Any good pics of your guineas?

[fowltemptress]

Here’s a few of mine. Getting a picture of them isn’t easy, they won’t stay still lol.

Those are beautiful pictures!

 

[Sydney65]

When you are into guineas, it is proper to use guinea terminology instead of words that are associated with something else.

Telling people to use improper terminology is giving

Still call them "my boys". To do otherwise would lead to outbursts of twittering in mixed (aka nonbird owning) company.

 

[alinas2010]

I have an ignorant question. What do people keep guineas for? Do they provide eggs regularly as chickens do? I’ve seen that people eat them, are they good? Are they worth the effort of raising them for food? They are so beautiful but seem obnoxious. My parents go to South Africa for hunting trips every few years and they’ve “hunted” guineas there before. Venturing to guess it was really less of a hunt and more of a means to get a quick dinner. Not sure I could ever “hunt” one myself as they are so beautiful.

 

[fowltemptress]

I have an ignorant question. What do people keep guineas for? Do they provide eggs regularly as chickens do? I’ve seen that people eat them, are they good? Are they worth the effort of raising them for food? They are so beautiful but seem obnoxious. My parents go to South Africa for hunting trips every few years and they’ve “hunted” guineas there before. Venturing to guess it was really less of a hunt and more of a means to get a quick dinner. Not sure I could ever “hunt” one myself as they are so beautiful.

Before discovering the Americas, guineas were like the turkeys of Europe, and their meat is supposedly very good. I don't eat mine because they're too valuable as tick eaters. When we first moved here you couldn't walk outside for a second without coming back in covered in ticks. Within a few months of living here and despite being on tick medication coupled with tick checks after every walk, both my dogs popped up positive for exposure to 3 different tick borne illnesses, including lyme disease. Chickens do a pretty good job of eating ticks around the coop and house area, but most of the ticks here are in the woods surrounding our place, and the guineas roam deep into the woods and surrounding area, clearing places the chickens never get to. Since getting guineas I've only found one tick on us after our Nightly tick checks.

 

[alinas2010]

Before discovering the Americas, guineas were like the turkeys of Europe, and their meat is supposedly very good. I don't eat mine because they're too valuable as tick eaters. When we first moved here, you couldn't walk outside for a second without coming back in covered in ticks. Within a few months of living here and despite being on tick medication, both my dogs popped up positive for exposure to 3 different tick borne illnesses, including lyme disease. Chickens do a pretty good job of eating ticks around the coop and house area, but most of the ticks here are in the woods surrounding our place, and the guineas roam deep into the woods and surrounding area, clearing places the chickens never get to. Since getting guineas I've only found one tick on us after our Nightly tick checks.

How interesting. It makes sense that they venture into the woods deeper without issues - due to their larger size I assume they are less prey animals than chickens would be? Are they social as turkeys are? And do you eat their eggs?

 

[R2elk]

What do people keep guineas for?

Mostly for tick control with the side benefit of watching their antics.

Do they provide eggs regularly as chickens do

Guineas are seasonal layers. Their eggs are good and appeal to kids due to their small size and higher yolk to albumen percentage.

I’ve seen that people eat them, are they good? Are they worth the effort of raising them for food?

Guineas are delicious. They are served in restaurants as a delicacy. The jumbo guineas were developed to increase their size as a meat bird.

Not sure I could ever “hunt” one myself

Hunting like guineas is not for everyone.

 

[fowltemptress]

How interesting. It makes sense that they venture into the woods deeper without issues - due to their larger size I assume they are less prey animals than chickens would be? Are they social as turkeys are? And do you eat their eggs?

Oh no, predators pick them off like candy. The trick is to keep so many that enough will survive for you to replace them the next year by incubating eggs. I keep mine cooped at night to save them from nighttime predators, but even so, out of my 20 last year I wound up with only two a year later. This year I'm starting with 40, and we'll see where we're at next summer. Because I need to hatch them, and because their nests are a pain in the butt to find, I've never eaten their eggs. But they're every bit as edible as chicken eggs, just a bit smaller with very thick shells. They're social, though they can be quite ruthless to eachother as they have a fierce pecking order, and they move as one large pack until spring when they tend to pair off into mating couples. I've never had turkeys, though, so I don't know how they compare.

 

[R2elk]

How interesting. It makes sense that they venture into the woods deeper without issues - due to their larger size I assume they are less prey animals than chickens would be? Are they social as turkeys are? And do you eat their eggs?

Guineas are not normally a "woods" bird. They are not bigger than chickens. A dressed out guinea will weigh about 2.5 lbs. The jumbo guineas are a little bigger.

Guineas are a flock bird. Guineas are just as vulnerable to predators as any other prey bird. There is a good market for keets since so many people lose theirs to predators.

 

[alinas2010]

Mostly for tick control with the side benefit of watching their antics.


Guineas are seasonal layers. Their eggs are good and appeal to kids due to their small size and higher yolk to albumen percentage.


Guineas are delicious. They are served in restaurants as a delicacy. The jumbo guineas were developed to increase their size as a meat bird.


Hunting like guineas is not for everyone.

Oh no, predators pick them off like candy. The trick is to keep so many that enough will survive for you to replace them the next year by incubating eggs. I keep mine cooped at night to save them from nighttime predators, but even so, out of my 20 last year I wound up with only two a year later. This year I'm starting with 40, and we'll see where we're at next summer. Because I need to hatch them, and because their nests are a pain in the butt to find, I've never eaten their eggs. But they're every bit as edible as chicken eggs, just a bit smaller with very thick shells. They're social, though they can be quite ruthless to eachother as they have a fierce pecking order, and they move as one large pack until spring when they tend to pair off into mating couples. I've never had turkeys, though, so I don't know how they compare.

Wow some great information. Thank you both. I really had no idea on any of this. Always have wondered about them. Not sure why it was in my head that they’re larger than chickens, but now I’m even more surprised to learn that their eggs are smaller. And I really had no idea they were a delicacy. Such beautiful birds…maybe one day if I’m in different living circumstances…haha.

 

[Sydney65]

Started off as a tick control in 1999...then came the pandemic. While ppl complained about being confined and lonely and stir crazy..I was sitting out back in a sunbeam with the goonies, laughing my butt off.
Seriously..there's a song abt how 'when this ol' world starts gettin' me down..' Carol King & James Taylor went up on the roof. This ol' gal goes out to the coop.