dont know about guinea fowl. But they sound almost like pigeons. You have to keep them a few months to, before letting them free range.. I usually feed my pigeons a light breakfast.. Then let them out to free range.. Then feed them treats and a big meal at night.. I would bang the feed cup on the wood fence. And it would call most of them in.. But of course they had to be trained for when their big meal would be. While they were cooped up and not allowed to free range..

I dont know if that would work for guinea fowl.. But it might..