- Thread starter
- #11
The answer is yes. Though not on the issue I worried about initially. So far the chickens are all roosting happily inside the coop where they belong. And mostly the guineas are with them. We did have one sleep on top of the coop one night because he just wouldn't come down, even after us alternately encouraging him to fly down, and leaving him alone. The next morning he was safely running around inside the pen waiting for everyone else to wake up. And sometimes we do have to open the pen to let them back in (seems that they easily fly OUT of the pen whenever they want to, but never figure out that the same process works in reverse!) Occasionally I've seen the guineas fly into trees when something spooks them during the day, but they don't stay long. And no chicken has attempted to roost in a tree or even investigate one, and a few are good enough flyers that they probably could.
Anyway, the problem is laying. When the younger chickens started laying (on New Year's Day!), there were only a couple times I found an egg on the ground, and always right in front of the nest box, so it seemed they were pretty clear on the concept, just not the details. All was smooth until beginning of April, when the guineas started laying. Actually the first couple guinea eggs were in a nest box, but that stopped quickly. At first they were just at random places in the coop (OK with me), then some out in their pen (not as good, but still OK), then they seemed to all decide together one day. Really - I watched all three females having a little pow-wow inside the coop one day - checking out one corner, then another, until they finally decided on one. For a week or so I got 3 eggs a day in that corner, usually nicely arranged together. Then they figured out they could fly out of the pen and lay in the bushes. So I set up a little lean-to in one corner of the coop, hoping that it's the privacy they want. Well, 1 or 2 of them are using it sometimes, but now the chickens are too!! I'm getting half the chicken eggs on the floor with all kinds of room left in the nest boxes. <sigh>
On a different note - shortly after my last post we lost 4 of the older chickens to predators (3 at once in the morning and one in midday - found her body and it was likely a hawk), and chose that time to mix the 2 flocks (because the youngsters had a sturdier coop and more shade, though all had some shade). The youngsters were a little younger than I would've preferred but all got along well enough. And since then we haven't lost anyone. I'm thinking the guineas are such good watch-birds and raise such a fuss they scare off the hawks, at least. I have seen them squawk like crazy (even more than the normal squawk like crazy!) when a hawk flew over the property next door. They're good birds, it's worth dealing with the eccentricities!
Anyway, the problem is laying. When the younger chickens started laying (on New Year's Day!), there were only a couple times I found an egg on the ground, and always right in front of the nest box, so it seemed they were pretty clear on the concept, just not the details. All was smooth until beginning of April, when the guineas started laying. Actually the first couple guinea eggs were in a nest box, but that stopped quickly. At first they were just at random places in the coop (OK with me), then some out in their pen (not as good, but still OK), then they seemed to all decide together one day. Really - I watched all three females having a little pow-wow inside the coop one day - checking out one corner, then another, until they finally decided on one. For a week or so I got 3 eggs a day in that corner, usually nicely arranged together. Then they figured out they could fly out of the pen and lay in the bushes. So I set up a little lean-to in one corner of the coop, hoping that it's the privacy they want. Well, 1 or 2 of them are using it sometimes, but now the chickens are too!! I'm getting half the chicken eggs on the floor with all kinds of room left in the nest boxes. <sigh>
On a different note - shortly after my last post we lost 4 of the older chickens to predators (3 at once in the morning and one in midday - found her body and it was likely a hawk), and chose that time to mix the 2 flocks (because the youngsters had a sturdier coop and more shade, though all had some shade). The youngsters were a little younger than I would've preferred but all got along well enough. And since then we haven't lost anyone. I'm thinking the guineas are such good watch-birds and raise such a fuss they scare off the hawks, at least. I have seen them squawk like crazy (even more than the normal squawk like crazy!) when a hawk flew over the property next door. They're good birds, it's worth dealing with the eccentricities!
