Once we ’d gotten the staple of our sept farm shew — you know , a couple of cow , some piglets , a coopful of laying hens and some meat birds — my wife and I looked around Goldfinch Farm and asked ourselves a grave inquiry : “ What now ? ”
At first , we cogitate we might want some sheep . But the hideaway of coyote we heard wailing every Nox from just across the unmarried - lane road , in the Wood of our weekend warrior neighbor , put us off that idea . ( A helpful county federal agent seconded this , saying , “ You ’d somewhat much just be give the coyotes up here . ” )
Then , we became pretty set on getting goats . But another neighbor promote a bunch of the ruminant , and we decide we just did n’t need to hear to more incessant bleating than we already did .
Then , one twenty-four hours it hit us : guineas !
On this farm , it ’s all about the orchard and pot of pheasants .
Odd Birds
A scrap of madness drives a decision to raise Guinea .
They ’re some strange - looking birds if you ’re habitual to the conventional good look of chickens , and they can be spooky to the full stop of offense . Plus , they are prone to raising a serious tumult .
However , we had some sense behind our madness .
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For starter , our first year at Goldfinch Farm had been disquietingly “ check mark - y , ” and wehad pulledblood - suck ectoparasitesfrom our flesh by the handfuls . ( Somewhat like thispast summer , if you were paying aid to the arachnid universe in June and July . )
Heading into our second summertime , we decided to be proactive and append a flock of guineas , known for their rapacious appetency for the little bugs , to the large flock of free - ranging level hens ( and a few rooster ) that roamed our 12 Acre .
Second , we ’d project a giant garden behind the farmhouse and were looking to keep leaf- and vegetable - chewing bugs off our plants without suffering the peck - scrape that chickens will visit upon sunshine - ripened Beefsteaks . We ’d heard guinea fowl fowl love to roam between crop rows , picking outrage cucumber mallet and cabbage white caterpillars from immature leaves , all while keep grow food intact .
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Third , they ’re fiercely territorial and can protect a yard from trespassers , and , fourth , guinea fowl provide tasty , lean and protein - heavy nub ( eggs , too)—not that we ever have the chance to harvest any of these potential benefits.mivod/Shutterstock
Mistakes Were Made
Everything pass okay at first . ( We knew how to conjure chicks from our dangerous undertaking in crybaby ) .
Our 25 birds received the correct provender , and we watched them grow from fuzzy brown skirt ( technically termed “ keets ” ) to large and gangly creatures . In time , they be active to a dedicated pen built on an exterior rampart of the cattle barn . The birds increased in sizing while producing a chorus of honks all day long .
Then , one daytime , we decided to let them out .
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Here ’s the matter : You ca n’t just let guineas out of their pen like you would chickens . We did this totally wrong .
The grouping of birds rush out of the coop and into the pasture . They pecked around in the grass , ingurgitate themselves on bugs .
It was a wonderful sight that lasted about five instant — at which point the heap tear toward the woods that edge our farm , dove into the underbrush and evaporate beneath the trees . We learn their regorge communications for an time of day or so , each vocalize slightly quieter than the late one .
Then , they were gone . “They’ll be back tonight , ” one of us said unsurely .
Gone Guineas
They did not amount back . Well , four of them did , whichwe counted a minor triumph . But this quatern of ginzo hens was n’t fated for our farm , either .
Not a single one of them re - move into their hencoop ( or permit us to get them to takethem back ) . One did rest with the chickens that first nighttime ( not ideal , but we admit it ) , while the other three perchedatop the garden fence .
The next morning , two sat on the fencing . The next night , all remaining three perched on the garden fence . Again , two were there in the dawn . And so on , until our farm was formally ginzo - less .
That ’s whatnotto do with guinea , should you want to actually have some on your farm . Here , gather from information source I should have confer much earlier , are the things youshoulddo .
An Unusual Bird
First , what precisely is a Republic of Guinea ? Despite sometimes being called guinea chickens ( also wop hen and ginzo bird ) , these birds are scarcely the same creature . With their partridge - like body and denudate heads , they more resemble turkeys . But they are n’t them either .
They ’re just guineas , and with an ancient lineage traceable to Africa , that ’s what they ’ve been for a long clock time .
There are technically four kinds of guineas ( including an eery , vulture - looking stock ) , but the most popular for tameness is the helmeted guinea , which has grim leg , a black-market - and - whitened - stippled eubstance , and a white , unfeathered read/write head with bright - cerise wattles .
The birds were brought to other country finally , including Egypt , where they were highly prized . In recent years , Guinea have grown in popularity in the U.S. and U.K. for the benefit they bring to farms , honcho among them their appetite for bugs ( tick in finical ) .
