So, everywhere I read that you have to keep your keets in the coop for six weeks, not letting them outside, so that they will learn that the coop is home and will come back every night. Is six weeks absolutely necessary to imprint this on their tiny little brains? Are most people counting from the day of hatch because they raise their keets in a coop, or is it six weeks from any starting timepoint? The reason I ask is that we got our keets when they were about 2 weeks old, kept them in a brooder in the house for a few days, and they've now been in the coop for about a week, and they're going to outgrow their little corner (they are screened into one end as the broilers need more space) very quickly. If I have to wait 5 more weeks to let them out, I think we're all going to be a bit batty. And guineas are a bit batty to start with... :-)
I'm hoping someone is going to tell me that they've kept their guineas cooped up (hah) shorter than 6 weeks and they still knew where home was.
Guinea question
Hmm, are you planning on keeping the keets in with your broilers?
I have always kept my mine seperated from my chickens, cause they will drive roosters crazy! (when they get older)
I had to get rid of ours because they were ganging up on my 4 yr old male Peacock while he was trying to mate. He was getting harrased big time. Just ran him ragged.
However, I would think your keets would come back by now, since they are use to being fed in the coop.
Yes and no. The keets are in the same coop, but separated from the chickens. However, if I remove the top part of the barrier, the keets will be able to fly up and over and then go outside the coop with everyone else. The broilers of course won't be around that long. So the only one they might eventually pester would be a NH Red rooster. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
I let my keets out younger than 6 weeks and they did fine I just kept their time spent outside limited at first and gradually increased the time
Our hope is that eventually they will free range and keep our bug population in check. The coop is in a fenced yard, but only a 4 foot fence. This will usually keep chickens in (in our experience), but guineas I'm sure can easily fly over a 4 foot fence. So we hope they will do so, and then fly back over at night to roost in the coop. Somewhere on the 'net I saw where someone has their chickens and guineas together in a coop, with a 6 foot fence surrounding, and the guineas fly up to the top of the fence and then down to roam, and every night fly back over the fence to roost in the coop.
yes my guineas always came home at dark to their roost let them out to explore for short periods of time and return them to their coop at night they learn their routine quick I think yours will be fine
Guinea Fowl are becoming increasingly popular everywhere .... and are especially useful in the eastern states as a means of at least controlling ticks which regrettably carry Lime Disease. This disease is REALLY awful ... few diseases are good. The deer ticks out in the west for whatever reason do not carry this hideous disease ... probably humidity related since foliage (tick habitat) is not near so dense in the west. My guinea hen has 4 keets following her around. Last evening she took them into the hen house for the evening. I escorted her out and to her secure box as she was intending to sleep on the floor of the coop with her babies underneath. I have no confidence a clutch of poultry can survive the night on my hen house floor. Up on a roost 4-5 ft off the ground they are likely safe from mink, raccoons & feral cats ... any one of which might pay my hen house a visit. My big poultry are able to vacate the premises quickly if one of those small 4 legged predators happens to walk inside and being 4-5 feet off the ground makes it tough for any small predator to catch them. In 5 years we've not had any roosting birds get caught by predators.
We have Lyme disease in California--in the western states it is transmitted by a different species of the vector--the western black legged tick. It's not as common as in the East, but it is a growing problem. My DH was bitten during a sudden oak death disease survey and had to go on antibiotics.
http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/4/669
catscan, I had read it was a bit uncommon in the west. I suppose not as uncommon as we'd all prefer. I know this .... folks who go up in the hills with trees and shrubs (for whatever reason) are being real real careful about bugs-ticks landing on them .... and have been for years. My dad used to say .... ticks carry awful diseases. This was before long Lyme Disease was known. Odd how he said this stuff to me 45 years ago because he had no scientific studies to . Kelly in Moxee