How to free-range guinea keets

[Mo_fawaazzz]

My 2 keets are almost 6 weeks old, and I plan to free range them with the rest of my birds.

I have some rhode Island red pullets and a few turkeys and ducks that all free range and now return to their coop at evening.
It took a while for the turkeys to get used to this, but now they are the first birds to go back into the coop at evening.

The issue is that my guinea keets are tiny while the rest of my flock are larger birds. I want my guineafowl to mingle with the rest of my flock and perhaps return to their coop with them.

A long time ago, I let out a 3-day old guinea and I witnessed how fast they run..

I cannot let these guys roost in trees until they are older, so I want them to return to their coop with the chickens. Has anybody here had experience with raising guineafowl alongside chickens? Will the keets run/fly away and never return?

 

[red horse ranch]

I want my little guineas to be almost adult size before letting them free range. Around 3 months old. Your young guineas are too small right now and at this stage in their life they are afraid of everything. They need to be broken in to free ranging gradually.

I would recommend going to the articles section and reading the raising young guineas (6 weeks to 3 months) article.

 

[cvamoca]

My 2 keets are almost 6 weeks old, and I plan to free range them with the rest of my birds.

I have some rhode Island red pullets and a few turkeys and ducks that all free range and now return to their coop at evening.
It took a while for the turkeys to get used to this, but now they are the first birds to go back into the coop at evening.

The issue is that my guinea keets are tiny while the rest of my flock are larger birds. I want my guineafowl to mingle with the rest of my flock and perhaps return to their coop with them.

A long time ago, I let out a 3-day old guinea and I witnessed how fast they run..

I cannot let these guys roost in trees until they are older, so I want them to return to their coop with the chickens. Has anybody here had experience with raising guineafowl alongside chickens? Will the keets run/fly away and never return?

I have a chicken hen who raised 4 keets last year with one chicken chick. This year she has 6 keets- 2 I raised for 2 weeks in the house til she hatched out her own chicks- she has about 25 chicks and her 6 keets. They are great- last year's all come home and nest in the barn. And while I have WAY more males than females (7 to 3), no one really fights. A wild guinea just had 3 keets, me and my 3 tamest Guinea boys managed to slowly get her into the barn and into a pen, they refused to leave her and the keets cry if one goes out- so she's in a 6X6 pen with 3 males and 3 keets. And everyone's happy. She hates me but doesn't attack and lets me change feed and water. And because I held them for almost 24 hours before we got the hen in, the keets are pretty tame. The hen's the pearl, the boys are the light lav or porcelaine.The funky run is so I can get my old butt over the gate.

 

[cvamoca]

I have a chicken hen who raised 4 keets last year with one chicken chick. This year she has 6 keets- 2 I raised for 2 weeks in the house til she hatched out her own chicks- she has about 25 chicks and her 6 keets. They are great- last year's all come home and nest in the barn. And while I have WAY more males than females (7 to 3), no one really fights. A wild guinea just had 3 keets, me and my 3 tamest Guinea boys managed to slowly get her into the barn and into a pen, they refused to leave her and the keets cry if one goes out- so she's in a 6X6 pen with 3 males and 3 keets. And everyone's happy. She hates me but doesn't attack and lets me change feed and water. And because I held them for almost 24 hours before we got the hen in, the keets are pretty tame. The hen's the pearl, the boys are the light lav or porcelaine.The funky run is so I can get my old butt over the gate.

Just an update- the pearl hen and her guards and keets are all fine, the boys leave every day and no idea if the same ones come back in, but they are incredibly solicitous to these tiny babies. I throw out my used canary/finch seed and was watching one pick up a tiny millet seed, make a sound, and then drop in front of the keets. I should band the males so I can tell if they are always the same.They appear to be great parents but of course that's in a pen, not outside.

 

[cvamoca]

Just an update- the pearl hen and her guards and keets are all fine, the boys leave every day and no idea if the same ones come back in, but they are incredibly solicitous to these tiny babies. I throw out my used canary/finch seed and was watching one pick up a tiny millet seed, make a sound, and then drop in front of the keets. I should band the males so I can tell if they are always the same.They appear to be great parents but of course that's in a pen, not outside.

As far as I can tell there are 2 main guys. One never leaves her, the second wants out soon as I open the barn, but he always returns after bathing and feeding.
For colors- one's dundote I think, light beige stripes, One's lavender and the other's blue, I also have 3 of hers that are pearl, and another LAv and porcelaine.
All my light birds have been male, I was wondering if it's sexlinked or just bad luck, but I think one of my older tame keets is female.
Feel sorry for my 2 naked necks and 2 silkies who are living in same pen, just on the upper level. Smart birds, rarely come to floor...the guineas all really like the silkies but that was before babies.

 

[ChickenBone23]

Maybe I am just lucky… my guineas and chickens roost up together. During the day I let them out, everyone is waiting for me to open the coop. 5 guinea 7 chickens all close to the same size. 4 of the guinea have free ranged everyday since about 4 weeks old. Everyone else was about 6-10 weeks old when I started. My oldest bird (guinea hen) is somewhere around 16 weeks now.
The oldest Guinea originally was raised with other guineas, and then a dog dug in the coop and she was the sole survivor unscathed hiding in the tall grass outside of the coop. I took her back inside and purchased chickens since I couldn’t get ahold of more guineas. She was at the time much much bigger, but she took them literally under her wings and that’s how she got the name “Farher Hen” because we were sure yet what she was. (Until she laid eggs a week ago) I think the chickens just became her companions. She has always been nice to them. Now she has 4 guinea friends who are about 5 weeks or so younger, and came from a private breeder, these guinea grew 2x as fast, they are the same size as her. And also much more wild, and way more fast. She spends more time with them because they surround her but she will still go to the chickens. They all free range in the same area, sometimes the guinea will go off a few feet from the chickens and do their own thing but always come back together when they are ready to sit and rest or roost up for the night. I give them fresh cut up fruits and veggies in moderation when I first start free ranging. I have water outside of the coop in the shade trees they prefer to nest in. I change it at night, and then halfway through the day on these hot days we are getting now in TX. Maybe they haven’t figured out how well they can fly, maybe they feel more safe in the coop(as the should because we have a ton of cats out here) maybe I’m just lucky. But one thing I don’t do unless I HAVE to, is bother them in the coop at night. I had to one single time a few days ago because I was checking if Father Hen(the oldest guinea) was egg bound. She was very polite about it and then I let her be.
other than that, the coop is their home and I do what I need to do in it when they aren’t in it. And I don’t make drastic changes. Guinea hens don’t like change and will throw a fit when they come in at night to clean bedding even. I don’t have particular advice other than DND at night, no drastic changes, and treats, but that’s just what has happened for me so far. One day, they may decide they are done with the coop. But for at least 8 weeks they have free ranged, not left the property and returned to the coop religiously before sunset.

 

[Some Old Guy]

My limited experience - I kept banties, australorps, and guineas all in the same pen till about 5 weeks. They are all the same age, within 2 weeks. Then, I allowed them all out into the run, and fed them inside the coop. All the birds returned to the coop for their feed. After a couple weeks of this, I started allowing some birds to "free range", but they stayed very close to the run, to be near their flock mates. A couple weeks of turning out different birds randomly, and I finally felt confident to just open the gate. Now at about 3 months of age, all my birds come running when I go out for evening feeding. Probably the most important thing is, evening feeding. All my birds know that near sundown, there will be fresh food available in the coop.

 

[R2elk]

My limited experience - I kept banties, australorps, and guineas all in the same pen till about 5 weeks. They are all the same age, within 2 weeks. Then, I allowed them all out into the run, and fed them inside the coop. All the birds returned to the coop for their feed. After a couple weeks of this, I started allowing some birds to "free range", but they stayed very close to the run, to be near their flock mates. A couple weeks of turning out different birds randomly, and I finally felt confident to just open the gate. Now at about 3 months of age, all my birds come running when I go out for evening feeding. Probably the most important thing is, evening feeding. All my birds know that near sundown, there will be fresh food available in the coop.

This behavior will change when the guineas start their breeding season.

 

[cvamoca]

So, summer's over- Pearl had what turned out to be 3 lovely female chicks, still does, and her retinue of boys has stayed with them and nurtured them, and my goodness...I have a problem guinea. I hand raised 2 this summer, and they adore me, jump up on my lap or head, and love to get petted better than our dogs, but Lefty bites my wrist, quite specifically to get at skin, and pulls out my earbuds. Hilarious critter though, adores being petted...is going to be awful in the barn over the winter. Our 10 guineas produced another 14, plus 11 last week surprise! We quickly ran out of room in the 10x16 barn.