Guinea fowl to protect free-range chickens?

[ChikinQueen]

I have heard that if you add guinea fowl to your flock, that they will sound the alarm whenever a predator enters your yard and the flock will run to safety. Has anyone else heard of this?
We've been having trouble with a fox going after our hens here. We can only let the chickens out when someone is home, and even then we keep at least one of the dogs out with them.

 

[Slongest]

I have heard that if you add guinea fowl to your flock, that they will sound the alarm whenever a predator enters your yard and the flock will run to safety. Has anyone else heard of this?
We've been having trouble with a fox going after our hens here. We can only let the chickens out when someone is home, and even then we keep at least one of the dogs out with them.

Let me start off by saying we let our chickens free range except the breeders we have about 150+ that free range and about 50+ Guineas i dont know about sounding an alarm because they are constantly making noises loudly i have a long driveway they meet every car/truck down the driveway and follow them all the way to the house as of predators im not sure i have great pyrenees that takes care of that but when i go out at night and shut the barn up and everyones roosting they are the first to know im coming and they start squaking.... i hope this helps! if you live on land or have bug/tick problems that itself is all the reason you need to invest in them they take care of any problem like that....

 

[Slongest]

If you become interested in hatching or buying day old shoot me a pm im selling eggs now and hatchlings soon

 

[AmpersatChick]

I've read the same thing. And that they are hunters and will hunt and kill mice. Interested to hear if anyone else shares info on this.

 

[NicInNC]

We used to have guinea fowl and they're excellent "guards" because they make a racket ALL THE TIME. Seriously, they never stopped. We live in a neighborhood, so we had to get rid of ours due to them carrying on over every little thing. They started in if they saw something, if they got scared, if I let my dogs out, when my neighbors went out, when my neighbors let their dogs out, etc. I had one neighbor say something about them and I figured that was my hint that they were getting in his nerves so I immediately found a new home for them.

If you live out in the country, I say get them. they're a lot of fun to watch and great guards. Plus, they eat bugs like fleas and mosquitoes.

 

[ChikinQueen]

Slongest: Ha! Guineas chasing cars sounds pretty funny. Our dogs aren't as big as a Great Pyrenees. We have two red Australian Cattle dogs who are about 60 pounds, and two little Jack Russel terriers. They'll chase anything out of the yard, but someone has to be home to watch them or they get in trouble. As for the bugs, we live on a small horse farm and so have always had trouble with flies. We used to get fly predators, little flightless wasps that kill fly larvae, but ever since we got the chickens and let them free range they've done a better job at keeping the fly population down. And thanks for letting me know you're selling guineas, but I live in Pennsylvania. That would be quite a trip for the little guys.

AmpersatChick: We don't have a problem with rodents, we have many barn cats and the two terriers who keep the mice population down. And the cats and terriers are afraid of the chickens (the hens peck at them if they get too close), so that's not a problem either. Our big dogs like to herd the chickens and protect them. We don't have a problem with opossums, bears, raccoons, coyotes, just those freakin' foxes. They're the only things brave enough to get close to all the animals we have here.

NicInNC: We live pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so unless they're really loud we shouldn't have a problem. We have a small flock (13 hens) so we'd probably get a few guineas. We've had problems with fleas before, and it's always good to get rid of mosquitoes, and I'm not sure the chickens go after those. Thanks for the tip!

 

[NicInNC]

Slongest: Ha! Guineas chasing cars sounds pretty funny. Our dogs aren't as big as a Great Pyrenees. We have two red Australian Cattle dogs who are about 60 pounds, and two little Jack Russel terriers. They'll chase anything out of the yard, but someone has to be home to watch them or they get in trouble. As for the bugs, we live on a small horse farm and so have always had trouble with flies. We used to get fly predators, little flightless wasps that kill fly larvae, but ever since we got the chickens and let them free range they've done a better job at keeping the fly population down. And thanks for letting me know you're selling guineas, but I live in Pennsylvania. That would be quite a trip for the little guys.

AmpersatChick: We don't have a problem with rodents, we have many barn cats and the two terriers who keep the mice population down. And the cats and terriers are afraid of the chickens (the hens peck at them if they get too close), so that's not a problem either. Our big dogs like to herd the chickens and protect them. We don't have a problem with opossums, bears, raccoons, coyotes, just those freakin' foxes. They're the only things brave enough to get close to all the animals we have here.

NicInNC: We live pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so unless they're really loud we shouldn't have a problem. We have a small flock (13 hens) so we'd probably get a few guineas. We've had problems with fleas before, and it's always good to get rid of mosquitoes, and I'm not sure the chickens go after those. Thanks for the tip!

Have fun with them! I wish so bad that we could have them. We hope to move somewhere with lots of land once my youngest graduates high school (5 more years) and I WILL get more guineas. They're so entertaining.