Guinea Winter Training
October 29, 2008|Comments (20)
Dumb and Dumber, our remaining male guinea fowl, are far too proud to come in out of the cold. I say “proud” in place of “stupid” or “moronic” because I am now a Southerner.
Josh built them a really lovely house and they use it frequently but enjoy roosting on top of it or in the uncovered portion of the thing while frigid rains pour down upon their odd brainless Mowhawked heads. And you thought I was mean by calling them dumb. It’s freezing out there!
Josh and I captured them, locked them in the red chicken coop (very warm), and then began constructing a covered run so they might enjoy the fall days. Josh used chicken wire around the coop with blueberry netting over the top so that the guineas wouldn’t be able to fly over the fence.
Have you ever seen guineas fly? It is really quite a sight. I mean, seriously — those jokers can fly! One could easily spend the entire day sipping Co-Cola (as the locals call it) and watching those silly prehistoric looking birds walk into the fence, back up a few paces, and walk back into the fence before suddenly figuring out that… Imagine!… they have wings and can fly over it with relative ease. In fact, guinea fowl are excellent fliers. When, of course, they remember that they can.
We are hoping to train the guineas (Lloyd and Harry) to actually put themselves to bed once it is dark and below fifty degrees. So far, we have had to catch them and force them into the red coop which they are then reluctant to leave when the coop door is opened and sunlight is streaming in.
The chickens are much easier to negotiate with. Wherever a chicken sleeps is its home and it will return to like clockwork to roost. Like that Metallica song… anywhere I may roam where I lay my head is home. Why can’t Lloyd and Harry be so logical? Am I really asking for birds named after Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne to be logical? Shouldn’t the real question go something like:
Why on earth does Lacy know both the first and last name of the lead characters in Dumb & Dumber?
Really. What self-respecting person freely admits to knowing stuff like that?
Anyway, the guinea winter training continues for at least a week and then we hope to be able to take down the unattractive fencing to let the guineas become vagabonds (free range birds) once more. I’ll let you know how it goes. Promise. Triple stamp, no erasies, touch blue make it true. Any advice? Any closet Dumb & Dumber fans out there?
So, I know you’re wondering why on earth we have guinea fowl if they are A.) dumber than rocks B.) dumber than spit… find out why we’re not totally insane here. Just in case we really are crazy: it’s the cracked ones that let the light in. Love, Lacy
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No advice whatsoever for you on Lloyd and Harry. Looks like a great setup to me.
Yes, I like that dumb movie. The very first time we watched it was with some friends and thankfully it was on video rather than in the theatre. We would of been kicked out as we were having a ball watching it. The guys were literally rolling on the floor laughing.
We actually have some guineas that run around our neighborhood. We only had 4, but it appears that we lost 2 in Ike. I have only seen 2 running around since the storm. I have never seen them fly, but I have seen them on top of the neighbor’s house. I didn’t see them get up there, but it is a 3 story house, so they had to fly to get there!
I didn’t even know what guineas look like much less the flying & stupid thing. Can’t help you with the training.
What are you going to do with these guys? Do you plan to eat them? Do they taste like chicken? (Not that I remember what chicken tastes like but I could pass the info onto my husband.) Are they great garden clearers like chicken and ducks?
Well, I haven’t really heard of anyone trying to ‘train’ one before! If you succeed, you can go on with new ‘tricks’ and then hit the big shows! That could be fun to watch!
Will they NOT really go inside on their own if they so decide it’s time?
Hope your week is going great, and bet you are working hard on your FAV time of year only a few days away!
~Hugs Lacy~
Momma Barb
They look so cute, although they might be the dumbest birds on earth ;-P!
Cheers,
Rosa
Well g’mornin’ to you too, Lacy!
And are you kidding me? You should be getting paid - you work your hiney off to keep things looking smart and professional, and personally, I think it’s long overdue for that to be recognized. Honest to god, Lacy, looking at your site and browsing through the pages is like looking at a magazine - it’s that awesome. So, when you do hit the big time with this, I’ll be right there congratulating you and cheering you on. 
*hug*
We had about 30 Guineas at my parents and they never “got” the whole thing. To this day I call Guineas the stupid bird 1. cause they are stupid 2. cause they woke me up at 5am. I think if we lived out in the woods again I would forgive them because of their tick eating abilities.
A fellow on my road use to have a whole herd of guineas-they were always in the road!
I just love my guineas. Mine fly in and out of the chicken yard at will. They roost in a tree that overhangs the yard. It gets really cold here at times but I don’t worry too much about them or the rooster that roosts in the tree too because after all they have feathers. I say that because I know how warm my feathers (comforter) are in my cold bedroom in the winter time.
We don’t have guinea fowl here but they sound as smart as turkeys. I didn’t even know the first names of the dumb and dumber guys and haven’t watched the movie in full but I don’t think watching it is something that needs to be kept in the closet;-).
We have a few chickens who gather in a corner by the outside of their coop every night and bunk down there. The others are in roosting, but these 8 or nine are huddled outside as they did from the beginning. It has got down to -10˚C here at night and I know it has been at least -5˚C when I have seen them out there at midnight (just checking when I arrived home then). They seem to be able to handle the cold more than we think. I am sure they will eventually learn. I think chickens might be smarter than guinea fowl so they don’t need to be trained. Perhaps that is why we don’t have guinea fowl here; because they wouldn’t come in from the cold;-).
Haha…can I tell you how much I LOVE the names Harry and Lloyd! That has me cracking up!
Wow! He did a great job building that.
I had no idea they flew much. I can just imagine what a sight it is
I’ve heard that guinea’s keep snakes away.
Do you know if that is true?
Hiya Lacy! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
(I’d paste my tag here, too, but I don’t think posts allow for images) Have an awesome night my friend! 
Had NO idea guinea fowl were so ditsy…this could really get entertaining then…
I love my guineas! They aren’t the smartest, though. They stay on top of the chicken run in the cold pouring rain instead of getting inside where its dry and a little warmer. Good luck with the training!
Thankyou, Lacy - I hope they come true, too, my friend. *hug*
I found your site by searching Alaska family farms. I think it has to do with the Alaskan television show that you mentioned in one of your blogs… anyway, we are looking at becoming more self-sufficient as we kick around the idea of chickens, goats, and sled dogs. We live in the bush where milk is around $10 a gallon and eggs are expensive (don’t look at the price, just put them in the basket)…
So, I see that you insulated your chicken coup. What temp are you good down to? We’re in the interior and it gets COLD. I think the lowest was -50 here last year. We’re building our house this next summer and so chickens maybe the next year. Just planning ahead.
Ah guineas - so useful, so amusing so freakin dumb! Hope your “training’ is greatly successful - we never could make them come back and roost despite raising them from tiny keets ours went quite wild. BUT we are not as persistent as y’all .
Hi Lacy,
After my experience with guinea fowl http://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/peasant-cooking/ I’m converted and can’t wait to get some but they’re a little thin on the ground up here though a friend who used to keep them thinks they’d do well on our croft. We’ve no real predators well apart from golden eagles, sea eagles and buzzards but they’ve never bothered the hens or ducks so I can’t see them being interested in guinea fowl.
Best Wishes, Paul