Farmfresh
City Biddy
Sounds like Polk "talks softly, but carries a big stick!".
Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...
- Thread starter Quail_Antwerp
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #852
Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
Farmfresh said:Sounds like Polk "talks softly, but carries a big stick!".
I just shot coffee outta my nose! Have to clean the keyboard now 
modern_pioneer
Mountain Man
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 1,394
- Reaction score
- 15
- Points
- 192
- Location
- In the woods with the critters
Aly, being that you have so many different breeds of chickens, do they get along?
I am going to get my golden comets next week, and in late may I am getting some ginnys. As a child I remember the ginnys would stay more in the bushes (not sure) but do you think the chickens and ginnys would get along?
My plan is to move the chicks from the brooder to the coop and put the ginnys in the brooder til there big enough to put outside.
I am going to get my golden comets next week, and in late may I am getting some ginnys. As a child I remember the ginnys would stay more in the bushes (not sure) but do you think the chickens and ginnys would get along?
My plan is to move the chicks from the brooder to the coop and put the ginnys in the brooder til there big enough to put outside.
Farmfresh
City Biddy
I can answer that question. They get along fine as long as they have sufficient room. If you pen them in too close, they tend to pick on each other somewhat. The guineas really like to free range. My sister has about 50 of them many colors. They are really cool.
- Thread starter
- #855
Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
Most of my chickens get along just fine. Only time we really have issues is when I add to the flock and they have to re-establish the pecking order. I even have bantams and large fowl together. Working on buiding some banty love shacks! 
Really working on separating out some breeds, too....
Guineas, oh boy don't get me started....UGH...LOL DH wants some...I don't! We had a pair last year...the female was great! acted all guinea-ish like she was supposed to! But the male.... :/ He was so agressive! Everytime I turned my back to him, he came flying at me and flogged the back of my legs...and I fed that ungrateful beast, too!! The female was a great layer, and would set a clutch of dud eggs determined to have babies from them. We think the mistake we made was getting them as adults. DH wants to get a half dozen keets and raise them here, see if they behave better.
Now, your guineas and chickens will cross bred, but the offspring from them are 1) Uglier than all get out and 2) sterile...I had a white leghorn rooster that just loooooved our female guinea...so did the Spangled Hamburg roo! We didn't let those eggs hatch, we broke up the nest (we broke the eggs open and they were developing!). Sold the guineas shortly after.
Golden comets are great egg layers! and the feed conversion is just fantastic!! Those gals will hit 4-6 months of age, and everything they consume will go straight into egg production! They don't eat as much as my heavy or dual purpose breeds, either.
Ok so when you get them, you know you have to post pictures, right?
Really working on separating out some breeds, too....Guineas, oh boy don't get me started....UGH...LOL DH wants some...I don't! We had a pair last year...the female was great! acted all guinea-ish like she was supposed to! But the male.... :/ He was so agressive! Everytime I turned my back to him, he came flying at me and flogged the back of my legs...and I fed that ungrateful beast, too!! The female was a great layer, and would set a clutch of dud eggs determined to have babies from them. We think the mistake we made was getting them as adults. DH wants to get a half dozen keets and raise them here, see if they behave better.
Now, your guineas and chickens will cross bred, but the offspring from them are 1) Uglier than all get out and 2) sterile...I had a white leghorn rooster that just loooooved our female guinea...so did the Spangled Hamburg roo! We didn't let those eggs hatch, we broke up the nest (we broke the eggs open and they were developing!). Sold the guineas shortly after.
Golden comets are great egg layers! and the feed conversion is just fantastic!! Those gals will hit 4-6 months of age, and everything they consume will go straight into egg production! They don't eat as much as my heavy or dual purpose breeds, either.
Ok so when you get them, you know you have to post pictures, right?
Farmfresh
City Biddy
They do rarely cross breed, but the vast majority of those eggs would not hatch any way Quail. It is only like 1 in 80 (or something like that) that will hatch. The usual crossbreeding situation is a lone guinea with a group of chickens. The crossbred birds are sterile, like you say.
