Anyone have Guinea Fowl?

[bg71361]

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.

Buy them as chicks, adult Guinea want to go back were the came from, even if they don't have a map. I made that mistake initially, i bought 6 penned them up for 3 weeks, finally let them out and the flew the coup! (pun intened) If you raise them as chicks, they will stick around, some roost in the coup some in trees, as far as the noise it takes some getting used to.
Bill

 

[fenneran]

We've had Guineas off and on for years...they are great birds. Yes, they reduce the tick population significantly. If you raise them from chicks, you have to be careful with them because they are dumb as bricks. We had one batch of chicks drown themselves in a water bowl. I guess that was partly the owner's fault since I didn't know how dumb they were. I think they must have followed each other in like lemmings.

But, they are great for a couple of reasons:
1. They eat bugs, especially ticks, like mad
2. They are good "guard birds" in that when something frightens them (which is not hard to do), they make a distinct racket.
3. They follow a pattern every day. You can almost set the clock by their migration around the yard.

The bad thing for us was the foxes. They got into them one season adn decimated my entire flock. We're going to get a bunch this spring and try them again as last year our ticks were terrible, but with the mild winter, I know they are going to be brutal this year.

We live in VA, in the Shenandoah Valley, and they survive just fine here.

 

[Dozernut]

We have had Guinea Fowl, we are going to get some chicks this spring and start a new flock. As everyone has said they are noisy, before I retired I was working swing shift and trying to sleep during the day. When a flock gets under your bedroom window you will not get a whole lot of sleep, had to get up and drive them away from the house. They are good watch dogs and do eat a lot of bugs and I have seen them surround a snake and worry it until it was dead or could escape. You can buy adults but you need to pen them for at least a couple of weeks to imprint home on them. You would be better off to start with chicks, they will stay home better and they usually are not related to one another. I have never seen them eat the veggies but the ducks and geese will sample them. Myself I would not get the Guineas but the wife is rather fowl minded and loves her birds. She indulges my hobbies and quirks so its quid pro quo. She was the 4-H poultry supervisor and judge at one time so any questions will have to be answered by her as I am just along for the ride. Good luck.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Ok, just how much noise do these things make? and is it all day long?


If it is of a night when I am trying to sleep, forget it. As it is now my wife snores, my son talks in his sleep, and the Jack Russel most of the time is chasing some wild animal in his sleep . I can't take anymore noise at night...woff-woof, snore-snore, mumble-mumble, growl-growl...and me wide awake!

 

[randy41]

we got guinea hatching eggs from Murray McMurray hatchery many years ago. out of a dozen eggs we hatched out 7 or 8. You raise them like chicks with the heat lamp, etc. After a couple of years they had multiplied into about 50. Very noisy and messy. they will perch anywhere. after a while some flew off and some got hit in the road. then many females got killed while nesting in the field when the hay was mowed. we are now down to 2 males. they do fine in the winter and they eat many bugs. if you can handle the noise they are great to have around.

 

[fenneran]

Hunterridge,

They might make a squawlk at night if something's afoot, but not normally. They will roost like any other bird and go to sleep. They walk around during the day and chuckle.

 

[shvl73]

We have three Guinieas, we had six . The neighbor lets his dogs run loose. The remaining three seem to be more wary of the dogs and have survived so far for three years. We have a coop for our birds and these go in at night with the chickens, geese and ducks. They were raised from chicks and I attribute the tick reduction, in some part, to these birds. We plan on getting some more this spring, if we can buy just a few. So far we've seen one place that orders them, with a minimum of fifteen, too many. I've gotten used to the noise, which is constant, during the day. They will roam some and are suseptable to predators. I can only tie in one of the deaths to the neighbors dogs, the others just went missing but, it seems likely that it was the same cause. We do have lots of wildlife so, I could be wrong. They do just fine in the cold but, I imagine having a coop helps.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've been told you need 30 birds to keep a perpetual flock because you lose a few here and there and hopefully gain a few here and there.

Not real hardy. The chicks seem to die if they miss one breath. Might be better if you get chicks a few weeks old or more. I was told to make a temporary chick house out of a refrigerator box with a drop lamp for warmth.

 

[shvl73]

We raised ours in the basement with a heatlamp, as we have done (and are doing) with our chickens. We haven't lost a chick yet. We then put them (when older) out in the coop, but in a wire cage, so the other birds would get used to them and there wouldn't be any fights. Mostly its the geese that are the problems. The Emdens are kind of mean. The other birds have their squabbles but, they don't amount to anything.

 

[archerynut]

Knew someone that had a pretty good flock and he loved them. Whenever I was there to visit they were noisy, but not intolerable. I guess you can get used to anything. Another buddy was absolutley wild about the eggs. He said they were a lot sweeter than chicken eggs.