guinea perched in tree
The locals kept touting the virtues of guineas as pest control and watch dogs. Guineas are supposed to require even less maintenance than chickens, being closer to wild than most breeds of domestic chicken. After searching the internet for information, the only book that seems to be out there is “Gardening with Guineas” by Jeanette S. Fergusson. The book is written by an obvious enthusiast and a little on the touchy-feely side for me, but you have to start somewhere. Providing a little background, the book had a good deal of practical information and would be suitable for younger people to read. Ferguson has a style that doesn’t get buried in complicated or technical information – it is more of a “how-to” book with anecdotes and plain language. While she doesn’t necessarily shy away from disease names, etc, she doesn’t dwell on technicalities. By the time I finished reading it I had visions of roving bands of guineas patrolling the property and consuming our healthy tick population. The operator of a local feed store gave me the name of a fellow nearby that hatched guineas. This fellow had month old keets that were ready to go outside. He didn’t spend a lot of time handling the guineas so they were pretty wild. We chased down and caught nine of them, for which I paid $3 apiece.
The crate I transported them in was pretty crude, but large enough for the new livestock. My wife helped me get the crate into the chicken house, in an area built for confining birds. The room opened into the covered pen and restricted the birds to that single room and the pen. The guineas were left confined to the room for a week before being allowed into the covered pen. After a month, the guineas were allowed access outside the pen. They were still too wild to be handled, difficult to catch, but considered the house and pen as safe territory and would return there when startled or chased. I got in the habit of giving them scratch grains in the evening, and this has proved useful for calling them back to the pen. To this day all the guineas will return when called, expecting scratch grains. The keets were started on medicated game bird feed. Eventually they were switched to chicken layer pellet, minimizing hassles with feeding a variety of birds. Since that time I have read testimonies from people that have raised guineas from egg to old age strictly on chicken feed with no problems, though most literature recommends game bird or turkey feed because of the higher protein content.
The arrival of the chickens moved the guineas from the restricted room to the central room of the chicken house, giving access to the open-top pen. The fencing on the open pen had old branches tied to the top of the fencing, serving as a roost and allowing the guineas a perch when entering or exiting the pen. I had hopes that the guineas would be smart enough and have a strong enough sense of self-preservation to use their ability to fly to stay out of the way of our two dogs. This turned out to be wishful thinking. The dogs, of course, were fascinated by these new creatures and waited for their opportunity.
It happened one Sunday, late in the morning. I was napping on the couch when my wife told me I had better get out there. The dogs had run riot through the guineas – there were feathers all over the ground and they were playing catch with a guinea in the creek. We chased the dogs off and tried to take inventory of the guineas. Some were high up in trees, honking about the recent disaster. Some were hiding out. The wet guinea from the creek wanted nothing to do with us and fled the area. The dogs were scolded and brought inside. It took a few hours, but the guineas returned to the chicken house. By the time the evening’s scratch was being thrown out, all guineas had returned. The incident repeated itself a few times, and each time we scolded the dogs. I was able to pick up enough guinea feathers from the ground to make something that looks like a fishing lure. The contraption worked well for disciplining the dogs. It took some time, but the training eventually worked. We were concerned about the dogs getting out and playing such games with neighbor’s poultry – a situation that often results in the dogs being shot. The breeder had a number of dogs on his property. Only one was tied up. He told me it was a youngster – less than a year old – that chased the guineas. He had good luck with keeping them tied up until they were old enough to leave the guineas alone.
In March of 2007 we found our first guinea egg. They are smaller than chicken eggs and have an incredibly hard shell. According to Ferguson, guineas prefer to find a secluded place in the brush to lay their eggs. Myth number one busted. The egg was lying out in the open, on a sawdust pile next to the compost bins. We continued to find guinea eggs left willy-nilly around the place, often on the floor of the chicken house or in the chicken nesting boxes, so we built nesting boxes for the guineas. It took a few tries to get the boxes right, and the addition of a “modesty panel”, but all of the guineas are laying in the house at this time. With the exception of one rebel that tried to raise a brood under a fallen tree in the yard, we collect all the guinea eggs from the chicken house.
