Guinea Update

This past summer's guinea keats are all now full grown and spending their days doing that guinea "thing".
At this point, I can honestly say that their "training" has paid off. For the past week, now, they have routinely returned to their house to roost at sunset.

You might remember that we tried training them to return home for a tasty treat of white
millet each evening when the light turned on in their house. At first they were afraid of the millet (something new to them always elicits a fear response), but after about 10 days (this seems like the magic number for guineas) they were obviously delighted at the sight of the treat.

So, now each day the routine is to open their house first thing in the morning.
They eventually all work their way out and about for a day of bug hunting in and around the goat pens. They still have not become terribly adventurous and spend their days no further than 20 yards from their house. The good news is, though, that each evening they make their way back into their house to roost. This affords them the necessary protection from predators at night.
So, I am happy to say that, for now at least, the guineas were trainable. Months and months of training have paid off. But then again, tomorrow IS another day. And for 20 birds with only half a brain amongst them, the future is always tenuous.

For those of you who think you might like to train your guineas....have patience....and don't rest on your laurels.....you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Comments

Anke said…
How many guineas and chickens do you have? Are all of them laying eggs? I am really interested in learning more about keeping chickens, any good books you could recommend? Still trying to convince hubby that I "NEED" chickens...
Sweet little birds. I'm so glad they are behaving themselves....are they as noisy as everyone says?
Kelly said…
I think our guineas are about the same age. It seems that ours are learning to come into the coop at night too. Even noisier than before, but cute.
Kelly