Introduction

Hello BYC!

I have finally signed up for an account! I have been reading articles on and off again for months! I am raising guinea fowl, mainly for tick control. One reason we got guineas is how bad the ticks were in 2015. The second reason is I am battling chronic Lyme Disease and Co-Infections due to a tick bite I got as a small child. I was diagnosed for 10 years.... and I kept testing Negative for Lyme despite being very symptomatic.... When I was 18 had a serious injury which eventually led to my diagnosis and positive test for Lyme. False Negatives Exist and I am living proof! I would be willing to share some good info on Lyme Disease and I have made it my mission to spread as much awareness as possible! Check out http://www.ILADS.org for valuable info!

I don't have any chickens yet.... I keep prodding my Dad to allow me to get some baby chicks from our local tractor supply.

My guineas are going to be a year old mid May! I ended up with 10 boys and 5 hens out of the 15 we ordered. My Dad and I just recently moved 13 of our 15 guineas into apart of our barn a week ago. 2 hens are inside for feather rehab since the boys attacked them pretty bad on St. Patty's Day.... one was gushing blood. I used BYC info and other info I found on avian vet sites to administer first aid! I am happy to say that both hens are doing well (even laying eggs!) and will hopefully get their feathers back soon so I can move them into the barn. And just for sharing, so far in 2016 my 5 guinea hens have laid a total of 109 eggs!!!!

I will say this.... having more guinea cocks than guinea hens is not the best thing.... the boys are much more mean, rowdy and like to challenge one another constantly. Some are always being picked on which makes me feel sad. Sadly I don't think there is anything I can do about it.

Anyways that is a short introduction about me! I hope to learn a lot from this site!


Best Wishes to All,

Gwyn


Bonus Photos:


The Day we brought home our little keets from the Post Office! 16 tiny birds (sadly one passed away but that is expected to happen).


Cuteness


Itty bitty wings

What you need to do is sell or trade your extra guinea males for females.

I don't know of anyone near me who wants guineas. I read somewhere that it is hard to move guineas to new homes once they learn where home is. Plus I trained all my guineas since they were babies to come when called. I am definitely open to getting some more hens though! I hope to incubate some eggs at some point, but first I have to get an incubator and learn how that works.

drunmstick diva, do you know if you have to create a separate account to access the sister sites?

Hi Gwyn and welcome to BYC - thats a Welsh name if ever I've heard one . Many thanks for sharing your story.

The Learning Centre is a great resource for learning about incubation - https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Joining your state thread may be useful as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - just type the name of your state in the search box.

All the best
CT

Yes, my name is Welsh. My full name is Gwyneth but I usually go by Gwyn. Thank you for the tip! I did not know there are state threads! I will check out the incubation thread as well.