If you are reading this article, then you must have asked the question, “do guineas need a Coop?”.
Guinea fowls basically do not need a coop as they are wild birds and love to move around on their own. But if you plan to domesticate them or keep them as pets, then you should consider getting them a coop as this helps keep them confined.
There is no straight answer to this question because, generally, Guineas do not need a coop, but you should get a coop for them if you want to domesticate them.
Guineas are naturally wild birds, and they are not easily domesticated.
You might wonder why there is no straight answer to this question. As we continue in this article, we will provide your answers.
We will help you know the situations where guinea’s need coop and the situations that they do not need a coop.
So join us as we delve into this article to discover if Guineas need a Coop or not.
Guineas and coops
As we have stated already, it is not easy for you to domesticate Guineas; they are very stubborn birds.
They are so undomesticated that they don’t have any issue with roosting up in the trees.
Typically, you, the Guineas owner, would have an issue with your Guineas flying and staying up in the trees.
So you see why they do not really need a coop; in the real sense of things, it is the owner that needs the coop than the Guineas.
This is mainly due to the fact that the owners would not want to lose their guineas to predators, the elements, and they would want to be in control of their birds.
So if you need your guineas to come home to you every night to roosts, you would need to provide a coop for them.
Related: Here is an article I wrote on how to keep guinea fowls quiet
Raising Guineas
If you want to raise your guineas from when they are keets, you would need a starter feed or what we call a brooder box.
When you get young guineas, you need to protect them from the elements; you need to keep them safe and warm if you want them to grow into adult Guineas.
It would help if you did these for the first couple of weeks.
However, you do not need to get your Guineas from when they are keets; you could get adult Guineas!
Adult guineas might be hard to train, though, but it is not impossible. Their needs are usually less when they are adults as opposed to when they are keets.
The training of Guineas requires you to have a coop for them because this would be their home; this would be the foundation of their training.
Their coop would be where they would return to at night after roaming. Training guineas is substantially you teaching them that their coop is home.
Another benefit of providing a coop for them is that you would entice them to return home to the coop every night.
However, you would have to make the coop comfortable, with food and other things the Guineas might need.
Of course, guineas would prefer a comfortable Coop they are trained to see as home more than hard trees.
What kind of coop do guineas need?
The type of coop your Guinness would need depends on their stage of growth.
Generally, though guineas require a tall Coop, Do not get them a regular chicken coop.
From our experience, the larger the coop, the better the guineas are in them; this is because guineas like to stay high; if your coop restricts them from this, then they would find a better place.
The coop should have eaves that the guineas can roost on. You need to provide a lot of space for them to perch; we advise that you provide at least 2 feet for one bird.
As much as possible, try to make the perches out of wood.
No matter how great the coop is, if you do not train your guineas to think about it as home, they will go wandering and not return.
Also check out this article I wrote on do guinea fowls eat watermelon
Do guinea fowls need shelter?
You might be asking since Guinea fowls do not need a coop if it is necessary for you to provide shelter for them.
If you raise your Guinea fowl in a residential area or places with high and extremely low temperatures, your Guinea fowls would need shelter.
If you can train your Guinea fowls to live in a shelter, they will live longer than if they did not have shelter.
Furthermore, if you provide shelter for your Guinea fowls, you would shield them from predators.
We know that Guinea fowls cannot see in the dark; this makes it imperative for you to get them shelter, especially at night time.
Just imagine your Guinea fowls unable to see at night and stalked by predators; this would cost you great loss.
If where you live is prone to low temperatures or freezing temperatures, it is easy for your Guinea fowls to get frostbite; this could lead to death.
We advise that as an owner of Guinea fowls, you treat them as you would your dogs or cats or other farm animals. Provide shelter for them.
You don’t need to provide a complicated structure for your Guinea fowls; something simple would do; what you need is to shelter them from predators, extreme temperatures, and the elements.
Will guinea hens stay in the yard?
Yes, Guineas would stay in the yard, they do like to roam, but if you have a fenced and big yard, they likely will stay in the yard.
They can roam in the yard till late at night and come into the coop quite late.
Considering that guineas fly higher than chickens, they can fly over your fence if they desire to, but still, Guineas stay in the yard.
Can you keep guinea fowl in a residential area?
This depends on a number of factors. You can keep Guinea fowls in a residential area, but it would depend on the laws of your state or county, so you would have to check your local zoning laws to know if you can keep them in your residential area.
If you live in an urban area, we advise you not to keep Guinea fowls until you have checked the appropriate zoning laws and checked with your neighbors.
Guinea fowls can be very noisy, so you understand why this is necessary.
Are Guinea fowls noisy?
Yes, Guinea fowls are noisy; they are about the noisiest birds that we keep.
They get alarmed easily, you can always catch them talking, and they talk loudly.
They are very loud birds, we cannot stress this enough, and Guineas are loud and noisy.
If you are not ready to deal with this, do not get guineas, and if you already have Guineas, you can dispose of them or embrace the noise.
This makes them good as a kind of alarm, but who wants to be alarmed at every time, every noise, every disturbance, a car passing by, a plane flying over, you shutting your door…et cetera.
How far will a guinea fowl roam from the coop?
Guinea fowls roam very far; they are often referred to as free-range birds; this is not an over-exaggeration because Guinea fowls take it to the farthest point.
If you don’t train them well, they will roam off and never return.
If you don’t train them to see their coop as home, they most definitely will roam and not return.
Even when you train them to see their coop as a home, they will sometimes roam, stay out late, and find it very hard to return home to the coop.
You might think the solution is fencing your property, but Guinea fowls jump and fly really high, so no matter how high your fence is, they can fly over it.
The best solution is to train them very well to see the coop as home, and since they are social birds, do not release all of them at once until you are sure they know the coop as home.
Conclusion
We hope that by going through this article, all the questions you have about guineas needing a Coop or not has been answered.
