High Desert, California!!

[perchie.girl]

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[opalwednesday]

hey there desert peeps,

I'm thinking alot about guinea hens these days. we used to do a little bit of spider spray around the house in spring to ease the burden of living without sealed walls BUT...now we have a poultry farm, no more chemicals allowed!
Unfortunately the chickens don't come close enough to the house to fix the bug issue, the geese do but they're in it for the Bermuda weeds. The feed store tells me that there's a local lady who supplies keets but I'll have to wait till monday to talk to her. have any of you guys ever had desert guineas??

 

[flower]

Hello there, when I lived back in WV, I had Guineas . They like to fly up into trees and onto rooftops. Make sure you neighbors are aware so that none of them will be surprised. I have tried different colors and ordered them from the guineafarm.com. A large hatchery in Iowa, it is family run and they have most colors and some other fowl such as peacocks and peahens also. The reson that I ordered from the Guinea Farm was that I wanted different colors and eggs to hatch my own. Plus unlike the present back then it was harder to find eggs and keets. Now that they are more popular many peeps raise them. And BTW, I found that the buff dundott color is more friendly that the pearl as in the original imported grey with white dots.

 

[opalwednesday]

hey flower! thanks for the info. i love the colors available from the guinea farm people, but i was a bit put off by the fact that they pinion their breeding flock. it just seems like a wretched thing to do to an animal when all you have to do to keep them in is put up some bird net

good info on the friendliness, hopefully the lady has some variety. and the guineas roam...totally fine for my neighbors but i live one plot away from the highway, do you think it's too risky? it's a 2.5 acre plot and they'd be at the back of ours which is the same size but still, i've already lost one animal to the highway and it's alot to take. do you think it's a big risk?

 

[flower]

visit the guinea site here ! You will get a lot of information there also. I have seen a flock of guineas foraging at the side of a road several times. It is hard to predict if they can fly away when a
car decides to cross their path.

 

[perchie.girl]

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After five years off... I am restarting my Poultry flock this summer. And planning on starting with thirty Guineas. I am in the high desert just above Mexico about ninety miles from the Sea of Cortez. We have lots of Chaparal and my last flock of guineas had a grand time out there. Just remember they pair of at a one to one ratio boy girl boy girl. The more males you have the better that way they pick on each other and pretty much leave the chickens alone.

I am keeping my guinea housing separate from the chickens for a couple of reasons. First I want to encourage the guineas to lay their eggs at home not out in the brush because I walk with a cane and cant go looking for a broody. Also because this time around I am aiming for purebred chickens and am keeping them seprated from each other in breeder pens.

I am hoping to let the guineas freerange during non breeding season which. So though my intention is for breeding at worst case I will clip wings but I wont pinion because I want them to be able to fly. When I raised Parakeets I always clipped both wings because that way they can still motor enough to keep from crashing from a high point.

FWIW I dont use chemicals either but there is an excellent spray wich is totally organic called Orange Guard. I used to see it in the stores but for now I can only find it on line. It is simply orange oil. I found a source here in town but they are an extermination company I havent had the opportunity to chat them up to see if I can buy it from them. Otherwise I will be buying it online. Its supposed to be good for mites too. And I also will be dusting with Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth to fortify the efforts of the spray.

BTW here is the website for Orange Guard


http://www.orangeguard.com/

 

[opalwednesday]

thanks guys, that's a lot of relevant info on guineas, i really appreciate it. and the DE as bug control, so good.

this weeks quandary is about chicken bedding. people seem to hate straw because of the mold problems that it can present. is it different here because we have such dry air? I've been using it in my coop and barn for three weeks now and it seems totally fine (and cheep). It's totally unacceptable for the geese, I've figured this much out for sure, but what do you guys use for your chickens?

 

[sugarjax06]

I know that the original person asking about Odyssey Ranch already made a purchase but I thought I would give my input on Odyssey for others. We personal really enjoy O.R. They are very very sweet and helpful people. They will answer any questions you have and have never seemed like they are in a rush to get you in and out. Because they live on site, this is their home/business and it very much has that feel.

Every bird we have purchased from there has been healthy. I also purchased eggs and stuck a few under my broody - they hatched! I believe they sell eggs for hatching now though if you want something specific. I would definitely recommend them for healthy chicks. We had a very bad experience with our first group of chicks that were unhealthy so when we went to O.R. and every single one lived, we were relieved that we weren't the worst chicken owners ever!! Oh, if you are purchasing birds that are 4.5 weeks or older, they will do their best to help you pick pullets

 

[ChicksterJo]

I have to concur with that sugarjax06. The chicks I got from them are very hardy. Maybe it's because they are red stars? I haven't had any problems with them, healthwise and knock on wood!
Guineas look so beautiful I wish I could have some but I was wondering how large are their eggs? Some pics show them small, others show them pretty big.

 

[perchie.girl]

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They are a bit smaller than chicken eggs. My little flock was mostly males and the female got picked off by a coyote.... So I never got a chance to have eggs.