guinea hens do you have any tell me what you think

redman135 · May 13, 2016

They are a noisy bird when disturbed.
The taste is gamey (like pheasent) when cooked and they go well in a casarol. The eggs are good ,but as they wander alot chicken eggs are far more conveniant to get. You need to feed them to encourage them to nest in conveniant proximity.
Their feeding pattern is to fan out in a line and drive the insects in front of them as well as eating seeds. Crickets make for a stronger taste.(to strong for me)
They are strong fliers and roost high in trees. Ours would roost on fences, so we could catch some for the pot.

motownbrowne · May 13, 2016

Way too loud for me. We used to live with a couple that had a dozen or so. Every morning around 5-5:30, they'd go off like an alarm clock from ****.

Never again.

knukey · May 13, 2016

I had them.

Pros - fun to watch, eggs tasty (but good grief you need 5 to make a sandwich), I suppose they reduce ticks and such (hard to quantify).

Cons:They crap everywhere, pecked my screen, ruined the pipe insulation on the heat pump line set, noisy as ****, dumb, wandered up to 1/2 mile from the the house, foxes racoons and coyotes LOVE them.

EddieWalker · May 13, 2016

I have about 20 of them and enjoy them a lot. At first, we lost them to coyotes and racoons, along with at least one to a bird of some kind. We enjoy watching them and find the noise they make to be a fun part of living out in the country. We also enjoy hearing out chickens and geese, which are also noisy. We added a hot wire to the fence near the ground and that has stopped all of our losses to predators. Racoons climbing up the tree at night and getting them in their sleep every night was the worse. They come back to the barn every night when we feed, so they are always inside the fence when it's time to go to bed.

dmccarty · May 13, 2016

Two of my neighbors bought 75 of them and tried to split the flock. Since the birds were not contained, they walked back and forth between the houses. They would also roost under a porch which made a horrible mess and they make a quite a bit of noise.

I would guess the last Guinea hen disappeared about a year or so after the flock arrived. The coyotes, foxes, owls, and hawks ate mighty fine until the last one disappeared. The last few hens were mighty skittish and seemed to startle and run at the slightest noise or shadow.

:shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

I suppose the hens ate alot of bugs while they fed the predators but the bottom line is the Guinea are gone but the ticks are still here... :thumbdown:

Later,
Dan

crash325 · May 13, 2016

EddieWalker said:
I have about 20 of them and enjoy them a lot. At first, we lost them to coyotes and racoons, along with at least one to a bird of some kind. We enjoy watching them and find the noise they make to be a fun part of living out in the country. We also enjoy hearing out chickens and geese, which are also noisy. We added a hot wire to the fence near the ground and that has stopped all of our losses to predators. Racoons climbing up the tree at night and getting them in their sleep every night was the worse. They come back to the barn every night when we feed, so they are always inside the fence when it's time to go to bed.

Think I am going to try & find some young ones in this area. They can be sent by mail, but that is a pain, PO about 25 miles away.
Noise no problem. I must have around a 100 doves & they aren't called morning doves for nothing, noise all the time. Have about 50 quail that come to feed & bring their babies, fun to watch & listen to them talk, they never shut up. Will build a small chicken coop & maybe get a few chickens. Have no interest in eating chicken or Guinness. Chickens that get out to eat green plants during the day sure make good eggs.
Thank all of you for your posts & ideas.
Maybe more later.
Jim

Eddie How was your cruse?

Ford850 · May 13, 2016

Hi strung and noisy. More difficult to contain than chickens. They are closer to wild game birds than domestic poultry. Their meat is very lean so it can be dry. Great at bugging a yard. They can be entertaining, and everyone should own them at least once.

EddieWalker · May 13, 2016

One thing that we've learned is to keep them all in a pen for at least a week. Then we only let out one a week. When they are let out, they stay close to the pen and try to get back in with the others. Only after there is enough to form a group do they start to wonder around. They do not go very far. And they always come back every evening. I have a coop in the corner of my horse barn. My wife keeps her small chickens in there. Our big coop is close to our house and where we keep our layers. The guineas like to go from coop to coop.

lilranch2001 · May 13, 2016

my neighbor has 6, started out with a few dozen a couple years ago......

They wander the neighborhood, one neighbor complains about them, the rest of them enjoy their antics

They are a bit noisy, but as I understand it make great watch dogs

And they eat almost the whole time they wander.....

What they eat, not real sure, but they constantly peck

Gary Fowler · May 13, 2016

I have 7 guinea fowl (4 came over from next door and just stayed) and never have I found a tick on my dog. They are a bit noisy but I don't mind them, (wife hates the noise). I have never had one fly over our 4 foot fence unlike my Peacock that loves to go and come into my neighbors yard and into the road. I cant seem to keep him in but he always comes back (so far). The Peahen never roams, but they both like to just set around on something high up. My dog loves to chase after the Peacock and once he flew across our pond and lit on top of neighbor house about 200 yard away. The guinea fowl can fly like a quail when my dog gets after them. He used to chase them out of the yard to a ATV road that he thought was his boundary line. Once they got to that road, he would stop.
Guinea eggs taste just like chicken eggs but the shells are super hard. I can throw one as high in the air as I can and it wont break when it hits the ground unless it lands on a rock. Guinea hens will lay all over the roaming area, it seems they just stop and drop and egg anywhere they happen to be. They will lay in a nest sometimes and will make a nest in a thicket and just keep laying eggs in it. As soon as you find it/disturb it, they wont come back to it.