Recent content by SamLockwood

Good for you. Other people have absolute horror stories about guineas injuring or killing their chickens, which is why I did a ton of research and took some extra time and expense for a setup where I could, if need be, separate the two flocks easily. For me, they got along fine until the...

Yup. Best case is you have enough space and a setup to where when the guineas start their chasing and feather pulling antics (in other words "flirting" if you're a guinea) the chickens can get away from them. Last year one guinea figured out he could make the roosters jump by charging them from...

Mine are very productive egg layers in season (April to October). I've gotten mine to use nesting boxes but it's tricky to do. Of they catch you raiding the nesting box they will either attack you or abandon the nest and lay somewhere outside . I don't find guineas to be any dumber than other...

All of my roosters are friendlier to newcomers than any of the hens. A couple of them go out of their way to welcome younger birds I introduce to the flock, and they'll also train them as they get older.

Preening is a sign they're relaxed. If you're around your chickens and they preen and sun or dust bathe that means they're comfortable around you. It's also necessary: one of the things they do when preening is oil their feathers to make them water-resistant. Keeping them straight helps them...

Likely there's a hidden nest somewhere with all your missing eggs in it, unless the local wild-life finds it first. I had a couple instances when I first started free-ranging of chickens creating secret nests and then going broody over them. The most extreme example was when my nightly...

Sun-bathing. It gets really fun when you walk out onto your back porch and a bunch of them are doing it as a group.

They're pretty territorial and will yell at anything that passes by. They also like to wander. I have 16 acres and mine still tried to invade my neighbors yards and the nearby road. I ended up adding some fencing to keep them in.

Like Red Horse Ranch said, maybe at six weeks or so the females will start sounding off but usually it's a lot later than that (12 weeks+).

I haven't seen that behavior. Every guinea that I had that "guh-wahked" turned out to be an egg layer.

I've heard that they may try to snatch small chicks, but I haven't really seen any of the ones around me exhibit anything remotely aggressive. My flock gets nervous whenever they come around like any other large bird flying overhead, but the only time they interact at all is if there's carrion...

At their age they're good to move outside. If you're worried about cold nights put the heat plate in with them but unless it gets below freezing they should be fine. When you get a chance I'd double check the integrity of the run: some of the boards look like they're getting old and I prefer...

The first couple weeks some of them sleep really weird. I even had ones that would be eating and then suddenly close their eyes and nose-dive into the feeder.

This topic is better suited to the guinea fowl forum, but here's what I know. After keeping chickens off and on for 25+ years, I ended up getting a mixed flock of chickens and guinea fowl in August 2022 (15 of each). I live on about 16 acres of land, of which I have about 5 acres fenced off for...

There's a ton of variables. Some breeds lay like crazy for 2 to 3 years and that's it. I had a speckled sussex hen that was 13 years old and when I started free-ranging my flock she started laying again (I even hatched 7 chicks from her). The last of the "mean girls" in my flock is at least...