Best Housing for Guinea Fowl

[wyoDreamer]

I am hoping that any experienced Guinea Fowl owners would be willing to give me advice on building the best Guinea coop that I can.

DH and I are talking about getting some guinea keets and starting another flock of Guinea Fowl for our property. Currently, we have 2 guineas left from the flock we inherited when we bought our place 6 years ago. We want to re-purpose the building that they are currently using for a coop, so we will need to build them a new coop.
We live in northern Wisconsin, so they will occasionally be locked in the coop during snowstorms - my current guineas will not leave the building if the snow is too deep, they wait for us to plow before they go visit the neighbors for their BOSS treats. That also means -0 degree temps all the way up to 95 degree days. Their current coop is within the cluster of farm buildings (9 buildings including the house), I would like to move their coop to a location that is closer to the open pasture areas and farther away from the road and the swamp across the road. I know we have raccoons visiting from the swamp on occasion - so far they have only eaten the feed, but I am sure if I had keets in there, they would kill them. Most days the guineas are free-range and go where ever they please.

So to the point of this thread: What details do you think need to be incorporated into a coop for guinea fowl to live happy and healthy.

 

[R2elk]

I am hoping that any experienced Guinea Fowl owners would be willing to give me advice on building the best Guinea coop that I can.

DH and I are talking about getting some guinea keets and starting another flock of Guinea Fowl for our property. Currently, we have 2 guineas left from the flock we inherited when we bought our place 6 years ago. We want to re-purpose the building that they are currently using for a coop, so we will need to build them a new coop.
We live in northern Wisconsin, so they will occasionally be locked in the coop during snowstorms - my current guineas will not leave the building if the snow is too deep, they wait for us to plow before they go visit the neighbors for their BOSS treats. That also means -0 degree temps all the way up to 95 degree days. Their current coop is within the cluster of farm buildings (9 buildings including the house), I would like to move their coop to a location that is closer to the open pasture areas and farther away from the road and the swamp across the road. I know we have raccoons visiting from the swamp on occasion - so far they have only eaten the feed, but I am sure if I had keets in there, they would kill them. Most days the guineas are free-range and go where ever they please.

So to the point of this thread: What details do you think need to be incorporated into a coop for guinea fowl to live happy and healthy.

Size and height. Calculate how many adult guineas that you expect to keep. Multiply that by 4 to get the minimum recommended amount of clear floor space in sq. ft. To this must be added any additional space that will be taken up by feeders, waterers, storage, etc.

After you come up with this number, make it bigger to account for chicken math. Just like a coop for any other poultry, you also need to account for ventilation.

Guineas like to roost high which makes a tall building beneficial. My guineas roost in the ceiling joists the bottom of which are 8' from the floor.

I built my coop with a ground floor (sand dune here). Their coop is part of their run fencing with an access door both into the pen and out of the pen. I also put a guinea sized door into their pen. Now that my guineas are old enough to know what snow is, they will venture out into the snow. The do tend to spend the majority of their time in the coop when it is really windy.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@R2elk thanks for replying.
Is a flock of 12 guineas reasonable? or will they break into sub-flocks?
I am envisioning a shed with the open rafters for them to roost on. Maybe a 6'x12' shed would give them enough room to fly up and down from the roosts? Definately 8 foot tall to the roosts.
Where would I put ventilation up high to let the warm moist air out? would roof vents work or would that create too much draft?

I just love watching them spread out and search the fields for edibles. Our dogs had a whole 1 wood-tick each this summer. Love those guineas!

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk thanks for replying.
Is a flock of 12 guineas reasonable? or will they break into sub-flocks?
I am envisioning a shed with the open rafters for them to roost on. Maybe a 6'x12' shed would give them enough room to fly up and down from the roosts? Definitely 8 foot tall to the roosts.
Where would I put ventilation up high to let the warm moist air out? would roof vents work or would that create too much draft?

I just love watching them spread out and search the fields for edibles. Our dogs had a whole 1 wood-tick each this summer. Love those guineas!

My flock consists of 13 currently. They are a single flock but during laying season they are more in sub groups of mates.

My coop is 8' x 12' and is a little on the tight side for my 13 guineas. I have two windows, one on the south side and one on the east side that are cracked open about 2" during the winter and are left wide open during the summer. In the summer, the door into their pen is left wide open. In the winter their guinea sized door is left open.

Roof vents can work but you do have to also have inlet vents.

My coop is a slanted roof with the low end being 8' from the floor and the high around 12' from the floor.

If I had it to do over, I probably would have gone for at least 10' x 12' if not even bigger. I did have plans to remove a Russian Olive tree and increase the length to 16' but still haven't gotten around to it.

They do love their skylight which is approximately 7' long by 6' wide.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@R2elk the 4 square feet per guinea you mentioned, that is space per bird in the henhouse and not the run, correct?

 

[wyoDreamer]

@R2elk I like your coop - it is close to what I was thinking of. And 8x12 would be a better size.
Would it work to build a wooden feeder that hangs on the wall? Just a wooden box with a tray at the bottom for the feed, and a hinged top I can latch. I have a hanging plastic feeder now and something keeps knocking it about and separating the top and bottom - spreading the feed all over the floor.

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk the 4 square feet per guinea you mentioned, that is space per bird in the henhouse and not the run, correct?

The 4 sq. ft. per adult bird is a minimum and does only apply to the coop. In addition to the coop, they need a lot more space than that in the run.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

The 4 sq. ft. per adult bird is a minimum and does only apply to the coop. In addition to the coop, they need a lot more space than that in the run.

How much space would you recommend per adult guinea fowl in the run?

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk I like your coop - it is close to what I was thinking of. And 8x12 would be a better size.
Would it work to build a wooden feeder that hangs on the wall? Just a wooden box with a tray at the bottom for the feed, and a hinged top I can latch. I have a hanging plastic feeder now and something keeps knocking it about and separating the top and bottom - spreading the feed all over the floor.

You could build a wooden feeder that attaches to the wall or you could buy a galvanized one that hangs on the wall. For mine, I made two PVC pipe feeders, one for their feed and one for the oyster shell. I would like a bigger unit for the feed but again it is something I have not gotten around to changing.

If you build a feeder, make sure you slope the lid to prevent it from being used as a perch.

 

[R2elk]

How much space would you recommend per adult guinea fowl in the run?

The bigger the better. I would like to see them have at least 100 sq. ft. per bird which is some cases is not possible. I measured my guinea pen once but have forgotten the dimensions. It is definitely bigger than the 50' x 100' run that my turkeys and chickens share. Just a guesstimate, I believe that my guineas may have in excess of 700 sq. ft. per adult bird.