Heat For Guinea Fowl
Providing heat for Guinea fowl is not really a very difficult thing to do, assuming that you have electricity available in the area where you want to create the heat. Staying within the realm of reason, that is to say discounting the installation of central heat systems and boilers, you have a limited numbers of ways to provide heat for your Guinea fowl.
Before we delve into the limited options for providing safe heat for your Guinea fowl, let's look at an important question: do your Guinea fowl need heat provided for them?
The only color of helmeted Guinea fowl we've ever owned is pearl gray Guinea fowl. All the other colors of Guinea fowl came from this original color. I say this because the color of things affects their temperature. Some colors absorb heat, others reflect heat. So Guinea fowl of different colors, most particularly the lighter colors, may react differently to cold temperatures than our pearl gray Guinea fowl do. With that said…
When we started keeping Guinea fowl, if the outside temperature hit 32°F (freezing), we turned on the heat lamps in the coop. We did this for some time, not wanting our precious birds to freeze to death. Eventually, by observing the Guinea fowl we learned that they would go away from the heat sources in that scenario. So we started waiting longer and longer, allowing temperatures to drop more and more before turning on heat for the Guinea fowl. After a year of observing and keeping detailed notes, here's what we came to: we turn on one 150-watt heat lamp when the temperature hits -10°F and a second heat lamp if the temperature reaches -20°F. Our Guinea fowl love to be outside free ranging until the temperatures get to -10° to -15°F – even if there's snow on the ground.
Heat Sources For Guinea Fowl
Whether in the brooder or in the coop, incandescent lights or red heat lamps are almost surely your best bet for providing heat for your Guinea fowl. In a brooder, you can use a standard 60-100 watt incandescent light bulb elevated above the floor at a height which provides the optimum heat for your Guinea fowl keets, depending on their age. In the coop, heat lamps ranging from 100-watt to 250-watt will do the job nicely.
A shows what is probably the best way to place a red heat lamp to provide heat for your Guinea fowl. B since many fixtures don't allow for angling the heat lamp, this diagram shows another, very acceptable way to provide heat for your Guinea fowl. C shows an incandescent light in a simple shop fixture used to heat a brooder box. Raise or lower the light as needed to provide the keets with a comfortable environment. Never put the light within 14" of the bottom of the brooder box as the keets might jump up into it.
In the brooder, a simple reflector fixture with a 60-100 watt bulb, such as the one shown in the photograph at the previous link, is fine. If you keep the keets in the brooder longer than about 12 days, you may need to put a safety cover over the reflector to prevent the keets from flying into the hot bulb and breaking it.
Considerations For Heat Lamps In The Coop
•Make sure that the receptacle used can safely provide the power required by your heat lamps. Overloading a receptacle is a fire hazard.
•Place the lamp(s) where they will cause the least interference to the Guinea fowl.
•Make sure that the fixture (the enclosure for the heat bulbs themselves) you use is rated to handle heat lamps.
•Use red heat lamps, not clear ones.
•Make sure that your fixture is shaped to prevent the Guinea fowl from touching the heat lamp itself. This may require a wire cover. A shattering heat lamp is quite dangerous.
•Think green! Don't turn the heat lamps on if they're not necessary, and turn them off when they are no longer necessary.
Watch how your Guinea fowl react to the heat you provide for them. If the Guinea fowl move away from where the heat lamp is pointing, they don't need heat. If the Guinea fowl cluster in the center of where the heat lamp is pointing, they want the heat. Discover at what temperature your Guinea fowl need heat and then accommodate them.
Don't heat your coop with anything that can ignite dust such as electric space heaters, gas heaters, etc. The coop is a dusty place and places filled with dust can actually explode, not just catch fire and burn.
Make sure your Guinea fowl are comfortable in cold weather, and safe. Pick the right heat source and use it as needed.
If you haven't watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV.
Download a copy of our FREE book about Guinea fowl: Living With Guinea Fowl