First taste of homegrown guinea

[PeepsCA]

OMG 200 keets... lol

You're gonna need a REALLY large coop/pen to raise them all to butchering age (like 600-800 sq ft of floor space!), there's not much meat on them until they are about 16 wks old, and if Guineas are free ranged the meat gets tough (meat birds are typically pen raised). Good luck!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
WOW !

 

[Fenika]

You can slaughter guineas as early as 12 weeks according to ag extension agents and research articles. I didn't see much difference between 14 and 16 weeks. I still have to weigh the 17 week old birds that are resting in the fridge.

200 keets are A LOT. I had 21 keets outgrow my 6x4 tractor-brooder Really fast. They outgrew their indoor brooder fast too

Make sure you have spacious housing, and maybe divide in two or four. A division of birds might help the birds with their social hierarchy. Are you going to sell some as day old or week old babies?

 

[mikeinri]

Quote:
I can see that call now. Ummm, I got 60 birds in my yard craping on the swingset, eating my garden and chasing my dog. Could you come get them....NOW!

 

[gingit]

An update on my husband's 200 keets order:

Got them, fed them for a couple weeks, sold 150 to one person for a nice profit.
Now we have 50 x 1 month old keets that will be moving out of the brooder to their own coop this afternoon.

Yes, I know. I got lucky.
And I asked him not to ever buy 200 of anything.

Whew!