Our guineas just roosted in a tree at night, but you will have colder winters so they will probably need some kind of coop for weather protection. If they know the coop is safe from the dogs, they should use it.

As they are two months old, you will need to keep them penned for six weeks or so to learn where their new home is, or they will try to find their old home.

I'm not sure how to keep the dogs from bothering them, but they are rather wild birds and can fend for themselves pretty well. When a bird killing dog comes on our property, all we find are dead chickens. If the dogs harass them too much, they may become scarce.

They generally need high protein food, like game bird feed. Ours lived on chicken laying pellets and the bugs they caught. Just start them on something high protein.

The guineas should take care of the tick problem.

Having had rotties, and now having guineas, i doubt you'll ever stop them killing. guineas make funny noises--and run--which is two things, in my estimation, are red flags to rotts.

Ok, I got chicken starter and scratch from the feed store since that is what they are being fed, I thought I would stick with what they were already used to eating. As for the Rott, he is slowing down alot( old age is finally getting to him) I do have dog pens already set up, if I have to put them in it.One pen is about 1 acre in size, I had it set up for the beagles last summer, plus I still have 2 other nice size runs set up. I just need to put the coop in it.
Thanks for the help, any other suggestions will be very much appreciated.
Tammy

I keep my guineas cooped at night with the rest of the chickens. It took a lot of trial and error (and long periods of confinement) to get them to recognize the coop as home. If they're not provided with a coop they will roost in the trees at night but I didn't want them to become owl food.

They're entertaining little boogers but can definitely be loud at times. Once they get used to their surroundings - which may take a while - their alarming isn't quite as constant.

If your dogs find chasing small creatures fun, I think you might want to keep them penned up. It won't be long before you won't have any guineas at all. I learned the hard way.

Yikes, given the dog breeds you mention, I don't see the mixture of bird dogs and Guineas working out without tragic consequences... :( Especially since you say from past experience that you already kinda know what to expect. I'd suggest iron-clad dog proof Guinea enclosures at least.

Velvet ~:>

Thanks everyone, we got the guineas yeaterday, a total of 10. We kept them overnight in the portable dog kennel and fixed up a better pen for them today. It is more of a "chicken tractor" type pen. Easily made too. we used a huge dog house that had never been used except by the beagle and her pups last year, an old table that was in the shop,( made of 2x4's) and woven wire and chicken wire both. the run is about 2 1/2 wide by about 7 long and about 2 high. Not much room yet, but for now it will work. We will eventually put them into a bigger pen. But this one is really solid, no chance of the dogs getting to them. We cut a lid into the roof and added a roost for them. An old dog bowl makes the feeder and an extra water-er works great. This way they will have fresh water for a few days, it just refills when it gets low. They seem to enjoy being in there, it is just slightly larger that what they were in. The new coop, (old dog house,) is about 4 wide and 6 long, and about 4 1/2 to 4 high.
So far the dogs haven't bothered them, they have been listening to the birds, but not paying alot of attention to them, I thought we might have some trouble when we took the guineas out of the overnight pens, since the first one got away from us. With most of the dogs laying around watching, I assumed that it would be dead pretty quickly. The dogs stood up but never got too close and didn't get excited. We caught it in just a couple of minutes, so it wasn't a disaster.They have been in the new pen for about a hour, with us being inside part of the time and no trouble yet. Wish us luck!
Thanks for the help, more suggestions will be appreciated.
Tammy

Good luck, hope everything turns out good!

Raising guineas as chicks, rather than starting out with adult birds, may make the difference as to whether the dogs chase...

My rottweiler was so fascinated with the baby chickens, he spent hours staring at them while they were kept in a box in the living room. He was obsessed! His eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. Whenever I took out a chick and held it out to him, he'd lick it. We were very protective of the chicks with the dog around.

Over time, he became less interested, and, now that they are adult chickens, he is completely uninterested, and doesn't bother them at all. The chickens started out being in a pen, but gradually they became free-range.

In my opinion, my rottweiler needed time (months) to get used to the idea of poultry running around, and to not be interested in chasing them. The outcome may not have been as good, if we had brought home adult birds.

He still LOVES to chase cats! Not poultry, though.

Dogs can be trained. I dont know how rotties are, but ours are GSD & a hound, and it took some training but they do ok now with birds...they chase them sometimes, but only killed one once. Now the guineas range into their yard and are able to walk right past them. In fact, I want to encourage my guineas to range into the dog yard--there seems to be a small "island" of ticks there since the guineas havent had access to it.

I agree with Siamese. Dogs can definitely be trained, even older dogs. My rottie is 9, and he adapted to the chickens in less than a year.

I wonder, maybe once dogs accept the poultry as being part of their "territory" then they stop chasing them...?

Think of good Shepherd dogs. Those dogs like to monitor, definitely not attack. For dogs, poultry and sheep are both "lower in rank". Dogs have a pack mentality. Dogs will co-exist with lower ranking pack members, as long as the lower-ranked give respect. To dogs, the "highest in rank" (in this case, #1 human; #2 dogs) oversee the others (in this case, the birds).

Good luck & I hope everything goes well!

I'm sorry. but after that many dead goats you still have the dog? I don't mean to be insensitive, but I just went through this last week. I had to put down 2 dogs that I have had for 3 and 5 years that all of a sudden decided goats were fair game. Very tough situation, but they were very big dogs, and I voted not to take any more chances.

Well i need guinea help too, I was wondering if I could keep the guineas in the pen until they lay their eggs, and then let them outside, because i have a big yard and dont want to go easter egg hunting every day....if you know what i mean.....so can i do this successfully??????????????

Unless you are willing to work with each dog individually, on a daily basis, you should probably keep them seperate. An acre is plenty of room for the dogs, as long as you give them attention, interaction, toys etc. Just remember that beagles are well known escape artists. It is mostly motion that triggers the prey drive, so don't get complacent thinking that the dogs aren't interested in the Guineas while they are penned. It's a whole different game when they are free range. You say you want the dogs to keep critters away and then yelled at them for catching a squirrel. That is certainly sending mixed messages. You are right that you shouldn't let them eat what they catch, mainly because of the numbers of parasites found in wild creatures. Teaching dogs and poultry to get along takes time and patience. If you are willing to put in a lot of time and use positive reinforcement they can coexist. Negative reinforcement often results in the dogs learning to be sneakier about their predation and brings up numerous trust issues. Good luck I hope it works out for you, ticks are disgusting creatures.

I raised my guineas with chicks, and they do come into the coop to lay their eggs and to roost at night.

You will need to lock them in the coop for a few weeks, and then let one out at a time for a day or so, until they realize that the coop is home. Sometimes it works, sometimes they leave.

If you just feed them in the coop, and only have water in the coop, that helps.

M

Well i need guinea help too, I was wondering if I could keep the guineas in the pen until they lay their eggs, and then let them outside, because i have a big yard and dont want to go easter egg hunting every day....if you know what i mean.....so can i do this successfully??????????????

bfb0020 perhaps you should try posting a new thread. Imagine my embarrassment when I realized I had answered a two year old question.

how do i post a new thread?

If you go to the first page where all the message headings are and scroll down to the bottom you will see an area just like the one you used on this one. Type in your message heading and then your question in the message area. I'm sure you will get more responses. I think Marquisella's response was directed to you.

i dont get what your trying to tell me do you mean the garden web home page?

The farm life home page, where it says on-topic discussions. It also provides instructions on how to use the forum.