When do guineas start acting like guineas? Haha

[Nash37212]

Hi all, it’s my newbie question of the week! I have 10 8-week old guineas that I have been allowing to more or less free range for the past 2 weeks, increasing their time out to all day for the past week. I keep an eye on them since they’re still young and lock them up at dusk. Thankfully they like to hang out with the donkeys so that adds a small layer of protection. So far they only seem to eat weeds. I pointed out a teeming ant hill to them and they cocked their heads at it and then moved on. And they made absolutely no noise today when a giant coyote came by to size up the fence they were behind! I ran screaming and growling out of the house and chased it off, but like the title says, at what age can I expect them to start gobbling up bugs and alarming when predators come near?

 

[hysop]

Mine didn’t get loud til December and I bought them as hatched one day old keets in June. So 6 months?

I thought wow they’re not that loud and bam. December came and I was like oh. They’re more quiet now that they’re almost a year old.

They mostly ate weeds and grass for a long time too. Now they eat bugs. December didn’t have many bugs.

Guineas seem to be an investment to do a year before you need them at least that’s my take on it.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi all, it’s my newbie question of the week! I have 10 8-week old guineas that I have been allowing to more or less free range for the past 2 weeks, increasing their time out to all day for the past week. I keep an eye on them since they’re still young and lock them up at dusk. Thankfully they like to hang out with the donkeys so that adds a small layer of protection. So far they only seem to eat weeds. I pointed out a teeming ant hill to them and they cocked their heads at it and then moved on. And they made absolutely no noise today when a giant coyote came by to size up the fence they were behind! I ran screaming and growling out of the house and chased it off, but like the title says, at what age can I expect them to start gobbling up bugs and alarming when predators come near?

Watch donkeys sound great! Glad that you showed them the coyote is scary - they may not know yet what to be afraid of. I don’t know that guineas eat ants; the high formic acid content typically means that you need an ant specialist to eat ants. You could catch some local insects, like grasshoppers and beetles, and try throwing them to the guineas to get the idea!

 

[R2elk]

I don’t know that guineas eat ants

Guineas form their food likes and dislikes early. Some people who specifically want their guineas to eat ants will start feeding them ants in the brooder. You have to be careful doing so because ther is a point where the ants are more likely to harm the keets before the keets will harm the ants.

I do not find any ants in my guinea pen. I do not know whether the guineas are eating the ants or if I just keep the pen too wet for the ants. I do find ants in my garden which I keep as wet as the guinea pen.

 

[Chrisnotdebourg]

I have 4 adults and 10 twelve-week keets. I can tell you that there is nothing instinctual about insect eating in guineas. Perhaps in their homeland Africa but not abroad, at least not nowadays. Two of the adults search and eat mainly seeds while the other two eat insects very selectively (amazingly, they eat ants, sometimes). And i only feed them whole grains in the evening. Since the youngsters were feed turkey feed starter for growing healthy and strong, they don' t touch the bugs.
This morning the adults were introduced to potato beetle (adults and juveniles) being place by hand right under their beaks - not even tasted them.