Question about French Guineas from JM Hatchery

[PrettyPoultry]

I am new to guineas and have ordered some French keets from JM Hatchery, due to arrive next week. What has been your experiences with the keets from JM? Also, are these the guineas that require AI to breed? Thanks for any information that you can share.

Roxanne

 

[fgdiii]

I was told by LM that as long as you kept them penned, they will breed but if you free range them, they will not. JM uses AI.

 

[PrettyPoultry]

I just received an e-mail back from the hatchery - they said " The guineas will mate naturally if free outside. In confinement they do not mate well enough to be profitable and efficient." I plan to start them in a pen outside when they are old enough the let the roam our 20 acers when mature, hopefully going back in the pen at night. We have a real problem with rattlesnakes in our area - we found 32 of them last year. Hoping these guys will scare them off.

I had read other post regarding the French guinea and needing AI -- so not sure if that's the same guineas I have or not. Looks like it's going to be a wait and see!

 

[flyingdragon]

I got 30 of them in November and raised 28. I found one dead about a month ago in the coop. Another died shotly thereafter. I noticed that when roosting with my chickens, there was a lot of pecking and jockeying for top tier perching rights. Many times the guineas would fly into the walls or windows or perches. I figured they probably had been injured in some way and didn't recover. A few of them also developed limps but got over them without any attention from me. One thing I have to say about frenchies is that they imprint on their roosting area (or least mine have). They are let out to range everyday since they were 8 weeks old. I had to chase them out of the run and lock them out or they would stay on their roosts and eat all day. To this day, they seldom wander more than 50 yards from the run. I've heard from older relatives that they are still quite immature and as they get older and more confident they willrange farther. Yesterday I processed 12 of them by myself ( and without a mechanical plucker and alone). It was quite an afternoon. I was also pleased with the dressed weights of 3 - 4 lbs. (and nice yellow skin and fat). And this was on winter feed. I don't know much about feed to weight ratios but I would think that birds raised during warmer weather would gain faster. Nonetheless, I am pleased with my results. And they are meaty. But I have to add that I am generous with rations. And although they would not take a speck of anything other than their gamebird ration for the first 12 weeks they came to appreciate a mix of scratch grains and premium bird seed. It's even gotten to the point to when they are out and see me from a distance they start running and sometimes flying in to greet me (or the scratch). I haven't lost any to predation though we have foxes, coons, possums, hawks, owls, (and on rare occasions, an eagle). I've got a fair sized covered run and a bulletproof coop that they share with my chickens (which will soon be relocated to tractors). I've heard several versions of their ability to breed. First I heard they were hybrids and were sterile. Then someone said they got too big to breed naturally and therefore has to be AI. I hadn't asked J.M., but if they say they will breed, I think they should know. They are very nice people and I would recommend them highly to anyone looking for guineas or whatever they have. Sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away but this has been my first experience with backyard fowl and I have found it to be challenging and enriching (isn't that why we do it?) Guinea is delicious and I am thinking guinea for meat and relegate the chicks for eggs. If the guineas do breed so much the better. I am also going to try the jumbo pearls which are supposed to be easy breeders. Good luck!

 

[PrettyPoultry]

Thank you for all the great information, helps me to be better prepared. I am really looking forward to getting my keets next week, and I have only read good things about JM Hatchery so I am sure they will be great.

 

[JimWWhite]

We're getting guineas that came from JM Hatchery. They're supposed to be French Guineas. My friend Mark ordered five but they sent him 10 because of the minimum order so he said he only wanted four or five and I could have the remaining assuming they make it. He's going to raise them for the next few weeks while I build a second coop for them to put them in the old chicken run. I don't want to mix them with my Gold Comets because those Gals can be really mean to newcomers. I'll keep them in the old run until they're a few months old and then let them out to free range once their acclimated. Hopefully they'll stay close by and help with the garden and bugs and all. We live about a half mile from a paved road and down a gravel trail and surrounded by woods and pasture. They'll have plenty of free range space but they'll have to watch out for hawks, foxes, and coyotes.

 

[speckledhen]

I actually called Ideal Poultry to ask about French guineas. Was told they did have to be AI'd, but I know folks whose FG's have reproduced naturally. The thing about confinement would make sense to me. I don't think any guinea does all that well in confinement anyway.

 

[chickenscratch9]

Hey folks, so I found this article about French guinea fowl being artificially inseminated. (source) Guineas only mate in spring and so raising keets all year long (like the folks at guinea fowl now do) requires artificial insemination. So hatcheries use AI but free ranging French guinea fowl CAN reproduce naturally.