They ’ll assault and dog away any intruder , including stray pawl and man ( the latter of which can , admittedly , become baffling ) . And the only things they want out of gardens are the bugs .
They ’re also very fast ( way too quick to get ) , can soar dandy distances and go wherever they please — including the chicken coop , neighboring properties and the Wood . And they have to be trained , which is the part my kinsfolk and I conk out to do , like , at all .
Raising Guineas
you’re able to dictate ginzo keets from many of the same hatchery that send out poulet chicks , and they get in the same way : in a box , early on at the post office for you to pick up .
The chicks go into a 95 - grade brooder , and you ’ll strike down the temperature five degree every three twenty-four hour period or so . If you ’ve raised Gallus gallus from chick , you ’ll know the signs of discomfort — bunch under the lamp if it ’s too cold , avoiding the lamp and laying down if it ’s too hot .
guinea are game skirt , though , and take much more protein than babe chick . So start them out on a 28 percent secret plan - dame / turkey ration ( they prefer crumbles ) , which is alter to an 18 percent provender when they ’re grown .
Avoid giving them inhuman water — anything cool than lukewarm can cause a life - jeopardise pall — and keep their bedding clean and juiceless . you may move them to a pen once they ’re to the full feathered , but do n’t let them out yet . They require to stay in there for two to four workweek . Snowboy / Shutterstock
Training Time
As cite to begin with , if you want to keep your guinea fowl , you have to train them . They might be a cultivate breed , but there ’s a quite a little of natural state remaining in these bird .
Left to their own gadget , they ’ll take to the Wood , roost in tree and , in time , get picked off by owls overnight . address them from an early age can assist with their eventual restiveness , but it wo n’t hold on it . Guineas are just kind of … crazy .
It should be noted that what we did — keep the birds lock away up for weeks , then letting them out during the recent afternoon — is the commonly dictate method for grooming guinea .
It ’s also rough-cut for groups to take off into the woods and never come back like ours did . So maybe it ’s clock time to stop recommending this method for training Republic of Guinea .
To decently educate greaseball to return to their coop after a farseeing sidereal day of eating tick , chasing postal workers and cleaning up the garden , you have to start by thinking like a guinea .
Guineas are , for lack of a beneficial term , pack animals . Like Gallus gallus , it ’s rare for one of them to take off and research on their own .
( I mean , we all lie with that uncanny biddy who hangs out by herself in the woodshed . You could have a guinea like that . But that ’s an exception , not the rule . )
The Right Way
So , rather than lease them all out at once to potentially get by the farm as a group , just let one out : Wrangle a greaseball , take it outside ( being deliberate to not let others lam ) and lease it explore the farm .
This lone guinea wo n’t go far on its own ( it might even hang out mighty beside the coop ) , but that ’s OK . This is about introducing your wench to the experience of being free of the coop .
When eve comes and the chickens head home to roost ( assuming you also have chickens ; if not , this is around gloaming ) , put the solo guinea back into the hencoop . The next twenty-four hour period , let a different one out .
Keep these one - bird military expedition up until each of the guineas has experienced a day outside of the hencoop and returned to roost for the night , at which item you ’re ready to let the grouping out for a later - afternoon adventure .
They should return home to rest at nighttime ; again , these birds are nowhere nearly as domesticated as chickens , so one or some may adjudicate to take to a tree when night descend .
But you did what you could .
French Guinea are a foreign but pretty cool and by all odds good gain to any farmstead . Yes , it takes a bit of work to civilise them , and you ’ll need to correct to their incessant noise - fashioning . But , in the end , they ’re fascinating creatures to have around — specially when summertime turns tick - y.
Sidebar:A Guinea Symphony
Guineas make noises that are discrete from the sounds their upstage avian congener and coarse barnyard occupier , the volaille , are prone to make . There ’s no “ cock - a - doodle - do ” or even guttural murmuring to these birds .
Once you bring guineas to you farm , you ’ll hear a constant chatter as they move in a group across the yard . These speech sound are determined by their gender .
female : Guinea hens make a two - syllable auditory sensation that masses compare to the words “ buckwheat ” or “ come back . ” To me it sounds like a rusty door swing back and forth . But the full stop is , it ’s a two - part strait .
male : Roosters can only make a one - syllable sound , which the hens are also capable of . It ’s a “ kik - kik - kik ” auditory sensation , and they will do it pretty much nonstop .
guinea are loud birds . There ’s just no getting around that .
If you care see animals reach incessant interference on a lazy summer day or think you could get used to it , Numida meleagris could be for you . If you like a quiet , bucolic farm that quivers under the influence of a gentle breeze … well , I hear quail are nice .
