Guineas - Raising Poultry - page 221

If allowed to range, guineas will find most of their food on their own during the grow-
ing season. Their commercially prepared feed consumption decreases rapidly when for-
aging. During the winter months, they like a balanced feed ration.
Feather Trimming
Keep in mind that whether or not the snow flies, guineas will want to stay out at night
to roost in trees. It is your job to try to convince them, or to force them, to do otherwise.
This can be an extremely frustrating process in the midst of a snowstorm. Capture them
and trim their wing feathers after the first snowfall so that they cannot fly out of their
assigned space again.
I usually catch my young guineas for feather trimming in the fall after they have mol-
ted. They'll stay out in the elements the first night after a snowstorm passes through, but
by the second night, they're usually smart enough to try to go into the shed, and that's
when I ground them. As with chickens and turkeys, by trimming the outer flight feathers
on one side, I keep them off balance when they attempt to fly. That keeps them in a pen,
although it seems to wound their dignity considerably when they try to fly up into the
tree the next morning and are not able to reach it.
Remember, guineas are like wild birds and will release their feathers. When you grab
at a guinea, unless you actually get a wing or leg, you just end up with a handful of
feathers. If you simply pull out the wing feathers — and that can be done easily with
minimal damage to the bird — they grow back rather quickly. Instead, you must trim
their wing feathers to keep them near the ground until the next molting season.
Trimming their wings also keeps them from flying away and joining the wild. Once
the weather warms, they decide anyway that they don't need to be so high and exposed
in the trees. When guineas roost in the trees at night, owls will swoop down and knock
them out of the tree. Then they'll catch them on the rebound on the ground when they're
not able to see what's happening.
Roosts
Once guineas start getting their wing feathers, they want to roost. They love to get up
high and look around. Install a roost using a 2 by 2 (5×5 cm) 4 to 5 feet off the ground
(see chapter 2 , Housing and Supplies, for a description of how to build and install a
roost). If you try to keep them in an area where they cannot roost, they will be nervous,
upset, and frustrated. Even guineas as young as three to four weeks will take out their
frustration on any other innocent birds they can find if they don't have a safe place to
roost.