Why do they act like they are starving?

[bryanfamilyfarm]

We run our 17 guineas with our 15 hens and 2 roosters. Every morning the guineas have gotten used to me throwing the chickens scratch so they begin squawking at my door on my porch around 7am. This drives me NUTS! SO I have a few questions..

1. Any ideas on keeping poultry away from the house especially off the porch?
2. Is there just less to eat in the winter is that why they practically beg for food all day?
3. Should I be feeding them something else besides scratch, and could that possibly be why they don't seem satisfied.
4. Or maybe it's because they've just gotten used to me feeding them so now they don't want to hunt!!


Thanks for any input, as honestly these guys are driving me nuts right now!! I am looking forward to using them for pest control in the summer since I have a big garden and a pomegranate orchard.

 

[cracking up]

Wow 17 guineas is really a lot. We lock ours up at night in a cage in the pasture. It's quite a long way from the house but we can still hear them sometimes. I can't imagine them on the porch. We feed ours lay crumble (they like start and grow better) - that's how we lure them into the cage. If you could build something preditor proof far away from the house it would get them used to roaming the property and finding their own bugs. Good luck - they really are good foragers.

 

[robin416]

Are you saying you are not providing feed to your birds other than scratch? If you are then you need to change that and feed them a more balanced diet, especially in Winter when there are no bugs of any sort to eat.

Guineas prefer to be where everyone else is. If my dogs are up at the house so are the Guineas, if my chickens are out side in their pens, the Guineas are at the pens. They do range the acreage here during the other warmer months of the year but during Winter they stay closer to home.

 

[bryanfamilyfarm]

They do go into the coop at night with the chickens. The only other thing I feed them other than scratch is some scraps from the house. I will start feeding them higher protein feed, now that I've found this site!
Thanks for your replies, I am hoping to get them used to being further away from the house. They have started actually getting on top of my car and pooping and it eats the paint..so frustrating!!
We live on over 750 acres where they are completely free to roam, but as of right now they choose to sqwak right here on my porch and car!

 

[robin416]

As they get older and more confident of their surroundings they will range further out. If you set up something further from the house, a bird feeder or something that will give them a source of fun they'll hang near that for part of the day. You can also get a mirror to stand outside somewhere, they'll spend time fighting the birds in the mirror.

I can't help much with the car. They loved my red pickup for the first two years but I never noticed any issues with the paint from their droppings. I would find a superficial scratch from time to time when one would miscalculate the slipperiness.

 

[bryanfamilyfarm]

Yes I have plenty of scratches on the car. So they eventually stopped getting on it? That's reassuring for sure. I'm definetely going to try to put a feeder further out. Thanks!

 

[MuranoFarms]

Any chance that there are windows on your porch? Or a reflective storm door? They love to look at themselves in windows..even car windows! We have 2 mirrors in the coop and they stare at and coo to themselves constantly.

 

[bryanfamilyfarm]

No no windows on porch. But maybe that's why they like the car so much!

 

[cracking up]

How old are your guineas? - they do seem to mellow out a bit and they wander further as they get older. we only have four acres but they are usually pretty far from the house - or on the roof. They haven't gotten on the cars yet. Ours are only about seven months old.

 

[AHappychick]

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