Re: Guineas and Chickens

milli wrote:
Hello,
I recently retired from the US Navy and we purchased a small farm, something we've dreamed of for MANY years. As I say it is small (5.4 acres) but we hope to work it for a few years to get the kids through school and then move on to something bigger.
Anyway, one of our first purchases was 10 keets...we had heard they are very good for pest control...about a month later we added 30 chicks. We would like to eventually free range the chickens or perhaps we'll build a good tractor to move them about the property. We are now down to 9 keets and 25 chickens...I won't go into the details at this point...
My concern is, we've tried to raise them together...we've read in Gardening with Guineas that they should do well...that the Guineas will fly out of the hen yard in the morning and then back in in the evening to roost in the chicken house...our experience has been that it is hard to keep the Guineas out of the chicken yard....they will not fly out, we open the gate and they file out each morning...eventually they end up back in the yard and we open the gate and let them out again...This would be somewhat OK BUT, they tend to bully the chickens a bit...actually I think I'd like to have them just roost in the trees at night (they roost in them during the day sometimes) and keep them away from the chickens..

I have my GF with the hens and after the hens and roosters grow up they tend to leave them alone for the most part, only picking on the immature poultry. Adult GF will pick on a full grown rooster occasionally but they all seem to sort out their pecking order after a while and I haven't lost any birds from bullying.

GF are fairly dumb (they don't dodge haycutters very well or vehicles for that matter). Some never roost in trees, others will roost way up from a very young age and others just think they are hens, even to laying in the nest boxes instead of a well hidden nest way out in the bush.
Since the chickens tend to roost earlier than the Guineas I've thought I'd just lock up the chicken house as soon as all of the chickens are in there thinking that the Guineas would figure out that they had better roost somewhere and do it...I tried it last night and the result was that they initially hung out in front of the chicken house, eventually they made it on top of our greenhouse, then in the yard under a tree and they ended up spending the night cuddled on the ground outside of the chicken yard. While they were under the tree we even tried to pick them up and put them on some branches...they pretty much just freaked out (which seems pretty common for Guineas) and flew down to the rest...I know they really like to be together...guess it makes them seem like one big bird.....

My young birds do this and I have had to herd them into the yard late at night or throw them over the fence. From there they often fly up into the trees if it is light enough which they could have done from outside but wouldn't or couldn't. They won't fly after dark though unless attacked by a predator (usually fatal in the end especially if its a cat) or blown out of the trees by bad weather (also usually fatal). So they huddle on the ground inside the yard but at least safer.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Guineas...they are fun to watch (though they seem to be pretty dumb)...they DO tend to get a little loud.....the bottom line, though, is I want to protect the chickens.

They will sort out their pecking order with time so it shouldn't be a problem unless they are drawing blood. Over time the noise diminishes, or you just don't notice it most of the time, a bit like living next to a train line. They will however really carry on if a raptor is flying around or snakes appear. Mine don't like eagles at all and really let me know if one is about. They are worth a little noise for the snakes they warn me about too. As they mature they will roam further away during the day with their roosting tree at the centre of the area they will cover. At 18 months mine are travelling about 500m in any direction from the yard except the dense scrub to the NE.


--
Ginny - in West Australia

When you see the sun rise, remember,
it's a good day - you're still alive!
.

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