Are Guineas SUPPOSED to smell bad?

[Lollipop]

Finn's Mom :

Mine also smelled bad when we brought them home. Stress, maybe or the conditions they were in? This morning there is no smell at all. How are yours doing?

Yup, my last batch that I picked up were in the PU cab for about one minute before I decided they had to ride in the bed. Must be stress. They weren`t all that smelly after a while in the brooder.............Pop​

 

[damselfish]

Yup, ours smelled just awful when they were young. You definitely did not want to be downwind of them. I have no idea why since their coop was clean, and these days they don't smell at all. It actually made me wonder if it was some kind of defense mechanism...i.e. don't eat me, I'm actually made of poo...

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:

 

[sparkles2307]

THey did not smell bad after that first day, and everyone is doing great! I dont know if I care for their dispositions much, but they are going to be useful on the farm so I will cope.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

I'm guessing you are going to turn them out for bug patrol? If you have a covered pen you might want to seperate out a couple females and a male or two and keep them penned. The problem we have here is the hens will find a spot under bushes or in the fire wood pile to nest and one by one they are gone at night. They are easy prey on the nest for just about any night feeder. Now we keep the breeders penned and turn out the extra males.

Steve

 

[sparkles2307]

I plan to coop train them. THey will have their own house right in the garden, far removed from the other poultry, and the garden in fenced in. I know they wont hesitate to fly over the fence, but am hoping that by showing them where home is and giving them enough to nest under in the fenced area they will do alright. We live in BFE, and have a lot of critters around, so I know losses will be unavoidable to some degree, but if I treat-train them to come at night it should be fine. Also, I have very active boys who will not take long to discover ALL of the nesting places under trees and bushes and in the barns.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We had some that were coop trained and they did good. If you can get it set up so the hens will lay and sit in a secure area you will be fine.

Steve

 

[Lanne]

It's a stress response. I get that reaction when I catch one that didn't go back in for dark and have to catch her and carry her in. It doesn't stay around.

 

[Gill-b]

Well I never. Are they the only game birds to do this?

 

[R2elk]

Well I never. Are they the only game birds to do this?

I never noticed the claimed bad smell with any of my guineas.

Their coop with insufficient ventilation did smell bad due to the higher protein in their feed.