Two guineas splitting from the flock and sleeping on the ground

[ThreeDogFarm]

Our nine guinea flock is a little more than five months old. Until last week, they have stayed together in a tight flock and returned to the coop or on top of the coop every night. Now one guinea keeps his/her distance from the others and spends a lot of time hiding in various places. A second guinea will sometimes disappear for a day and then re-appear. The other guineas do not seem to miss them and go about their own business as a group. They don't even call for each other. I don't think they are nesting--but is this possible in the fall for a five month old? Is there a way for us to help integrate them back to our group?

The other strange thing is that a couple of them have started sleeping on the ground at night near the coop. We are in the woods and I worry about their safety even though they are close to the house. Do they tend to sleep on the ground when it gets cooler at night? This is our first time with guineas so we are learning every day. Thanks for your advice!

 

[Percheron chick]

Sleeping on the ground is not usual. They won't last long if you don't get them up off the ground. If anything guineas tend to want to roost higher as they get older. Do you have enough roosting space inside the coop and how high off the ground is it? Mine all prefer the 6' roost and the chickens stick to the lower ones. The loner is probably a male and he's just being put in his place. It is unusual for a 5 month old to lay but probably not unheard of. Mine have all waited until they were closer to 10+months.

 

[ThreeDogFarm]

Thank you so much for your response. The roost in our coop is only about 4' high, so perhaps this is less than appealing to them. This is a great suggestion to increase the height for them. Unfortunately, I think both of our ground sleepers, including the loner, have officially disappeared as of today. Nature is beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time.

The remaining seven have been consistent in going into the coop at night, so hopefully the rest of the group will stay intact. There is only one guinea left with very long waddles, so I'm guessing he is the only remaining male. I really hope this means that they can all live peacefully together from here forward.

Thanks for your response. Enjoy your beautiful fall in Colorado!

 

[Lady Badlands]

I'm going to reply to this posting even though the conversation seems to have ceased. The two of my guineas who were killed by hawks in the past month were ones that were hanging back and not going in with the rest of the flock for protection at night. The first one lasted the first night, but by the second night with him not going into the shelter, an owl ended his life.

Same thing for the other guinea. Just wouldn't go into the shelter/aviary even though I tried to shepherd him in. He would just go further into the woods. Again, we lost him.

The reason I'm sharing this is because I don't know if there's anything we can do to get those laggers back in with the flock. I have the feeling that it's some kind of hierarchical thing and the lagger gets his butt kicked when he comes back with the others by the alpha male.

The guineas are so mysterious in some of their ways and they certainly have major differences from chickens, but they do live together in the chicken coop quite well.