When is best time of year to order guineas?

[BarnyardChaos]

I very much want to add guineas to our flock of chickens. I will very likely order keets from a hatchery. When do you folks think is the best time of year to order keets? Now, with fall and winter approaching; or in the early spring, so they have all year to grow and mature?

We have an abundance of predators - mostly raccoons, coyotes, and a fox or two. I know I'd be taking a chance on their survival. My son added a half dozen (grown) guineas to his place this spring. He didn't really do much for them - he kept them penned for a week or two, and only let one or two out during the day for awhile, before turning them all loose. They stayed close to his farm, even hatched a clutch or two this summer. But now they're all dead or disappeared. I want to try to avoid the same catastrophe.
Or should I just not have guineas at all?

 

[R2elk]

I very much want to add guineas to our flock of chickens. I will very likely order keets from a hatchery. When do you folks think is the best time of year to order keets? Now, with fall and winter approaching; or in the early spring, so they have all year to grow and mature?

We have an abundance of predators - mostly raccoons, coyotes, and a fox or two. I know I'd be taking a chance on their survival. My son added a half dozen (grown) guineas to his place this spring. He didn't really do much for them - he kept them penned for a week or two, and only let one or two out during the day for awhile, before turning them all loose. They stayed close to his farm, even hatched a clutch or two this summer. But now they're all dead or disappeared. I want to try to avoid the same catastrophe.
Or should I just not have guineas at all?

Read the thread Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA .

If you don't make a secure coop and teach them to go in at night, you too will lose all of your guineas. Brooding, raising and housing the guineas separately from your chickens.will make life much easier for your chickens.

Guineas aren't for everyone.

 

[BauerWFarm]

I very much want to add guineas to our flock of chickens. I will very likely order keets from a hatchery. When do you folks think is the best time of year to order keets? Now, with fall and winter approaching; or in the early spring, so they have all year to grow and mature?

We have an abundance of predators - mostly raccoons, coyotes, and a fox or two. I know I'd be taking a chance on their survival. My son added a half dozen (grown) guineas to his place this spring. He didn't really do much for them - he kept them penned for a week or two, and only let one or two out during the day for awhile, before turning them all loose. They stayed close to his farm, even hatched a clutch or two this summer. But now they're all dead or disappeared. I want to try to avoid the same catastrophe.
Or should I just not have guineas at all?

On the bright side, depending on where you live they do an excellent job helping cut back on incsects and more importantly rattle snakes.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

On the bright side, depending on where you live they do an excellent job helping cut back on incsects and more importantly rattle snakes.

I want to let them loose in the garden. Japanese beetles and grasshoppers nearly devastated it this year. No rattlesnakes near the farm, and I haven't seen any copperhead or cottonmouth, but we have plenty of black rat snakes. Son demands I keep the rat snakes around. I demand they GO before they eat all my chicks and eggs. Hubby is ambivalent. Maybe guineas will solve the problem LOL

 

[R2elk]

I want to let them loose in the garden. Japanese beetles and grasshoppers nearly devastated it this year. No rattlesnakes near the farm, and I haven't seen any copperhead or cottonmouth, but we have plenty of black rat snakes. Son demands I keep the rat snakes around. I demand they GO before they eat all my chicks and eggs. Hubby is ambivalent. Maybe guineas will solve the problem LOL

If you want guineas to eat insects in your garden, do not feed them treats from the garden. If they view the garden goodies as treats, they will eat them instead of the bugs.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I want to let them loose in the garden. Japanese beetles and grasshoppers nearly devastated it this year. No rattlesnakes near the farm, and I haven't seen any copperhead or cottonmouth, but we have plenty of black rat snakes. Son demands I keep the rat snakes around. I demand they GO before they eat all my chicks and eggs. Hubby is ambivalent. Maybe guineas will solve the problem LOL

Mine do not scare away snakes. If anything, they attract Western (black) rat snakes that really want eggs and chicks.

 

[R2elk]

Mine do not scare away snakes. If anything, they attract Western (black) rat snakes that really want eggs and chicks.
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My turkeys do a much better job keeping snakes away than my guineas do.