Will they come back?

[robin416]

That is beyond weird. Were you there to see them move off?

This sounds very much like something actually carted them off and not that they left home. Guineas do not like change of any sort, to disappear like that something else is going on.

 

[Hillsvale]

agreed... strange. Were there any feathers about which would indicate anything strange?

 

[sben451]

I always check on them several times a day, and I saw them and heard them in the area near their pen. Next time I looked, I could not see or hear them. I did not see any stray dogs about that day and have found no feathers to indicate something killed them. We live about 3/4 of a mile off the main road with lots of wooded area around. Late yesterday afternoon, I drove around looking for them hoping to find them roosting up in the trees, but no luck.

 

[sben451]

Well, my guineas never came home. We heard reports of the guineas at a house over a mile away. We even took our chicken tractor there and baited it with millet. No luck. Whenever anyone would see the guineas, they couldn't get close enough to catch them. I've resigned myself to the fact that they're not coming back. Maybe I'll raise some more later this summer. Maybe. . .

 

[melroseladi]

I found mine began wandering away when my hen was looking for a place to nest. Once I penned her up and she grasped the concept of laying in her pen they stopped wandering off. I would let my males out to free range and they always stuck close to the pen as long as the female was penned up. Maybe they will come back after laying season.

 

[darkmatter]

My first attempt at keeping Guineas also resulted in them "Flying the Coop" even that I raised them from keets. My next attempt was raising the keets with chicks as a combined flock worked. The Guineas bonded to the mixed flock, they fly out to patrol the property for ticks and bugs, then return to roost. (sometimes in the Coop, sometimes in the trees), I've kept them this way now for several years, I sometimes slip the Guinea eggs under a broody hen to have the Hen raise the keets. The Chickens are much better mothers then the Guineas here in the Midwest where morning dew will kill them from Hypothermia without a "motherhen" to shelter and warm them under her wings.

 

[sben451]

I think I will try some of these ideas if I decide to raise guineas again. I'm thinking that about the time I started letting them out to free range just happened to be about the beginning of their nesting time. Or they could have been chased away by a stray dog, even though we didn't see or hear any lately. I might try keeping the hens in the pen next time or raising the keets with my chickens. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ColbyNTX]

I have hatched all but 3 birds on my place but never had a guinea run off. That is crazy! Something must have chased them off and they got lost.