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
Quail you know you have the bug really bad when everything you look at starts turning into a coop!!!
Porch looks great!
Porch looks great!
- Thread starter
- #858
Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
Was there ever any question???TanksHill said:
Unfortunately, I still have about 50 of those RIR's left (if not more) so I'm feeling pretty "chicked" out and haven't been able to get even remotely excited over the batch of chicks arriving from McMurray tomorrow morning. And these chicks arriving are my special chicks, the NHR and Salmon Faverolles are in this batch....sigh....I'm setting their brooders up tonight in prep...but that's about it...I'm so not excited over it, I can't even remember what I ordered...I know there's 45 chicks....and I can only remember 35 of them..
I'm not sure I'll ever order chicks again. I'd say this cured me.I'm going to have ducklings arriving (only 6) next month around the 13th. I'm a bit more excited for them.
We're taking 24 of the RIR's to the auction barn tomorrow. Honestly, I'll be happy to see them go! The rest go the auction a week from tomorrow.
Thanks! It should be done in the next couple weeks. We were going to pick up the rest of the planking this week, but we've decided to wait a bit. No sense in breaking the bank to finish the job when we can take our time.TanksHill said:Porch looks great!
modern_pioneer
Mountain Man
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 1,394
- Reaction score
- 15
- Points
- 192
- Location
- In the woods with the critters
Thanks farm and quail.....
Would you suggest a different winter coop for the guineas? I was thinking of putting a leanto style on the back of my out buildings, a roost about 10 feet off the ground. This would also be a supplement feeding area for them in the summer months. Also, what should I consider for nesting boxes if any?
The reason I would like to have them is because of the deer ticks here, and from everything I have read they love to root in the woods for ticks.
So shelter for the birds in winter is what I need to get my head around, or perhaps I am getting into something over my head?
I was going to get RIR, and was told that Golden Comets are also good egg layers as well as friendly. Good luck at the auction, hope you get a fair price.....
Would you suggest a different winter coop for the guineas? I was thinking of putting a leanto style on the back of my out buildings, a roost about 10 feet off the ground. This would also be a supplement feeding area for them in the summer months. Also, what should I consider for nesting boxes if any?
The reason I would like to have them is because of the deer ticks here, and from everything I have read they love to root in the woods for ticks.
So shelter for the birds in winter is what I need to get my head around, or perhaps I am getting into something over my head?
I was going to get RIR, and was told that Golden Comets are also good egg layers as well as friendly. Good luck at the auction, hope you get a fair price.....
Farmfresh
City Biddy
For my part I would say YES to the special winter coop.
They love to roost way up high and nest on the ground. The main thing is protection from the weather and night time predators and not too big a space that they can't keep warm with just their own body heat. Some people even build a sort of guinea tree house on a post for them to roost in. They have to eat high protein game bird food or starter, but other than that they are similar to chickens in care.
Guineas love to roam. Guineas are noisy. Guineas LOVE ticks.
Sis had about 10 - 12 ticks on each horse EVERY day when she moved to her farm. Now they are almost non-existant. Even flies, grasshoppers and the other bugs are very few and far between. Guineas even kill snakes!
If you have bugs and the space for a semi-wild flock of flying, running, squawking birds - then guineas are your choice!
They love to roost way up high and nest on the ground. The main thing is protection from the weather and night time predators and not too big a space that they can't keep warm with just their own body heat. Some people even build a sort of guinea tree house on a post for them to roost in. They have to eat high protein game bird food or starter, but other than that they are similar to chickens in care.
Guineas love to roam. Guineas are noisy. Guineas LOVE ticks.
Sis had about 10 - 12 ticks on each horse EVERY day when she moved to her farm. Now they are almost non-existant. Even flies, grasshoppers and the other bugs are very few and far between. Guineas even kill snakes!
If you have bugs and the space for a semi-wild flock of flying, running, squawking birds - then guineas are your choice!
