Jennifer Sartell
Story and Photos
Zach and I have wanted to raise guineas for quite a few years now. They’re excellent foragers, they help reduce the tick population and they’re just really cool looking birds! Every spring we talk it over and try to decide if we want to place an order with a hatchery, or try to find a local breeder. So far, we haven’t been able to find anyone in our area that sells guineas and the hatcheries have such large shipping minimums that we really didn’t want to start off with so many birds at once.
So guineas have become one of those things that will happen “someday”.
Until about a month ago.
We have a new feed store in our town and like many feed stores this time of year, they are getting in chicks and ducklings for sale. Every time we go in (which is like twice a week) I have to give the brooder boxes a “once around” to see what’s new in the selection of poultry.
This time, once particular brooder box stopped Zach and I in our tracks.
“What do we have here?”
A whole box of guinea keets!
We were really excited to see that keets were available! The problem is that with our set up at home, I can really only brood two different species at a time. I guess I could rig something up and make a third happen, but I’m trying not to take on too much this spring.
We have one brooder set up at home with chicks in it, and another ready for turkey poults later this month. Everything I’ve read about guineas is that while they’re a very useful bird, but they can sometimes be mean to chickens. Knowing this, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to put them in the same brooder as our chicks.
Sadly, we talked it over and decided that we should let the guineas go again for another year.
The next time we went into the feed store, all the guineas had sold and that put the finality on our decision.
A couple weeks went by, and a couple more trips to the feed store. The brooder boxes saw different chick breeds come and go.
Then last week, once again they got in a shipment of guineas.
Disappointment settled over Zach and I as we stared into the brood box watching the little guineas peck and peep and sleep knowing that we wouldn’t be bringing any to our farm.
A lady came around the corner with a sales associate and we moved out of her way so that she could select a few guineas to purchase.
While helping the customer the sales associate asked if we wanted her to get a few guineas out for us.
We explained that we would love for her to, but we only had a brooder for chicks.
The lady buying the keets explained that she ALWAYS raises her guineas with chicks because it helps them to keep their personalities in check, makes them more social and helps the guineas relationship with her chickens.
The sales associate agreed!
Zach and I looked at each other and smiled.
As you’re probably guessing we now have guineas.
We only purchased two as the lady advised us that your chicks should out-number your guinea keets to keep them in order.
Brooding of guineas is very similar to brooding chicks with a few exceptions. We learned that they should not be on medicated food because their bodies can’t metabolize it (which is fine because we feed un-medicated) and that they should be handled often to keep them social. We also learned that the brooding temperature of 95 degrees is especially important to guineas. They are more sensitive to the cold than chicks.
So far, everyone in the mixed brooder at home is getting along nicely. I don’t really see much of a difference in the keets personality vs the chicks. The keets are gentle and mix right in. Hopefully they will grow up thinking they’re chickens and be well behaved as adults.
Do you raise guineas? Tell us about your experience by leaving a comment below, or visit the Community Chickens Facebook Page.
9 Comments
I have hatched quite a few guineas. Mine all free range and the adults roost up in a tree. When they get older they start picking on my chickens. Especially when feed is invoild.
We also wanted guinea keets eventually and were not able to handle the minimum order from the hatchery. One day a friend I had talked to about it called and told us they had them for sale at the local feed store and the rest is history. Even though the chicks we ordered were not due to arrive for over a week we bought 4 keets while they were available. Once the chicks arrived we put them in the brooder with the keets, but inside a fish tank so the keets could see them, but not harm them. After a few days of this we removed the tank and they mixed without a problem. Since the keets were older and larger they took on a sort of motherly role to the chicks, no problems at all. Now they are all a little over two months old, living happily together in the coop and starting to free range. The four keets stick tight together when outside the coop and ANY threat, real or imagined, turns into a very NOISY run back into the coop. 🙂 Good luck with yours!
So glad you got some Guineas – they are lovely little things! I incubated ours and brought the first lot up with chickens and the second with ducks. While they are young it seems they have no problem with either in fact the guineas used to snuggle up to the chickens at night (making a nuisance of themselves!). This does change. They can be mean to both chicken and ducks – in chickens they seem mainly to go for the cocks – and I have one hefty cock that they sometimes chase and corner – no mean feat! They were housed with some ducks but are now separate as they stopped them coming into the pen in the evening. I had 13 – 5 boys and 8 girls – but since selling 3 of the boys they seem to have settled down and spend most of the time in the field. They are lovely little things and I love having them – 1 in particular is so friendly she comes in and will perch on you and try and dust bathe on you – she was handled a lot as a baby as she had a leg problem (all ok now) – so do handle them often and you will have fantastic guineas – would have suggested having a couple more as they are very social and if something happens to one the other would be very unhappy.
I have raised guineas and chickens together for several years. Last year I built a special pen for the guineas so I could keep them in “lock up” in the Spring. If they free range, they lay their eggs in the woods somewhere and that is the end of them. So I built their coop/pen a little differently and they laid their eggs in a corner. Sadly, the raccoons managed to get in by digging under the barn to which the pen was attached and I lost all my guineas and eggs. I have fixed it so they can’t do that again and have eggs in the incubator as I write this. Yes, guineas and chickens can get along just fine from keet/chick to adults. And they are such fun.
Thank you for the nice post. I’ve thought about getting some keets, and l certainly will now. That is nice to know I can raise them with my baby chicks. We will probably only get four or five, though. I am more into chickens – love the Black Australorp Breed! The other day we made an order from a hatchery for fifteen Black Spanish Turkeys. I really didn’t want that many; it’s the minimum for many of the hatcheries. Nonetheless, I bet we won’t have a problem thinning them out.
Question – do many people eat guineas and/or their eggs?
– guinea eggs are about the size of a bantam chicken egg – but they are more ‘pointy’ on one end – which is the only way we can tell them apart
– guinea fowl meat is very tasty, much like dark turkey meat in flavour, but a bit lighter in colour
Thanks for the reply, W.H. Lander. I would have thought guinea eggs would be larger in size. We will keep the pointed egg distinction in mind.
I would have guessed turkey tasting more like duck than turkey – interesting. That means they’ll be hitting the dinner plate around here. 🙂
We’ve raised Guineas with new chicks. They get along,,,, no problems.
All free range and self sufficient. The grown Guineas are noisy,,,, very noisy, lol.
great article just what I needed to commit to some guineas