Feeding
Guineas are fed in much the same way as chickens, but they require less feed, as they are natural rangers and can be trusted to find enough seeds of weeds and grasses, buds, insects, and green vegetation in the fields to supply much of their living. For the first 36 hours after hatching no feed is required, as the sustenance from the egg is sufficient to nourish them for this period. The first meal may consist of a little hard-boiled egg mixed with bread crumbs, or bread may be soaked in milk, squeezed partly dry, and fed in small bits. Clabbered milk also is very good. Three times a day is as often as they need to be fed, one feed consisting of clabbered milk or the bread and egg or bread and milk mixture, and the other two of chick feed. If the coop is placed in a field or pasture where green feed is available, the guinea chicks can secure this for themselves; otherwise, sprouted oats, dandelion leaves, lettuce, or onion tops cut fine should be furnished. Water, grit, and fine oyster shell should be before them always.
By the end of the first week the young guineas will be finding enough worms and insects to take the place of the egg or milk feed, so this may be eliminated and chick feed given morning and night. If clabbered milk is available, however, it can be continued with excellent success, since guineas are very fond of variety in their ration and it is conductive to quick growth. As the birds grow older, whole wheat, oats, and cracked corn can be substituted gradually for the chick feed.