Guinea Fowls and ticks????

[Caleb999]

I've heard that guinea fowls eat ticks. That they go crazy for ticks. I have ticks around my house, and I'm wondering if they will make a difference. If so, how many do I need. Also, If I got them, it would be for spring and summer. Are they any good for meat? I'm not queen on keeping a bunch of them in with my chickens for the winter. I only want them for ticks.
Thanks in advance

 

[Caleb999]

Sorry. Wrong place to post this

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

No worries

Guineas are tick removal experts! But, do lots of research and make sure you know what you're getting into before you get them. We bought 16 of them this past Spring to help with the tick issue on our 48 acre farm. They did an excellent job taking care of the ticks, but their personalities completely overshadowed that. They were LOUD. If they saw us in the window of the house....scream. If the wind blew...scream. If the neighbor dropped by....scream. Let the dogs out....scream. You get the idea. And when they weren't hanging around the house making noise, roosting on the roof or cars, they were roaming all the way up to the road (across our 14 acre field) to try to commit suicide by passing cars. They would beat the snot out of my chickens and turkeys. Which was always disturbing to see. One would zero in on another bird and then all 16 would gang up on that bird and they'd go crazy. I'd had to rush out and save countless poor birds before we nixed them. The last straw was the day I looked into the garage to see all 16 of them on top of my new car. Just hanging out there, preening and pooping all over my shiny new ride. We put 10 of them in the freezer the day after that and sent the remaining 6 to the neighbors farm (he already had some and loves them). And yes, they are pretty tasty. I made an excellent pot of Guinea corn chowder the night after we processed them.


Lots of members here on BYC have them, and they love them and don't have issues with them sharing a coop with other birds, but that was my experience with them. Never, never ever, again. Nope.

Good luck.

 

[ChicksAre4Kids]

I'd think that CHICKENS would be just as happy eating ticks as they are any other bugs, am I missing something here?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Nope, that was my solution for the ticks after we got rid of the Guineas......get more chickens!

 

[ChicksAre4Kids]

I was wondering... since we've had chickens, we rarely see a tick any more. They used to be terrible out here in BFE!