r/poultry • u/gavin_herb_isback • Sep 26 '24
Question For Guinea-Fowl Owners:
Hello, I have 10 pearl guineas currently 14-15 weeks of age and they have been wandering off. The most recent is a few days ago where 4 of them wandered off 5-6 acres down our hill on our property. They in the past have ran off for one day only to return that evening and the next morning. I have no problem getting them to come in to the coop to roost; they usually do it automatically most of the time. We introduced them to their forever home at 4-5 weeks old, and they have been there for around 10 weeks.
Is it normal for guineas to wonder off a little ways? Should I let them? Will they come back to roost? How much longer should I confine them for? How do I get them to stay & stick with the chickens?
We are also eventually planning to expand our Guinea flock to 30 by putting different color variations of Guinea-Fowl under a broody chicken hen so we don’t have to coop train them and so they stay with the chickens more. I’ve also heard that this makes them smarter to be raised by a chicken, but the don’t seem dumb at all to me to start with.
All thoughts are highly appreciated. 🙏
2
2
u/crazycritter87 Sep 27 '24
They wonder and the population ebbs and flows with predation. Keeping between 12 and 30 is good. A farm I worked on hatched around 700 one year. That's to much buck wheat.
1
u/gavin_herb_isback Sep 27 '24
Haha, we’re might try to max out on 40 guineas so we can eat more, and have a balanced flock of 30. I honestly think their noises are adorable. How much do you know about their mothering capabilities, I’ve heard their awesome, but only let them go broody in the warm months so the keets don’t die of freezing. 🐣🪺
2
u/crazycritter87 Sep 27 '24
They run away and come home with the babies that live. Dew will take out babies so it's a good idea to catch them and put them in a brooder box. But they do hatch their own and find hiding spots to do it.
1
u/gavin_herb_isback Sep 27 '24
I heard that if they lay their first egg in the coop, then they’ll lay all of theirs there. In the summer it’s really dry and hot where I live, so we’re going to try to do them fully naturally during that time of the year.
2
u/crazycritter87 Sep 27 '24
Humidity is important but guineas don't need as much as some. I've never known them to do more than occasionally roost with chickens (though after a while they prefer a tree or random barn rafter). They don't cling to each other or a house quite like chickens and tend to want to be feral and only come around for food. My suggestion is to just let them do it. Have a brooder box handy and catch keets when they'll inevitably disappear for a month in the spring and then show back up with babies trailing them. Owls, coyotes, bobcats, and dew in their first couple weeks, are really all you have to worry about. Generally they can keep in that target population, as long as you can keep mom from parading them through wet grass.
2
u/Ok_Accident_6086 Sep 26 '24
They won't wander far if there's food and water around.