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Feeding and caring for Guinea hens

 
pollinator
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Must this be done in a cage?

or a wide open field? If there are any trees, they will roost 30 feet up. They call in predators like a beacon. half of my keets got sick and died within 4 days of shipment, there was no organic feed where I was located.

This year we did 12 chickens, with organic feed, without even a heat lamp and they all did fine.

The keets really were a horrible because they would get lost and cry for each other and I lost 3 to a heron...

Perhaps they could be raised in a large greenhouse?

Anyone have experience raising these creatures?
 
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Location: Alaska
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It is best if you can get a hen to go broody and then have her raise the keets, she will do a much better job than you ever could. There is a huge problem with them getting eaten in trees, predators in guinea are different than predators in the US.

I've been told that they can be surgically de-squaked but I have no idea how. You can raise them in a green house but you must deal with the mess, deep litter would be my vote.

Also, if you raise them with chickens they will pick up bad habits (like scratching) from them, but also good habits like going into the hen house to roost.

Goodluck with the next batch. 
 
out to pasture
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We bought some young guinea fowl a few months ago and kept them in most of the time in a covered run.  We would let them out while we were there but had trouble with predators (it turned out they'd had their wings clipped and couldn't fly out of trouble like we were hoping) and also they got very naughty about going back into their run as they grew up.  The males started to get very aggressive as they matured and we ended up with just one, who is bigger than the hens and makes incredibly stupid noises while pacing up and down his run.  He is now also extremely aggressive towards my husband and is showing signs of developing similar tendencies towards my son, though so far he is fine with me. 

I can't seem to get the photos to work today, but here's a link to a photo of our guinea fowl when they were a bit younger and still prepared to go back into their run, which they now live in full time. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=189768&id=100000079578758
 
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