Question about breeding and penned guinea fowl.

[Catwmn]

I have about sixty keets I have hatched out this year from purchased eggs. I am trying to start my own breeding program for next year to sell keets.

Our original plan was to build a LARGE pen and aviary and NOT free range these birds at all. I have four adult guineas now and I have had to easter egg hunt to find their nests on our sixty acres and not had much luck doing so. I was hoping that if I kept this batch penned they would lay in the pen and I could find their eggs easier.

Someone just told me that penned guineas will not breed and the fertility will be horrible. I'm trying to find out if that is true. I cannot free range these birds. My husband will not allow it. So, if this will not work out with breeding them penned I will need to sell them.

Any advice??

 

[PeepsCA]

They will still breed, but depending on how big the coop and pen is, plus the number of males to females... that is where the fertility can be less than perfect. The more space they have and the less males there are in the flock, the better off your entire flock and their fertility will be.

One thing that should work to your advantage is that if these birds have always been penned, they don't/won't really know the difference about being penned vs not penned come next yr's breeding season. It's when free ranged birds are suddenly locked up/confined to pens for breeding season that usually causes the most stress and aggression for the birds. But too any hormones in a confined place just doesn't work too well. If they are locked up from the get-go... there should be a lot less stress ans aggression (as long as there are not too many males).

I'd have plan on using 1 male for every 3-4 Hens, max in a large flock, (but supposedly the males can cover up to 5 Hens each no problem). I'd also try to choose your more docile males for breeders, and sell the rest off, or keep them penned in a "bachelor pen" completely away from/out of sight of the rest of the flock if you think you might still need them. I find that with my penned breeding flocks the more the males in a pen, the more fighting/aggression/stress there is for the entire flock and the lower the fertility turns out. Some males are just extra cocky/aggressive trouble makers, and I usually cull/sell those, lol. I also suggest having 2-3 incubators going (unless you have a cabinet style incubator), and just set all the eggs you can at one time and then pull the clears at 10 days so you still get nice large hatches to sell.

Or.. it's more work for the hubby to build, but you could always divide your coop/pen into several breeding pens, each with a mini flock of 1 male to 5 Hens in each of the pens (and put up a half wall between the pens so the males cannot fight/get stupid thru the fencing), and then have a large area where each flock (one flock at a time) can get out to range a little/stretch their wings and also better the chances of them breeding, and just see how that goes.

Breeding penned Guineas is doable, you just have to work out all the kinks and try to keep the birds as comfortable/happy as possible..

Best of luck.

 

[JLeigh]

My situation is also a good example of what Peeps wrote. I have five guineas: 1 male, 4 females and LOTS of space. Mine are penned 24/7 and so far I don't have any fertility issues with their eggs. This is year 1 for the small flock, so I'm just getting started on hatching out their eggs, but so far so good.

I had two males but one was a big bully and stressed everyone out, including me and my husband. In a penned flock, stress is NOT good, so the bully went to another home. There is now harmony in my flock. I also house them with 5 chicken hens and everyone gets along just fine - no chicken roosters either. I might try two guinea males again, but it's doubtful. (Why put that bean up my nose?) If I do, I'll split them off with a few hens of their own.

Plenty of space is also key, and not just the minimum space recommended, but more than minimum. They need to be able to get away from each other and "go to their corners". I have three food and water stations. I have two coops: 1 for guineas and 1 for chickens, but they've started hanging out together; they do fine, but it's their choice, not mine. If there's trouble, I can control who roosts where.

My coops and pens have doors so I can separate everyone if I choose to, with two of those pens covered so they can get out of rain and/or into shade. While I planned well, I always end up expanding the pens in the spring, so be ready for that.

The hardest part is not being able to have all the guineas I want - I have to exercise some restraint!

 

[btrbeana]

I have mine penned too. They go out some during the day, but the door is always open. They laid a clutch in their coop and tended it well till I cleaned the poo out. Now, she is dropping eggs the run. I guess Im going to have to hatch these myself??? I'd so rather they do it au natural!

 

[JLeigh]

I didn't have any luck with my hen sitting on her eggs. I ended up gathering the eggs since she stopped sitting and have one keet to show for it. I hatched out two keets, but one died of what I can only call "failure to thrive". She just never grew. .

I currently have 31 fertile eggs incubating out of 37 I put in the 'bator. Not bad. Hoping I have more luck than the hen!

