Right now your guinea fowl are running around free ranging, enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures of summer. The last thing on your mind is how to keep your guinea fowl alive and warm this winter. You spend countless hours feeding your guinea fowl year-round, making sure they are safe from predators, so why not spend the time making sure their coop is ready for winter. Here are some tips to help you prepare the guinea fowl coop, as well as your birds, for several months of winter weather.
#1 Patch up any small holes leading from the inside of the coop to the outside. Use a can of Great Stuff to plug them up. If you don’t have spray-in type insulation, cut a piece of plywood a little larger than the size of the hole, then screw it into place so that it covers the hole. Finish with some silicone sealant. Guinea fowl need fresh air all the time, but they do not need a breeze or wind passing through their coop during winter time. Cold winds are not good for guinea fowl. During nice winter days when the sun is shining, open up a window or a door to the coop and let some extra fresh air in. Otherwise, keep the coop as closed up as you can. Leaving one window cracked open is perfect. This will allow some air to pass in and out 24 hours a day.
#2 Buy a heat lamp and install it. You’ll want to buy a 250 watt red heat lamp bulb and a properly rated, ceramic base lamp shade with a bulb guard. The red heat lamp bulb will cost you about $9. You can buy shatterproof red heat lamp bulbs for about $15 each. If you can spend the extra money, the shatterproof red heat bulb would be perfect for the coop area. Be prepared to go out everyday and turn the lamp on or off according to your weather forecast. You can also put the heat lamp on a timer, a real time saver for you. Make sure you install your heat lamp high above a roosting area. You want your guineas to have a choice of going under the heat lamp, or being able to get away from it, depending on what they require at the time. The bulb should be about three feet from the tops of your birds’ heads after it is properly installed.
#3 Buy some game bird feed with a high protein content. A commercial mix that contains 20% to 24% protein is great for feeding to your guinea fowl during winter. High protein feeds will give them the extra body fuel they need to keep warm. If your guinea fowl are not free-ranging during the winter, then they will need extra food to make up for what they usually get while foraging. So make sure you keep plenty of feed on hand for them.
#4 Buy a second poultry waterer. One is not enough during the winter months. Unless you have the time to thaw out your waterer every single morning, afternoon and evening, you’ll want to buy a second one to engage during the freezing winter weather. I have had great success with some of the high impact plastic waterers, rather than the metal ones. They seem to be easier to deal with during sub-zero temperatures and do not warp and bend out of shape when they freeze.
#5 Purchase some wild bird seed. Not only will your guinea fowl sing their happy song while devouring every single seed, they will also receive many other benefits when you give them a large serving of bird seed. Free ranging Guinea fowl will find endless amounts of seeds on their own. But during winter, when you have your guinea fowl confined to their coop yard, a supplement of bird seed is a wonderful and nutritious treat. Pour it on the ground in the coop yard and let them scratch for it.
#6 Make some homemade high protein, high fat snacks. I keep scraps of old bread in a bowl in the kitchen. When I get enough together, I turn them into high protein snacks for the guinea fowl. It’s real easy. Just take a piece of stale bread and slather some plain peanut butter on top – use plenty of peanut butter. Now pour some bird seed into a large plastic bowl. Turn the slice of bread over and dip it into the seed so that the seeds stick to the peanut butter. There ya go! Instant winter treats for your guinea fowl! Put them out in the coop area, up on a shelf or right inside their feeder. Put these high protein and fat snacks anyplace you see your guinea fowl hanging out. After they get over being afraid of them, they will not hesitate to eat every last crumb.
With a little time spent planning, along with some elbow grease, you can get your coop ready for winter in no time at all. Guinea fowl are wild game birds that come from Africa. As you know, Africa doesn’t see a lot of snow and ice, so you might find that guinea fowl are not as easy to keep in the colder climates of the US. But if you do keep guinea fowl in a cold winter climate, give them some extra help by heating their coop and feeding them higher protein and higher fat foods. No matter what, keep your spirits up, spring will soon be hear and your flock will be back out free ranging and earning their keep by keeping your yard clear of insects.
