Run Away Guineas?

[jbieware]

We live in the woods and the tick problem is out of hand. I bought 4 Guinea keets (2 months old) and let them loose in the yard. Well, after the first day they ran off and are nowhere to be found. I looked through the woods and besides finding 20 to 30 ticks found nothing. Any ideas on how I can keep guineas to stay in the yard???

This is my first experience with guineas...I wanna get some more

 

[angelmarie]

Quote:
you can clip their wings til' their about 6mo. to a year then they'll know thats home and won't go far, i had to do that w/ my guinea he was a little escape artist, i named him alcatraz lol

 

[Double-T-Family-Farm]

keep them in a coop and only let one out at a time and keep teh feed inside so they will go back in to roost so owls and other night predators cant get them

 

[swampducks]

I'm planning on keeping mine in the coop and a covered run for a few weeks and letting them out 1 at a time till I am fairly certain they'll return every night. Then I'll let 'em all at at once and see what happens.

I have my fingers crossed. Otherwise I have read they'll do just what yours did, and disappear. They've got to "know" where home is before they can return to it.

 

[prariechiken]

I loved my guineas running the yard, forageing for ticks....of course so did the owls, coyotes, raccoons, etc... Especially have to be carefull in the spring when they get the nesting urge. I would recommend keeping them penned then since a female will sit on their nest and not move to avoid a predator. They tried setting in spots all around the farm. I would find nests of broken eggs with a pile of feathers on top

. I had 30 at one time, 10 original and 20 I hatched out. I then made the mistake of letting the 20 I hatched out loose after they were big enough to be on their own. They fought with my original group. You never heard such a racket until you have 30 guineas battling for yard supremecy. The 20 young ones must have won, because the 10 older ones dissappeared. I later found them about 4 miles away at a neighbors house. She said they just "showed up" one day, must have been quite a trip for them. She inherited some free guineas for a while...until the preds wiped them out. Then there were the ones who would stand along side the road and run out in front of cars. And I thought it was called playing "chicken". They were cool birds to have and fun to see out roaming around, but I now know why all the hatcheries sell out of them so fast...I believe those that use them for tick control must have to buy new ones every year...

 

[rooster0209]

i purchased my guineas as keets. kept them in the brooder till they feathered out. kept them in the coop/pen for a few weeks. then removed the top off the pen. They fly in and out and know where to go at night. They free range all day, eatin bugs

 

[Kbisenhour]

How do I keep my neighbors guineas out of my pasture/yard?

 

[R2elk]

How do I keep my neighbors guineas out of my pasture/yard?

This thread is from 2008. You would be better off to start a new thread with your question.