Around the beginning of June, 2007, a guinea hen has hatched a brood of 10. Our intention was to let her raise them, but the chicken house is not keet friendly. We had recently moved the orpington roosters from the hen side to the guinea side, so those roosters were bunking with the guineas. The roosters (two of them) are hating life and have grown mean and spiteful. I would not trust them around something as small as a keet, even though the guineas run the place. Eventually we brought the keets indoors and put them in a brooder. The guinea hen mother was, understandably, upset by the whole affair and got extremely aggressive – the most aggressive I have ever seen a guinea. We have two more guinea hens that have gone broody, and must do a better job at keeping up with the eggs. When collecting guinea eggs, you don’t want to clear out the nest or they will look for other places to lay their eggs. We have had a lot of luck with plastic golf balls – the guineas will take this as a sign of a good location and usually lay there. We had a problem with them knocking the balls and eggs out of the nesting box, but remedied the situation by putting a higher lip on the front of the nesting box. A broody hen is not to be underestimated. In the last week or two before the hatch, she will get very defensive of the nest. After the hatch she will get aggressive about protecting the brood. I don’t know that a guinea hen could cause much injury to an adult, but I never gave them the chance. In particular, you would want to watch children closely around a broody hen.
You’re supposed to be able to determine male from female by the size of wattles and other facial features. If a male and female are side by side, you can. Individually, the easiest way is to listen to their call. The males have a one syllable call; the females have a two syllable call. The males tend to be larger also, but, again, the difference is so small that it’s only useful with a pair side by side. I have read accounts claiming that the guineas are monogamous, and that seems to be true. With nine birds, we have one odd man out that seems to get chased off a lot and seems to be more solitary in his behavior than the rest of the birds. This year we experienced a dogwood winter. The guineas had started laying with the return of warm weather, but egg production shut down completely because of consecutive nights of freezing temperatures.
A few other myths about guineas that deserve to be addressed: 1) They do not scratch like chickens so should be given liberty of the garden. We have found this to be false. There is a provision that guineas should not be trusted around seedlings in the garden. I wouldn’t trust them at all in the garden. They can be extremely destructive to plants. 2) Guineas will kill snakes. I have found this to be false. We killed a snake one time, and I though I’d put this myth to the test. The guineas wanted no truck with me or the snake. A broody hen would dispatch a snake, but they do not seem inclined to deal with snakes, otherwise. 3) Guineas will eat all the bugs and return your yard to a pristine garden of eden. If they eat all the bugs, we have more bugs than they can handle. The dogs come in from the woods with ticks. I get eaten up by bugs when working outside. The guineas seem to have no shame about this matter. 4) Guinea droppings are insignificant and not a real problem. This is false. We have done a good job of keeping all livestock off the porch. I see guinea droppings all over the yard. While they are not as large as chicken droppings, it is still worth the investing on a good boot brush for wiping your feet when returning from the chicken yard. 5) Guineas will lay only in the brush, shunning the chicken house or other man-made places. This is false. We have found that a little accommodation will make the chicken house an appealing place for guineas to lay.
There are a few drawbacks: 1) They are noisy. Guineas will often yak it up until 9:30 in the evening. Later if something startles them. They do provide an alert if something changes – I know the dogs are coming in long before I can see them. Most predators do not like to have their presence announced. Still, as noises go, they are not that objectionable. 2) They are aggressive with chickens. I don’t think they could cause great injury or kill the other chickens, but the guineas run the yard. They even have the roosters stepping lightly around them.
Our plans are to slightly increase the number of guineas, in hopes they will help with pest control. We will also be dressing a few for the freezer. Guinea meat is supposed to be a delicacy in some circles. The meat is dark and much like game bird. I’ll have to get back to you on that one. The eggs are good, though smaller and it takes about three guinea eggs to make two hen eggs.
Regards,
Pat
