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Farming Friends Forum » Guinea Fowl

1. black kelpie
   Member

   Hi there,

   I recently hatched some guinea fowl in an incubator. They are now 6 weeks old and living in a fairly big hut with attached run. I had done a little investigating before I got the eggs and understood that if the GF were raised by hand, and were used to going into a hut at night to roost, then they would continue to do so...however, they are now about 6 weeks old and would far prefer to roost out in their run than in the hut (the roost in the hut is higher than the one in the run), this makes me think that when I let them go free range they will chose to roost in the trees that surround our property instead of coming home. This wouldnt be a problem but we have a lot of pine martens and foxes here, and Im not sure if a GF is much of a match for these guys at night time when they are dozy.

   Will Pine Marten kill them when they are full grown (likley I guess)?, would clipping their wings initially encourage them to come home?

   Any advice gratefuly recieved, I love the wee guys and really want to let them go free to eat ticks, I dont want to keep them in a run indefinatley.

   Thanks,

   BK

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. Mama
   Member

   Hello, Don't have any experience of GF but other members do. Do know about Martens though as they killed all my chickens several years ago, they are lethal. Not had a problem with foxes but did have with hunt dogs , they also took some chooks. Sure you will get some info soon on gf's. Regards Mama .

   Goose Girl

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. m40mo
   Administrator

   hiya, I don't know about GF i keep ducks, but at such a young age I would say that if you want to put them in their hut at night you should just do it, don't give them the choice, as to clipping their wings wouldn't that just make them more vunerable to attack,
   Mo

   mo x

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi BK,
   Welcome to the farmingfriends forum. I have guinea fowl and have been keeping and breeding them for the last 6 years! My guinea fowl free range during the day and go into a hut at night. I round them up if they are not waiting at the hut door, (I don't leave it open as I don't want rats in the hut.)
   Guinea fowl can be trained to go into a hut at night very easily, they soon get into a routine, you just need to make sure that you round them up before they decide to fly up into the trees.
   I have never clipped their wings, guinea fowl don't really bother flying unless they are spooked and as Mo says if you clip their wings you will make them more susceptible to predators. My guinea fowl will fly out of the way if a dog comes or something spooks them. That is unless the females are sitting on a nest. These birds will nest in hedgerows and this can make them susceptible to predators such as the fox.
   I try to get mine in earlier when the crops are growing tall so that they are not prey to the fox.
   I am not sure about Pine Martens as never come across them.
   You will soon get your guinea fowl into a routine and they soon learn that routine.
   Good luck with the quirky wonderful birds.
   Kind regards
   sara @ farmingfriends

   http://www.farmingfriends.com
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   Posted 2 years ago #

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