Anyone have Guinea Fowl?

hunterridgefarm · Mar 7, 2007

My wife read an article in my Hobby Farms Mag about Guinea Fowl. They are those ugly birds that look like a cross between a buzzard and a pheasant

.

From what I have read;
They supposedly are great for eating ticks in your yard and bugs and small weeds in your flower and vegetable garden. They are also know to alert you to snakes (Eddie Walker) and even kill small snakes.

They make great watch dogs alerting you to any animal or person they are not use to seeing. They have a call that will definantly get your attention and scare the bageebees out of you at night if your walk up on them.

I have read it is best to buy them when they are chicks and raise them. That way they will stay close to home. If you buy adult birds once you turn them loose you may never see them again.

Since we are going to try and stay organic as we build the farm we thought these birds may help because they won't eat the veggies just the bugs. I also have a terrible time with crows in the bottom field and hope the guinea would help keep them away.

Any one have Guinea fowl or experience with them?

Gardening With Guineas - by Jeannette S. Ferguson

Thanks
David

DieselPower · Mar 7, 2007

Had some Guinea pigs when I was a kid. Does that count?

On a more serious note. It sounds interesting and I'm curious to hear if anyone else has had them. I might just have to get a couple.

JESSE1 · Mar 7, 2007

My grandparents had some years ago. They were half-wild but would usually stay close to the chickens. Make a lot of noise when startled (good watchdogs). All dark meat and good to eat but hard to catch. Granddad usually had to shoot one in the head with a 22 whenever they wanted one to eat. Eggs are good but they would make a nest in tall grass or brush so finding a nest wasn't easy. They were good for eating grasshoppers and other bugs but were east prey for owls or coyotes because they roosted outside the henhouse.

DieselPower · Mar 7, 2007

I'm curious, how do they do in cold weather or are they a hot climate only bird?

mjarrels · Mar 7, 2007

Years ago, all the old farmers around here had some running around and usually a few peacocks too.

mark

techman · Mar 7, 2007

I don't have any, but a buddy at work tried them for his tick problem. He invested in building a coop, since they like to go into one at night. The overall results were no so good. As the birds matured over the spring and summer, several were killed by local game, a few others took off and were never seen again. The ones that remained would make a racket every morning, some of them roosting on the roof of the house. Other times when the wife was in the kitchen cooking, they would all hang around under the vent exhaust (good smells) and be very vocal.

As the summer wore on, the tick problem did not seem to get any better, and the guinea population continued to dwindle for the stated reasons. By the time fall was in full swing, the last bird disappeared.

The end result was a sizable investment for the dozen birds, feed, and coop. No real improvement in the bug problem.

This is only one example. There have been others who have had more success, but it is not a guarantee.

paul

EddieWalker · Mar 7, 2007

I was thinking about getting them for similar reasons, but decided against it. The more I searched, the more I found that they were not what I was hoping for. The noise they make seems to be a universal problem with those who have them.

If they really took care of snakes, I'd buy a couple dozen of them, but there's no valid evidence that they accomplish anything.

Pea fowl were also something I wanted, but then I was over a guys place who had a few of them. Realy pretty to see, but to hear them screech will just about scare the hair off the back of your neck. YIKES. Then to top it off, he showed me what they did to his vahicles. Every one of them were scratched up realy bad. Seems they love to perch on top of a care as well as walk around on them.

Ducks seem to be the best bet for me so far. Lots of benifits to them with different breeds for different needs. My Rouens have cleaned up my pond of spiders and just about every other type of bug!!! Very nice animals.

Eddie

hunterridgefarm · Mar 7, 2007

techman said:
I don't have any, but a buddy at work tried them for his tick problem. He invested in building a coop, since they like to go into one at night. The overall results were no so good. As the birds matured over the spring and summer, several were killed by local game, a few others took off and were never seen again. The ones that remained would make a racket every morning, some of them roosting on the roof of the house. Other times when the wife was in the kitchen cooking, they would all hang around under the vent exhaust (good smells) and be very vocal.

As the summer wore on, the tick problem did not seem to get any better, and the guinea population continued to dwindle for the stated reasons. By the time fall was in full swing, the last bird disappeared.

The end result was a sizable investment for the dozen birds, feed, and coop. No real improvement in the bug problem.

This is only one example. There have been others who have had more success, but it is not a guarantee.

paul

Do you know if he bought chicks or were they several months old when he bought them?

I read the greatest threat was at night as far a prey. But if you raised them in a coup they would always come back to the coup at night.

hunterridgefarm · Mar 7, 2007

EddieWalker said:
I was thinking about getting them for similar reasons, but decided against it. The more I searched, the more I found that they were not what I was hoping for. The noise they make seems to be a universal problem with those who have them.

If they really took care of snakes, I'd buy a couple dozen of them, but there's no valid evidence that they accomplish anything.

Pea fowl were also something I wanted, but then I was over a guys place who had a few of them. Realy pretty to see, but to hear them screech will just about scare the hair off the back of your neck. YIKES. Then to top it off, he showed me what they did to his vahicles. Every one of them were scratched up realy bad. Seems they love to perch on top of a care as well as walk around on them.

Ducks seem to be the best bet for me so far. Lots of benifits to them with different breeds for different needs. My Rouens have cleaned up my pond of spiders and just about every other type of bug!!! Very nice animals.

Eddie

Eddie,

I hadn't thought about ducks. My entire bottom is river frontage (small river) but I don't think the ducks would stay around unless they had a pond type enviroment...?

I do have a nice flowing creek/stream at the upper end of my field that empties into the river. I could make a small pond for the ducks but could not add this to my "list of things to do" for a couple years.

EddieWalker · Mar 7, 2007

The ducks I'm refering to are meat ducks. My Rouens were a few months old when I bought them and they didn't know what a pond was. I had to force them into the water, and even then, they got right out again. It took them a few days to get used to swimming and to stay in the pond. hahaha

If you do a search on meat ducks, or flightless ducks, you'll find all sorts to chose from. How much you want to put into it is up to you, but they are a gardners best friend. They love snails, spiders and maggots.

Benjamin Franklin said the there is no such thing as a fly problem, it's just not having enough ducks. hahahaha

Mine cost $7.50 each as full grown juvinals. They are adults now, and have become soemthing we'd never live without. You can buy them mail order for allot less, but they you have to raise them and deal with all that. For the extra money, we got just what we wanted.

Eddie