Guineas ran away today!

[zazouse]

Guineas are very good eating

IMO
just like chicken you cook them according to their age, you can make gumbo ,stews and soups from older ones and the younger ones are great fried and,baked and barbecued.
My birds are free rtotaly free ranged so i don't have much into them becasuse i feed just enough to keep everyone comming back home.

 

[JLeigh]

Well why do people keep guineas then? I thought they were for meat!

They are for meat for some people. Lots of people eat them all over the world, and probably a whole bunch in the U.S. we haven't heard from.

I'm not averse to eating Guinea - I just don't want to know the guinea first. It's silly, I know. I hear guinea is delicious, and their eggs are fantastic. But it's nice that you're aware that you can sell older guineas fairly easily and make some of your money back. Choice is good. Same with chickens.

Most people (certainly not all) on this forum keep guineas for tick and insect control. For some of us, we start out with that very practical idea, then become hopelessly attached to the dumb critters. Then comes hatching....I won't even get started with that!

 

[zazouse]

We have 26 guineas who (mostly) free-range- there is a short fence that they have to fly over and some of them just haven't "gotten it" so they hang out in the yard all day. But 20 or so of them do get out to free-range. Normally they stay in the woods around our house and often we don't see them for hours at a time but it is because they're quiet in the woods. Today we saw them down near the bend in our driveway which is unusual. We were on our way out, and apparently they decided to walk the rest of the way down the driveway, into the road (a bit less than a quarter of a mile from our house), up the hill, and into our neighbors' yards! They'd been there for hours but no one knew they were ours! We found out this evening that they were out there, and I had to herd them back down the road, up the driveway, and into the bird barn just in time for bed.

Obviously this is not something I want to repeat! I know they headed that way around noon, so I will be watching them around that time for the next few days to make sure they don't try to keep the same schedule. Any other advice? It's not like we have a shortage of good green stuff or ticks in the areas that they walked past, lol!

Also, anyone know how long it would take for pesticides to clear their bodies? Our plan was to start butchering a few this week (I would prefer 10ish guineas over 26!) but the garden I found them in had obvious white powder on some of the plants and it creeps me out thinking about them eating the pesticides and then us eating them. They're going to be switched to organic feed in a week or so now that I have a source.

Thank you!

If memory serves me right the residues of pestdecides remain in the fat cells and unless that fat that is stored in is used by the bird it stays there.
This is what i was told at a very young age and it makes sense.
Honestly i don't give it a thought here, they are on my land pesdecide free and i can't stop what floats around in the air they breath, i just know that store bought in almost all cause is way worse than anything my could possibly eat in my pastures and woods

 

[Ally Rose]

How loud are they?

 

[junkinstuff]

Lets put it this way. My guineas are100 yards behind my house. Lat night at 1am I was in bed with the AC and TV on and they went nuts. I could here them over everything. Ran outside with flashlight and gun and there was nothing there. They are LOUD when in a group. Sound like a bunch of machine guns going off................

I also have no problem with people eating them for food. Most people not all in the US keep them as insect eaters and an early warning system. My dogs have learned to go running when they hear the keets.

 

[Ally Rose]

I looked up guinea sounds on youtube and they sound like someone trying to ride an old rusty bike. Very squeaky sounding.

 

[BlackberryAcres]

Well, it seems that they have decided that one "vacation" was enough and they've been sticking closer to home, lol. There is one hen who is first out of the coop each morning who tries to get everyone else to follow her (I'm guessing she was the leader that took them on their trip!) and they've been mostly ignoring her. They have been delving deeper into the woods in an area they hadn't gone before, but that is totally fine- I'd be happy if they ate the ticks there, too! They HAVE headed the same way they went when they went on their trip, and if we keep an eye on the, ten minutes or so later they run back towards the house VERY LOUDLY as if to say "We're still here! We didn't leave!" LOL.

As to the eating guinea- we decided this year that we would just do guineas and ducks, and eat the extra guineas, and then add chickens next year. Starting with two different types of birds seemed easier than three since we'd only had about 6 months of experience w/ 3 ducks before, nothing large scale. I have been told guinea fowl is a "high end" meat. When there are 26 of them, there is no chance that I will get attached to any of them because I can't tell them apart!

Thanks for the conversation.

 

[1876 Farm]

This is our 3rd try at raising Guineas.. Our 1st attempt was a disaster, we had no idea on what we were doing, we let them out of the coop at 6 weeks old and within a week they were across the field and no where to be found.

Our 2nd attempt, we kept them in the coop for 6 weeks (until they were 12 weeks old) before we let them out. They stayed around for around 18 months, but then left. 1 showed up at my neighbors farm about 6months later.. it couldn't wait to get into the chicken coop with the chickens.

This time, I'm going to try something new.. I will still keep them in the coop until they are 12 weeks old, but I'm also going to 1) keep half of them in the cooped up area until the other half automtacally go into the coop at night. (Heard if you keep half in the coop, the other half will always return to be with them), and 2) provide them with some wild bird seed 1-2x a day (heard they will get use to that and come looking for it each day.)

And for those that wonder what Guineas sound like? When they get excited, they make the same sound as a group of excited monkeys make when jumping around in trees.


- Enjoy your Guineas... (both as tick eating machines and for dinner, they are an excellent source of food and very yummy).

 

[toby1959]

http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/specialtymeat/guinea-fowl-specialty-meat.asp Looks like they are quite pricey as food. I wouldn't mind selling a few for ths price! I have eaten them for years, all dark meat with a long skinny breast. Got tired of buying 25 every year when the price went to $3 each. Have over 80 now and am selling all I can for $5 keets up to $10 adult. Going rate in Southern IL.

 

[crazyhen]

One thing ,not everyone will appreciate your guineas. I do not appreciate my neighbors 7 who roost in a tree next to my house. WOW!!!! are they ever noisey. He will not come and get them and I can't catch them. Please be sure you keep them on your property. They have eaten my strawberries, I saw them and now my blueberries. I am not a happy camper. If you get guineas ,they are good buggers ,don't inflict them on your neighbor. Gloria jean