New Baby Guineas

[Wilberton]

Had a couple of clutches hatch of new baby guineas. I originally had a flock of 30 guineas and am now down to about 11. These new chicks brings me back up to about 30 guineas. They're very good at keeping the ticks down. These little ones are doing very well, just letting them run with the flock.

I have three large dogs; a Big Collie, a Mastif and a Lab/Shepard mix. The dogs are old enough now that they don't bother the animals and keep the Coyotes away. Use to lock them up at night, but I came home one day and found a big Coyote in my driveway and the Guineas were up in the trees. I let my dogs stay out now.

[uncle Will in In.]

Had a long gone friend who then had a very large flock of white guineas.. It was common for the hens to hide their nests out in the weeds somewhere. When they hatched out they would show up around the buildings. He tried to capture the family and pen themup. He said if the hen got the to take them with her she would always show up with less keets every day. He said the hens would "drabble "them. Or just loose them in tall grass or weeds.

[LoonyK]

Hope you have better luck than most of us, guineas suck at keeping track of their children.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

I can't get my guineas to roam. I had two adults and a few babies. Adults have been killed by animals now, as have a few of my babies. Babies I have left now are about 4 months old, but were raised and brooded with some baby chickens.
Now the guineas won't leave the chicken pen.

[Wolfy-hound]

I loved my guineas! I always picked up babies to raise in a pen until they were near adult size. I never lost an adult guinea to a predator, although I lost plenty of chickens.

Seeing the picture really makes me want more right NOW!!! I mean technically you can't have chickens.... but they don't specifically ban guineas right? I can call them exotic pets since they're from africa.... sure sure... they'll buy that!

I once had a neighbor say he had some of the ugliest giant quail that he'd ever seen in his yard and he just KNEW they must belong to me. Yep, my guineas had gone wandering. Only time they did it, but they'd walked over 5 miles away through the woods for no apparent reason! I herded them back down the road and had to carry the little one who kept sitting down because she was tired.

Man I want guineas again!

[Wendy]

I predict you won't have those babies within a month from now. I always catch the babies & raise them until they are near adulthood. Guinea moms are the worst & rarely keep their babies alive very long.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Agree with the others. Catch them up (it isn't that hard) and raise them until they've feathered out.

The only time I've let the keets on their own is if there are 'tween' keets in my barnyard ('tween' = between keet and mature). The tweens keep a better eye on them than the adults will.

[luvrulz]

I also vote for catching them (we use a butterfly net!) and putting them up til they can fend for themselves. Guinea moms take care of the nest and will not leave the nest for love nor money - however, they are not good at keeping track of the little ones.

[KimTN]

I raise my guineas by having a chicken hatch them out and raise them. A mother hen is so much better at being a mother. She also makes them think that they are chickens and they will roost in the chicken house each night. I could tell right off that my guinea hens were to stupid to be trusted with chicks.

[motdaugrnds]

So far our adult guineas have sat and sat and sat on 2-3 dozen eggs, hatching only a few and then leaving the rest behind. Then she wonders around the grass and the keets start getting left behind. Yet in bad weather, she squats as long as she needs to do take care of the keets. We winded up with "zero" keets due to snakes this year.

Last year we put some guinea eggs in an incubator and, when they hatched, placed them under a nesting hen. She did a good job of taking care of those keets. It became funny because it was the hen that kept trying to keep up with the keets instead of the keets trying to keep up with their mother.

[PrincessFerf]

I had keets that were raised with a set of laying hens. Once grown they all stuck together but the guineas started wandering a bit further until one night they never came home.

Found out later that a fox had gotten them.

My DH was happy to have them gone, he couldn't stand the noise.

[lurnin2farm]

My guineas and chickens are only 10 weeks old. The guineas follow the roosters everywhere though. Its funny to see them together. The guineas get spooked at everything and run back to the coop, the rooster follows but runs funny compared to the guineas.

They all free range now and I like the fact that the guineas fly all over the place then come right back and hang out with the roosters. I hope they dont leave and make more for me next year.