Hi All,
Chris would like advice about getting guinea fowl used to roosting.
hi we keep poultry and some body abandoned 2 young guinea fowl at our gate ,they feed and are around most of the day but roost very high in the trees,i want to know how to get them used to having a shed to roost in ,ps i have never been able to get close to them in order to catch them. Chris
I free range my guinea fowl during the day and then put them in a hut to roost at night although guinea fowl will naturally roost in trees if you don’t train them to go in a hut. I like mine to go in a hut at night so that they are protected from predators such as the fox and that they are also sheltered from the weather. I use long sticks to drive my guinea fowl in the direction I want then to go. If the sticks get too close to the guinea fowl it spooks them and they fly up into the trees. http://www.farmingfriends.com/how-to-stop-guinea-fowl-straying-onto-the-road/ Long sticks for driving the guinea fowl into a certain area can be helpful, but a word of warning don’t wave the sticks too close to the guinea fowl as this will frighten them and send them flying into the trees.
Feeding them in the hut at the end of the day will help them to return to the hut. After about a week/2 weeks of walking the guinea fowl to their hut they will get used to the routine. Tonight my guinea fowl were all in their hut when I returned home, but this is not always the case sometimes if I leave it too late they will fly up to the roof of the barn or into the trees in the orchard so you have to time getting them in just right.
Thanks for any advice.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends