Guinea fowl for pest control?

[ChicksofHeaven]

Hello friends. We moved to an 18 acre hobby farm in the past year. I have three chickens (hens) for eggs.
We have noticed a few mice in the garage, and have been considering introducing a barn cat to manage that situation. However, in the summer we have tons of crickets ( I mean tons! ) and Asian beetles when nearby soybean fields are harvested. Not to mention box elder bugs.

The chickens will free range, (i got them last fall) and I suppose they should go after mice and insects too?

I’ve been reading up on Guinea fowl … my grandma had guineas when I was a kid… and saw that they go after ticks, crickets, Asian beetles, etc.
based on your experience do guineas really manage such pests? Would we be better off with a cat or a flock of guineas? Would the guineas interfere with my hens? I could start them in a separate roosting area.
We have great deer, turkey and pheasant populations on our property as well. I don’t know if wild turkeys go after insects, but I would imagine as birds, they must. If the turkeys aren’t managing the bugs, would guineas even help?

 

[Debbie292d]

I would definitely get a cat or two. Not sure where you are but we've gotten a barn cat for free (we gave a donation) from the Humane Society. It was already spayed and up to date on its vaccinations. We kept her in the house for two weeks as recommended so when let outside, she'd know this was her home and not run away. You could start with a kitten too though! Gosh knows they have plenty of those.

As for guineas, my understanding is they are more voracious about eating bugs than chickens are but not by a huge amount. They are very loud though. My neighbor has them and her Brahma rooster and hens killed a male guinea, but after that they all got along.

 

[R2elk]

Hello friends. We moved to an 18 acre hobby farm in the past year. I have three chickens (hens) for eggs.
We have noticed a few mice in the garage, and have been considering introducing a barn cat to manage that situation. However, in the summer we have tons of crickets ( I mean tons! ) and Asian beetles when nearby soybean fields are harvested. Not to mention box elder bugs.

The chickens will free range, (i got them last fall) and I suppose they should go after mice and insects too?

I’ve been reading up on Guinea fowl … my grandma had guineas when I was a kid… and saw that they go after ticks, crickets, Asian beetles, etc.
based on your experience do guineas really manage such pests? Would we be better off with a cat or a flock of guineas? Would the guineas interfere with my hens? I could start them in a separate roosting area.
We have great deer, turkey and pheasant populations on our property as well. I don’t know if wild turkeys go after insects, but I would imagine as birds, they must. If the turkeys aren’t managing the bugs, would guineas even help?

Read the thread Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA.

Guinea fowl are a flock bird and do best in large numbers. I never recommend having fewer than 10 guineas.

Getting a few guinea fowl will not produce the results that a flock of guinea will will do. If you raise the guineas with chickens they will imprint and lose the ability to understand that chickens are not guineas. They will treat the chickens the same way they will treat each other.

Guineas have entirely different instincts than any other fowl have. Their instinctual behaviors can cause other fowl extreme stress.

I brooded, raised and housed mu guineas separately from the other poultry. When free ranged in the same area as other poultry, they kept to themselves and left the other poultry alone.

 

[R2elk]

My neighbor has them and her Brahma rooster and hens killed a male guinea, but after that they all got along.

The normal situation is that it is the guineas that harass the other poultry. I suspect that your neighbor isn't telling you the whole story.

 

[Debbie292d]

The normal situation is that it is the guineas that harass the other poultry. I suspect that your neighbor isn't telling you the whole story.

She asked me to look for a male for her last summer at a poultry swap an hour from us. I asked why she wanted two. That's what she told me happened. I was actually shocked as she's got one of my tiny silkie roosters over there with them and they all get along.

 

[SamLockwood]

Hello friends. We moved to an 18 acre hobby farm in the past year. I have three chickens (hens) for eggs.
We have noticed a few mice in the garage, and have been considering introducing a barn cat to manage that situation. However, in the summer we have tons of crickets ( I mean tons! ) and Asian beetles when nearby soybean fields are harvested. Not to mention box elder bugs.

The chickens will free range, (i got them last fall) and I suppose they should go after mice and insects too?

I’ve been reading up on Guinea fowl … my grandma had guineas when I was a kid… and saw that they go after ticks, crickets, Asian beetles, etc.
based on your experience do guineas really manage such pests? Would we be better off with a cat or a flock of guineas? Would the guineas interfere with my hens? I could start them in a separate roosting area.
We have great deer, turkey and pheasant populations on our property as well. I don’t know if wild turkeys go after insects, but I would imagine as birds, they must. If the turkeys aren’t managing the bugs, would guineas even help?

I don't know that they're any more voracious at bug-eating, but they do tend to cover a lot more ground in a day. The down-side is that they'll readily wander off your property and into roads or somebody else's land, so you'll need to put up fencing unless you want to periodically have to refresh your flock if they wander into a yard with dogs in it, get run over, or just leave you for greener pastures.

They're semi-feral and extremely flock oriented. You can maybe get them to behave normally with three pairs of them, but 10 or more is better. Guineas are territorial and more aggressive than chickens, so if you have frequent visitors or nearby traffic get you're going to have to get used to some noise: mine tend to terrorize deer and wild turkeys on a regular basis. A couple times I've even caught them driving lone coyotes away from the fence-line that were snooping about.

How well they get along with your chickens depends on a LOT of variables. At a minimum the guineas need separate sleeping areas, lots of room to roam, and the chickens need to be the type of birds that tend to get out of their way when the flock of guineas shows up to dust bathe, roost, or whatever. If you have high-strung breeds of chickens things will get ugly quickly, usually during the first spring.

Guineas do tend to be more aggressive than chickens, especially if they have time to work themselves into a frenzy. Broody guinea hens are the meanest creatures you'll ever meet: my chickens will usually only growl or lightly peck me if mess with the nest when they're broody. Broody guineas try to strip your skin off while they hurl themselves at your screaming.

I think guineas do best with as close a 1:1 male to female ratio as you can manage. They prefer to mate monogamously (although this is not "for life" as some sources claim) and if you're too skewed one way or the other the mateless birds will get into dysfunctional behavior. Last year I had too many males and it led to two that would constantly chase each other. There wasn't even a clear aggressor: when one would give up the chase the "victim" would turn around and attack the "aggressor" to get the chase started over again.

 

[ChicksofHeaven]

Thank you everyone for your input!!!

 

[Gill-b]

Broody guinea hens are the meanest creatures you'll ever meet

I have a question please - are female Guinea Fowl territorial? And if yes, are they as territorially aggressive as the males?

 

[R2elk]

I have a question please - are female Guinea Fowl territorial? And if yes, are they as territorially aggressive as the males?

I don't think so. They will defend their nests to the death. They can also join the whole flock in attacks on other species. However to just claim a specific area such as males do, I don't believe so.

 

[SamLockwood]

I have a question please - are female Guinea Fowl territorial? And if yes, are they as territorially aggressive as the males?

As R2Elk said, the males are more about area control but the females will AGGRESSIVELY defend a nest. I had one that would SCREAM and lunge at me if she caught me with my hands in a nest. She even got really suspicious and would follow me around if I was anywhere near the coop and the minute I moved towards it for any reason she'd rush up the ramp and be waiting for me in the nesting box in time to greet me with her hissing, pecking, and that tinnitus-like whistle they make when they're agitated.

The odd thing is, when I've integrated new birds into my flock it's the females that tend to be more aggressive to the newcomers. This is even true with keets. I prefer to move chicks or keets to an outdoor brooder at 2 weeks old, which has a mini-run built into it that I can let them out into during the day to begin an extended version of "look, don't touch."

The male guineas tend to be mildly curious to indifferent, while the females are the ones that will spend 10 minutes at a stretch pecking at the wire trying to get at the chicks or keets inside. It's my gauge when it's relatively safe to start integrating them physically when the guinea hens stop trying to constantly murder the newcomers through the wire.