Will they come back?

[sben451]

I had been letting my 8 guineas out during the day for a couple of weeks. They had been staying near the house. They're 7 mos. old. Yesterday, I let them out of their pen. Instead of staying within sight of their pen, they left our yard and did not return at dark. I still didn't see them today. Will they come back??

 

[robin416]

How long have you had them and had they been going up easily at night before this?

Are you sure they left willingly and that something didn't chase them off? I would also listen for them, they should be talking and carrying on since they are not some place familiar.

 

[Hillsvale]

I was told that if you didn't raise them from chicks they won't ever bond to their coop and will try and return "home". If you have had them since babies I would sit and listen... like robin said perhaps something scared them?

 

[robin416]

Hillsvale, you were told incorrectly. I bought mine at maturity, I still have two of those birds today years later. If they are acclimated to their new surroundings and their coop you couldn't run them off if you wanted to.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
Interesting, it was the breeder who told me that!

Mine are coming as chicks this year so it worries me not anyway but its odd she should say that if its not the case.

 

[robin416]

I think much of the success of keeping Guineas at home has to do with acclimation. Mine were up for a couple of months but during that time they were introduced to millet. Millet is Guinea cocaine. If I'm not down at the Guinea coop handing out the millet just before roosting time my flock, especially the two flock leaders, are up here at the house raising the roof about my tardiness. They have this small, stressed complaint that I hear from most of them as they lead me back down to their coop and the whine does not stop until the millet is out and they are eating.

 

[Hillsvale]

that's easy enough, one of the guys on my job site also works on the dock yards unloading the grain carriers... I get 1/2 ton's full or corn, soya bean .. barley. Cheap and the pigs, goats and sheep all love it, come to think of it that's why the turkeys and geese yell for some when going by as well though they'd eat anything!

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:
When you get mature Guineas they need confined to their new home for a period of time before they are released. I got my first few as adults and kept them penned for several months. They're still here years later!
If you get adults and let them out right away, they will fly off to try to find 'home'.

 

[Hillsvale]

yes that's right, as Robin stated above.

Its no different than any other critter though my hooves beasts can't fly!... they need to become used to their new home.

 

[sben451]

I hatched these guineas in my incubator last September. They were in their pen since they were about 6 weeks old, so they were very familiar with their surroundings. A couple of weeks ago I begin letting them out during the day and they didn't wander very far away. But a couple of days ago they left the area. We have 40 acres and our nearest neighbors are our relatives who also have several acres. I usually fed them a little scratch in the afternoon to get them back in their pen. It's really quiet here with the guineas missing.