Guinea hens in Maine.  Breeders in Maine.  We have Guineafowl. We breed Guinea fowl.  Ginnie Fowl are cool.. Guinea keets are little..

Basic Guinea Care

When you first get the keets they need to be kept warm.  Until they are 1 week old they need to be kept at 99 degrees F.   After a week, reduce to 95, then a week later to 90, etc.  Reduce the temps 5 degrees each week until you reach the average outdoor temperature for your area, or until the guineas have all of their feathers.   The easiest way to keep them warm is with a simple metal workshop spot light that you can get for about $8 at Wal-mart in the tool section and use a 60 watt lightbulb at first.  Raise or lower the light as necessary to get the temp right under the light to be the appropriate temperature.  Later on, switch to a 40 watt bulb if necessary.

The keets will need a high protein food with Amprolium in it, which protects them from disease while they develop their immunities.  Blue Seal makes a product called ?medicated turkey starter crumbles?.  That is what I feed keets until they are 10 weeks old.  After 10 weeks I switch them to Blue Seal ?Turkey Grower Pellets?.

You will notice that the chicken feed is a little cheaper than the turkey feed, but it is not high enough protein for guineas and they will not do well if you feed them chicken feed.

They need to always have water available 24 hours a day.

Once the keets are 2 weeks old you can introduce some white millet seed as a treat.  This can be used for training.  This will come in handy later on when you need some way to convince them to return to the coop in the evening when they would much rather roost in the nearby trees.  Train them by loudly calling ?guinea guineas want some seeeed? or something like that whenever you give them millet.  Do not overuse the millet as it will decrease the amount of the necessary food that they will eat, which is not healthy, and it will also degrade the effectiveness of the training.

My guineas will run from as far as they can hear me, into the coop, if I offer them seed.  It's is just about the only way to get them into the coop if that is not where they choose to be at that moment.

When the guineas are 4 weeks old it is ok to give them a small amount of greens such as weeds from your garden.  They really enjoy them.  Do not give them a lot because they need their nutrients from their regular feed.  Do not give them anything that you will not want them to eat later on, such as plants that you WANT growing in your garden, tomato plants, etc.

The guineas will need a coop or some sort of housing to protect them from predators, rain, cold and wind.  If you plan to let them free range then they should be kept in their coop for the first 6 weeks if possible so they know that it is their "safe place" and will return to it in the evenings to roost, and are safe from nighttime predators like coyotes, raccoons, foxes and owls and weasels.   Guineas should be forced to roost in the coop at night, for their safety.

There is an excellent book on the market called "Gardening with Guineas".  I would highly recommend purchasing it.

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