Add 1 or 2 Guinea to a flock of chickens?

[manaze88]

Thinking of adding one or two Guinea Fowl to my flock just to give that variety to my birds. Just looking things up, doing some research. Any pointers, or suggestions, on where to start?

I don't know anything about the eggs, are the edible like chicken eggs (or worth the effort)?

How loud do they get for random reasons, versus when throwing a necessary alarm (when bad guys are around, that is)?

Male vs female vs one of each vs 2 female? Basically...for a small backyard flock of 5 chickens (which may double), would would be a good mix?

Thanks

 

[R2elk]

Thinking of adding one or two Guinea Fowl to my flock just to give that variety to my birds. Just looking things up, doing some research. Any pointers, or suggestions, on where to start?

I don't know anything about the eggs, are the edible like chicken eggs (or worth the effort)?

How loud do they get for random reasons, versus when throwing a necessary alarm (when bad guys are around, that is)?

Male vs female vs one of each vs 2 female? Basically...for a small backyard flock of 5 chickens (which may double), would would be a good mix?

Thanks

My advice is to not do it. Even guineas that are raised with chickens will become very mean to the chickens once breeding time comes around. Guineas are a flock bird and the recommendation is to have a minimum of 10 guineas. With a minimum of 10 guineas it keeps them busy with each other rather than picking on the other poultry. One of the habits of guineas is they are feather pullers and they are very fast. Chickens and turkeys really don't like their feathers being pulled and because they aren't nearly as fast as the guineas they can't use their other advantages to win against the guineas.

Read the Raising Guinea Fowl 101 thread and pay particular attention to any posts made by PeepsCA. Then if you still feel that you want to add a couple of guineas to your flock of chickens, good luck.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101

 

[manaze88]

10 is way more than I want....I'll look around to see if any other birds mix well with the chickens. I was interested in the guinea because of the bug eating, though I'm not even sure if that will be an issue where I am (recently relocated).

Thanks for the info, though. Saves me some time!

 

[R2elk]

10 is way more than I want....I'll look around to see if any other birds mix well with the chickens. I was interested in the guinea because of the bug eating, though I'm not even sure if that will be an issue where I am (recently relocated).

Thanks for the info, though. Saves me some time!

If you are in an area that does not have a problem with blackhead, you could add some turkeys in with the chickens. The reason that I keep turkeys is for grasshopper control. Experienced turkeys are very efficient grasshopper catchers.

 

[Theweddlefarm]

I have had guineas with my chickens for over a year. I had 35 free range chickens on the farm with 6 guinea. They worked out fine. I was just sure to provide feed in multiple areas so the guinea couldn't keep the chickens ran away from the feed. I let the chickens roost in the barn. I "trained" the guineas to roost in a pine tree so they would be apart even more. The past 3 months, I raised 2 keets alongside 14 barred rock chicks. At 3 months of age, I let the guineas join the others free ranging. This is the 3rd time I have done this.

I love my guineas! Yes, they are loud. A lot. But I enjoy the unusual sound and have yet to pick a tick off my kids since I got my guineas.

Something to consider.