Has anyone ever owned French Guineas?

[Kalija74]

I want to purchase some French Guineas from Privett Hatchery. Does anyone in the BYC world own any. I was wondering:
Do they really lay all year long?
Do their eggs taste as wonderful as "normal" guinea eggs?
Have you ever tried incubating their eggs, or can they really not breed naturally?

I love my guineas but these French Guineas sound too good to be true... Any info would help me make up my mind: Purchase new Regular Pearl Guineas or French Guineas. Thanks!!!

 

[JanO]

I'm certainly not an expert, but I've never heard of a guinea laying year round. All guineas are seasonal layers as far as I've heard.

 

[Fenika]

I've owned Jumbos, but didn't let any get old enough to breed. No one has developed a guinea that lays year round so if someone is making such a claim I'd be very very skeptical of buying from them.

Call the hatchery and see if the French or Jumbos they have can breed naturally or not. Also ask their size at about 16 weeks. If they don't know, and you want them for meat, find another place.

If you just want large guineas to keep and breed for other benefits, than only the natural breeding maters.

The eggs would be exactly like 'regular' guineas only larger. They aren't a different subspecies, just bred up from our domestic-ish stock.

 

[PeepsCA]

Supposedly French and Jumbos will both lay year round with supplemental lighting. It's a hatchery thing... aka puppy mill IMO, and it's not healthy for the birds. My guess is they don't lay year round for very many years, or live very long either