How to raise Backyard Chickens: RE: [CHICKENS-101] The Guineas are coming, The Guineas are coming!

Monday, May 30, 2011

RE: [CHICKENS-101] The Guineas are coming, The Guineas are coming!

Ron, I have only had Guineas for about three years. They are a bit different, imo. They are freaks! What I mean is they are reactive to everything and never seem to really get tame. Mine still sound the alarm if I open the coop and they are sitting on a nest……….ACK AcK Ack Ack! They like to be in pairs………doesn’t matter if male/female pairs, as long as they have a buddy. Natuarally, a m/f pair will reproduce.

I brood mine the same as chicks. They eat chick crumble and when older, layer pellets, scratch and occasionally turkey pellets.

I advise keeping them locked up for a bit before free ranging. I keep mine in a coop for awhile, with chickens. They learn to roost in the coop with the chickens. I don’t leave mine out at night—even in a tree, they are not necessarily safe. Owls are night predators. Also, if they aren’t high enough, other predators can get them. I like mine to roost in the coops because 1) I know they are safe 2) I know they aren’t at my neighbors on top of their roof 3) If anything were to bother them at night, they would alert me louder than the chickens!

They can be very noisy, but once they are settled in, they quiet down. Strangers pulling up may start them up, stranger dogs, pretty much anything out of the norm. The cocks do not crow………the females make a two syllable sound and the male makes a one syllable sound. Males and females are VERY HARD to tell apart by appearance. YES, the eggs are edible. They have super hard shells, which protects them. They are a little smaller than standard chicken eggs and the yolks are very orange. (probably due to free foraging) They DO need shelter in the winter, just like chickens. I would provide a protected area. They are as vulnerable to predators as chickens, just louder.

The are voracious insect eaters and have excellent eyesight! I love my Guineas…………freaks that they are! They remind me of prehistoric animals…….mini dinosaurs, if you will.

Try to get an even number so they can pair up……….they do much better with a buddy.

Guineas come in many colors and French Guineas are much larger than the standards. My pair presented us with 16 keets on Saturday. The mom is Pied and there are several Pied and two whites. The rest are pearl.

Good luck!

Laura

PS…..sometimes they seem really dumb. I think they panic easily. My dog was able to kill one because despite the fact it had flown over the fence, on the dog’s side of the yar, it seemed to forget that it could fly when it tried to get away from the dog. They are terrific flyers and while mine don’t fly that often, they are capaple of flying up to the roof of the barn and then fly back.

Laura Roberts

R Half Pint Farm

Spotsylvania, VA

From: CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ron Parks
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 10:46 PM
To: CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CHICKENS-101] The Guineas are coming, The Guineas are coming!

I think I am going to get some Guineas next week. Is there anything I need to know that is different from raising chickens? Do you brood them the same way? Do they eat the same things? My plan is to free range them once they get old enough. I hear they are a bit noisy but are do the males have something like a rooster crow? Do you eat the eggs? I understand the meat is close to pheasant. Do they need shelter in winter? Should I have a protected area at night or just let them roost in the trees? They should get really fat just eating ticks here *lol*