Cape Town Guinea Fowl

[Gill-b]

It is a really dark and wet day here today...

Looking towards the play park, with rain clouds overhead. The Guinea I would like to introduce to you today is the main Guinea in this above picture. (Hop-a-long is on the left.)

Meet Two-toes Junior. He is the biggest of the four keets from this past season's brood that Hop-a-long raised.

...and today I found out for absolute sure that he is a male because this morning he went from making keet like sounds to full out male calling...

Two-toes Junior calling from the wall top under the rain grey sky.

Two-toes Junior above. I have been calling him Two-toes Junior because he has exactly the same white toe pattern as Two-toes, and he is growing as large as Two-toes, but I might give him his own unique name at a later date. I am still deciding. Naming these birds is hazardous to my heart.

Hop-a-long in the foreground with Two-toes Junior in the middle, and another one of the four keets, also with a white toe. The white toes must be a genetic thing as @R2elk reckoned the reason for the white toes to be.

And off they go for the day. Hop-a-long on the left, and Two-toes Junior running on the road.
'Bye, have a great day and thanks for the visit.'

 

[Gill-b]

If you go back and look closely at this picture of Hop-a-long with the four keets, you can just make out the white toes of Two-toes Junior. He is the keet on the far right.

 

[fowltemptress]

Every time I checked in here I wonder if there are many domestic guineas kept in your area, and if they differ at all from the domestic guineas we can get here. I love how sleek and aerodynamic looking all your wild guineas are, and their heads are so colorful.
Did it take you long to learn to pick out and recognize individual guineas? I have trouble telling my guineas apart, and I love how you know so many of them by sight.

 

[Gill-b]

I wonder if there are many domestic guineas kept in your area, and if they differ at all from the domestic guineas we can get here.

Great question! ...to which I do not know the answer to. What I can tell you, to my knowledge, is that Helmeted Guinea Fowl are found almost everywhere here throughout South Africa, and I would think that there is really no need for people (farmers especially) to keep them domestically. In the hunting season it is difficult to find a farm where Helmeted Guinea Fowl are not hunted as there is a need to control the Guinea Fowl population.
I have never seen a Helmeted Guinea Fowl here that looks different to the ones seem in my photographs, so they are all have the same colouration. Go have a look at this thread where I have posted an article or two on the subject...
Domesticated vs Indigenous Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Did it take you long to learn to pick out and recognize individual guineas?

Hop-a-long was the first Guinea that I came to know as his leg is a dead giveaway. The rest took time and observation of the individual personalities.

I love how you know so many of them by sight.

Not that many! I can only identify five of them on sight, them being:
- Hop-a-long
- Two-toes
- Comma
- Two-toes Junior
- Peg-leg (although I have not seen since last season so Peg-leg may not be anymore?)

...oooo they have just arrived for a visit (07h43) so I best sign off and go say hello to them.

Thank you for showing an interest in this thread - it makes it worthwhile writing.

 

[Gill-b]

are many domestic guineas kept in your area

...to add...
Guinea fowl are so common here that they do not feature at all at any of the poultry shows in RSA. It would be like showing off House sparrows.

 

[fowltemptress]

Great question! ...to which I do not know the answer to. What I can tell you, to my knowledge, is that Helmeted Guinea Fowl are found almost everywhere here throughout South Africa, and I would think that there is really no need for people (farmers especially) to keep them domestically.

Interesting. Turkeys are found everywhere in America, but keeping turkeys and turkey farms are common, which is why I thought to ask.

Thank you for showing an interest in this thread - it makes it worthwhile writing.

I've been reading this thread for a very long time, but I'm not very good about commenting on other people's posts or leaving reactions. In the case of this thread, I've been treating it like a fun book; I enjoy the read (immensely) and then move on to whatever else - poultry chores and the like. I'm sorry my lack of engagement means my favorite BYC contributors don't realize they have a fan. That's something I should work on.

 

[fowltemptress]

...to add...
Guinea fowl are so common here that they do not feature at all at any of the poultry shows in RSA. It would be like showing off House sparrows.

I can't even imagine! I would love to see how those wild ones would fare here, where guineas are notorious for getting themselves killed. I wonder if i the domesticity has killed off much of the survivor instincts of our farm guineas, or if a lot of it has to do with simply being in an environment very different from the one they evolved in. Watching my guineas, I honestly think they're smarter than people give them credit for, and I can easily see how some of the things they do that people think of as "stupid" would actually be good survivor traits in a different environment.

Over here, guineas' reputation for "stupidity" makes it not uncommon for some folks to wonder aloud how guineas ever managed to survive as a species. It's been really interesting reading about guineas from your perspective, and seeing how successful they are as a wild animal.

 

[R2elk]

I can't even imagine! I would love to see how those wild ones would fare here, where guineas are notorious for getting themselves killed. I wonder if i the domesticity has killed off much of the survivor instincts of our farm guineas, or if a lot of it has to do with simply being in an environment very different from the one they evolved in. Watching my guineas, I honestly think they're smarter than people give them credit for, and I can easily see how some of the things they do that people think of as "stupid" would actually be good survivor traits in a different environment.

Over here, guineas' reputation for "stupidity" makes it not uncommon for some folks to wonder aloud how guineas ever managed to survive as a species. It's been really interesting reading about guineas from your perspective, and seeing how successful they are as a wild animal.

People too often confuse instincts with intelligence. Guineas have entirely different instincts than any other poultry. Because guineas do not naturally do what other poultry do, people mistakenly think they are stupid.

Guineas demonstrate the ability to learn. The ability to learn is a sign of intelligence.

 

[Gill-b]

Interesting. Turkeys are found everywhere in America, but keeping turkeys and turkey farms are common, which is why I thought to ask.

If I have to take a guess, I would say that Turkeys and Turkey farming there is to what Ostriches and Ostrich farming is to here?
Ostrich farming is big business here and you also find Ostrich farms throughout the whole of South Africa.

We also had a neighbourhood Ostrich which had escaped from a nearby farm. He stayed in the area to be close to his girls who were still fenced in... in fact they were in the field where our neighbourhood Guineas roost at night. Anywho, back to my story of Oscar our neighbourhood Ostrich... at night he would sleep in a building site opposite the field and in the morning he would cross the road to be with his girls. Sometimes he would hold up the busy morning rush-hour traffic, so the local radio station started including him in their morning Traffic Report. He was very good at evading capture, and when he was herded with quad bikes back into his field, he would just escaped again.

Me thinks Ostrich farming is by far more profitable than it would be to farm Guinea Fowls. I do know that Guinea Fowl farming is a big thing in Nigeria ...which is in the Northern Hemisphere, so although still in Africa is far away from South Africa.

 

[Gill-b]

Guineas demonstrate the ability to learn. The ability to learn is a sign of intelligence.

I am amazed at how quickly these Guineas learn to adapt to changes here. I sometimes get the idea that they are training me to do things the way they want.