[blades]

I keep about 30 hens and a few ducks... at the start of 2011 I decided I wanted to try a few guinea fowl. I bought 6 eggs and put them under a broody hen. I had heard lots of stories of guinea’s just disappearing never to be seen again. The idea behind putting the eggs under a hen was really to keep them with the hens. Once hatched and for the first couple of months they followed mum around I guess just thinking of themselves as hens. During this time they slept in the chicken house each night. When they hit around 2 – 3 months old they started flying on top of the hen house at dusk and then up into some noble fir trees that we have surrounding their enclosure. Slowly they used the hen house less and less and for the last 3 months they have slept exclusively up in the trees. Amazingly even during these past two storms they have chosen to sleep in the trees, how they held on all night during 100 mph gales I will never know? I’ll definitely be increasing the numbers in the spring. Overall I have really enjoyed keeping them and they are extremely enjoyable to watch.

[jaykay]

A friend has just got a couple - they're really pretty too, lavender ones.
I'm tempted -  but are they amazingly noisy - the one down the road were!

[deepinthewoods]

i fancy getting a few in the spring, anymore info??

[blades]

i fancy getting a few in the spring, anymore info??

Best advice I could give is strt them off with a hen..... with them thinking they are chickens I think they are less flighty.... I have had no issues with them straying and I know that what a lot of keepers complain about.

[Sylvia]

I kept them for years. They are amusing and taste lovely But, beware, they can be very aggresive towards other poultry and I've known the kill bantams.

[Cinderhills]

I agree, it is amazing how they stay in the trees during this wind.  We have one left now but started with 5 five day old keets.  Two have completely disappeared without a trace over the last 3 years and this last one left us for about 2 months in the summer.  We thought she had also gone for good but she came back gradually.  I spied on her one day and she was living on the farm next door, I think being broody.  But she is back now.

Their eggs are delicous.  We will probably get more when she dies.

[CameronS]

so they can live out all year?? or do they need a shed - or just the option of a shed?

i was tempted earlier this year but was put of through lack of knowledge

[little blue]

They are amusing but beware, they can be very aggresive towards other poultry

Not just poultry ... there used to be some where I work (disappeared now) and they were wild, out all year round, noisy as anything, and when they found their way around to my room, would stand outside the door tapping on the glass!! then barring ot to anyone coming in or out, squarking away!
The building is said to be haunted & its veru dark & lonely round my room, so you can imagine how startling it was to hear this rapping on the door & not be able to see anything at my eye level!!

[Cinderhills]

The building is said to be haunted & its veru dark & lonely round my room, so you can imagine how startling it was to hear this rapping on the door & not be able to see anything at my eye level!!

 

CamersonS - yes, they can live out all year and seem to be very hardy.  Similar to uppermillfarm re: housing, we bought them a little hen house to go in and they never used it.  It's used now though by our little ex-batts. 

[goosepimple]

We had lotsof ferral hens which did that - they lasted for 7 years mostly - really hardy, they all went really high in the trees and were out in snow, hail, you name it - we tried putting them in houses and shutting them in and then they just started roosting earlier, they taught their wee chicks to do it too and they would settle either side of their mum under her wings.  Safest way I suppose, much safer than in a house.  I would 'defrost' them in the mornings in winter with cereal and warm goats milk, they would queue up.  Hens we have now are a little sappier, taking cover in the car port (actually these winds they've gone in the workshop, perhaps they're santas helpers).

[deepinthewoods]

my hens have started to become much more feral, i live on the edge of over 100acres of privately owned woodland and they just eat breakfast and bugger off for the day, every day i panic, and everyday they come home when they hear the car, i beep the horn!
im desperatly worried about the fox issue but so far so good.
are guinea fowl fox resistant? would they fly up into the trees?
do they eat hen food? are they good mothers/parents?

[Cinderhills]

Ours eat chicken feed and corn.  If the fox surprised them they could well get caught, but if the fox got the hens first I'm sure they would fly high.  Not sure about good mothers as I've never bred them.

[CameronS]

hmmmmmm, very tempting,
i've got a largeish garden, plus 360 acres they can roam in if they wish and a large lailindi?? hedge and if they get too aggressive -  i like to eat them

[MAK]

Great to read others experience. Having seen them on the market I did fancy keeping some with the ducks and chickens. However I did wonder if they would just toddle off to the woods. If it moves then the local hunters shoot it - they are out all weekend and have access to us on all sides. Maybe buying eggs or very young chicks that the hens can look after is a good way to encourage them to stay with the chickens. I'll give it a try in the spring. Just hope that I can catch them when their time is up !!

[Sylvia]

Deepinthewoods, they tend to fly up into the trees and leave their chicks hidden underneath. It's best to keep them indoors at breeding time or put the eggs in an incubator.( P.S. Foxes got all mine a couple of years ago )