I have not had the problems you guys have with your Guineas coexisting with chickens. They all live in perfect harmony here. And over the years we've had to buy new Guineas to replace the ones eaten by coyote, etc. and never any problems. I always buy adults also, never Guinea chicks. I too will suggest never making Guineas live in a coop. They just are not suited to a life of confinement plus, you're giving up the sole reason for having them in the first place: They eat massive quantities of bugs! We do shut our Guineas and chickens up once the snow flies and the temps are too cold for them. Our barn is not heated but we seldom lose a Guinea to freezing although it does happen on occassion. And if we happen to get a mild winter day where the temps will get above 40 degrees I will let them out for some exercise but they always come back in at night to roost in the barn in the cold weather. And as to sexing them...we've had Guineas for 15 years and if you ask me there is NO reliable means of telling the males from the females unless you happen to find a bird sitting on a nest of eggs, that is probably a female!

Orrin you only have six (now five) posts left in which to apologize for doubting my veracity. And how soon we forget Cynthia (Prescott, AZ). Is that anywhere near Tucson? That would explain a lot. H (kidding -O-, really)

After the breeding frenzy in late winter and early spring, the turkeys here disappear for a few months. The hens go off into the woods to lay eggs and don't reappear until June if they've successfully hatched a brood. If they lose the brood the hens may return earlier. I don't know where the toms go. I did see one lone tom most of this summer. Two years ago was a really bad year for poults - I think the predators got most of them. This year there was a cooperative event and six hens stayed together with about thirty poults in tow. This was a great traffic stopper on our small rural streets. There was a later, smaller brood too. June 19, 2014 Hens with small poults. July 31, 2014 Hens with growing poults. After they returned I saw turkeys all summer, mostly hens and the growing poults, but few toms. Now that it's getting colder the toms are back too. I suspect there's enough food in the woods during warm weather and turkeys can forage by themselves. The hens with poults to feed probably appreciate my buffet and fresh water (neighbors feed them too) and they may feel safer here than in the woods. In Massachusetts the wild turkey hunting season is Spring: Apr. 28 - May 24 and Fall: Oct. 20 - Nov. 1. Claire Edited to add a tree since this is the Trees Forum. Juniperus virginiana - Eastern Red Cedar shown with turkeys above. This post was edited by claire on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 11:01

I love your exterminator! I have 5 little guinea keets that are about 7 weeks old now. They are the plain pearl grey except two are pied colored (I think they will be either grey or royal purple pied-not sure yet). Right now, I have them in with some baby chickens the same age. Wow, those guineas are really hyper compared to the chickens lol. They RUN to get where they are going whereas the chickens just walk :) The guineas spaz out over every little thing and the chickens look at them like, 'Hey, What's your problem?' I plan to keep them penned but let them freerange part of the day when I can watch them so they can eat ticks (we have woods behind us) and all the other nasty bugs around here.