 

[PeepsCA]

Unfortunately if Guinea Hens are bothered too much while they are in the process of laying a clutch of eggs or are on a clutch of eggs they will usually abandon them. They are complete sticklers for total privacy (which translates to safety in their minds) while laying and brooding their eggs.

 

[Catwmn]

We were planning on making their coop space where they had three feet of roost space per bird and the run would be ten square feet per bird. I plan on planting various bushes and sago palms etc inside the run area for natural plant material for them to hide in if they need to. Does this sound like it will be big enough?

I was going to keep 25 hens and five males in the large pen and I have a smaller pen I was going to keep some extra hens and males in.

Thanks so much for your replies!!

 

[JLeigh]

LOL, I'd have to do "reverse" math to answer that question! But I tried, because I need to "learn and grow" when it comes to math - something I've avoided for my almost 60 years of life.

If your pen is 20 x 20 (400 square feet) then dividing that by 25 birds = 16 sq. ft. per bird. That's doable and meets the minimum requirements, plus more, but honestly, my pens/coop area is about 25 x 25 and I wouldn't put 25 birds in there. I have ten now: 5 guineas, 5 chickens. I could put about 5 more birds in and they'd still have plenty of room, but I don't want to push it. I could go up to 20 birds, but the birds don't know the "minimum for health" formula, so I err on the side of too much space per bird, and go for what I think is the "minimum for happiness" formula.

It's my opinion that males are bigger bullies (females can be, too) but a bully is a bully no matter how many square feet you give it, free-range or not, so forget those birds in the argument. But an otherwise nice guinea can be made to be a nasty, bully with unbecoming behavior by having too little space.

Also, my flock is penned 24/7 so WAY more than enough space is even more important for my flock than it is for a flock that free-ranges during the day. If your flock free-ranges, then you can get away with less pen space than mine have. Does that make sense? Again, this is math....so not my strong suit.

Do you plan on having chickens AND guineas or just guineas? Five roosters will fight for the ladies, no matter what, in a confined space, but if they free-range, they're more inclined to sleep and let sleep at roosting time.

I don't think they need as much roosting space per bird if all they're going to do in the coop is sleep. That's all mine do in their coops - sleep. Here's a good way to think of it: how much space do YOU need to sleep each night? You don't need a bed the size of your bedroom (unless you're sleeping with strangers, then you need at least a whole house - or in my case, an entire city block). Nothing much compared to what you need during the day, right? Devote any extra space you may have to daytime pens/runs. Give your birds about 2 sq. ft. of roosting/sleeping space and lots of extra sq. footage for pens/runs (mine have a whopping 40 sq ft per bird).

That was the hardest question, like, EVER, for me. LOL. But I had my scientist math whiz husband look this over, and he says the numbers are good. Whew.

 

[SisterKC]

RE YOU MISSING OR LOOKING TO ADOPT AND/OR BE WILLING TO HOUSE A LOST GUINEA HEN?

Anyone from or that lives in the Cleveland, Ohio area? I don't own anything(animal wise), but 2 cats. I came across this website in hopes to help a neighborhood Guinea Hen. This poor guy has been roaming the neighborhood near East 30th & Cedar Avenue for practically a year now. I first noticed the guinea thinking it was a turkey, but at closer examination realized it truly wasn't. This guy first showed up around September/October of 2012. He's been hanging out around the Tri-C Metro (Downtown) Campus. I've witnessed individuals throwing rocks and other dabree at this gorgeous creature. I don't hardly know a thing about Guinea's except to say that it needs to be found a place to go. Somewhere that's much safer and healthier than hanging out around and in the hood. This guy whom I named Lincoln deserves a home!!!

 

[GardienneWings]

We have had upwards of 65+ guineas at times over the years but the more the noisier so we have cut back! We currently only have 5 adult Guineas, 2 cocks and 3 hens that have split themselves into a pair and trio. They go out during the day and go to opposite sides of the farm, but beg to be put up in the coop at night. They do not set there own eggs but I recently set 34 guinea eggs under a pair of broody chicken hens sharing an empty nest and the girls hatched out 32 keets. I collected and brooded the keets to avoid losses to snakes, rats, hawks, etc and I'm keeping 6 to add to the flock along with 6 more I have bought. I agree that too many males causes a lot of stress and lowers the fertility, they are too busy chasing each other to do what needs to be done. But on the good side, around here, people that want guineas as bug control have learned that males tend to survive longer when free range and they specifically ask for males so I can always move extras.

Val