Can i keep chickens and guineas together? I like the idea of having a few guineas for the tick control and noise :) but I want to make sure that they are easy to care for and would get along well with my current chickens. Thoughts?
guineas easy to care for? Get along with chickens?
A. Yes
A. Yes
we were overrun with ticks. now hardly see one...
all you ever wanted to know about guineas... but didn't know to ask...
www.guineafowl.com
we are members of GFBA & registered for the Guineafest Convention in April...
I am thrilled that there is such a thing as a guineafest!
guineas are great. I love mine! They get along with my hens and my rooster. They eat bugs like crazy and they are great watchdogs. TamaraFaye - I had no idea there is a guinea fest!!! How cool is that!
Oh, now I have guinealust! Hmmm.....there's always room for a few more, right?
Get at least twice as many as you think you want. They are not the brightest bulbs. We started out with 20 eggs - they all hatched. Now, due to predators and stupidity, we are down to 9 guineas. The ones who survived know to go into the chicken coop at dusk and get locked in.
Originally, the coop and run was not secure enough - it is now!!!
Hi,
Others with more experience in keeping chickens & guineas together may have had no problems. Some friends of mine found that (especially if cooped up in a small pen at night or during inclement weather) the guinea cocks sometimes grow jealous of the roosters and will chase them if they can get away with it, or will chase the chicken hens to get them away from their guinea hens. I did find that female guineas will get along with chickens, penned or free range, just great.
If you are going to let your birds mostly free range, you'll likely not have probems, because the birds can split up into their favorite chick "cliques"!
In my opinion, guineas are easy to care for, except prepare to possibly lose some if free-range--they can fly away if they take a notion to, or might get eaten. :-(
yes, can you believe it? our family vaction this year will be a road trip to Iowa to the Guineafest!
i agree. there are times i have had to lock them up, they get along, but then again, they have always been together. when they have room to range they just chase each other. but i don't have many roosters.
the book & the site have good info for combatting predators & for training the guineas to come in at a sceduled time.
anyone want to join me in Iowa?