I Ordered 3 Guineas

[swampducks]

I didn't intend to, though I had thought about it on and off. I have ducks, was going to get some laying chickens then Hal developed an allergy to egg whites (rats!) so I nixed the layers for this year but I decided to order 10 Cornish X's (White Mountain) for meat.

However, Sunday I was minding my own business, having walked the dogs through the lovely swamp in this warmer than average weather when I found a TICK!!!! on my thigh! EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Believe it or not, it's the first live tick I've found on me or my dogs since I moved to northern MI in 2000. Needless to say I spent the next few days absentmindedly checking all over and over for ticks. The dogs got prodded and treated, too.

So on Monday when I ordered my chicks at Miller Feeds I added 3 guineas to the order. Now I have to figure out where to house them, the chicken coop had been nixed for this year too!

I hope they really do eat ticks. And I hope 3 is a good number.

 

[ticks]

I hate ticks I have got 18 ticks on me in this year. (hence my user name, also after brad paisley song) I am thinking about guineas for next year to. did you get the head out or was it burrowed. was it a deer tick or dog tick. deer ticks carry lyme disease

 

[swampducks]

Quote:
It had only just grabbed the top layer of skin, so I could grab it with my fingernails, and flush it.

It was a dog tick, at least 1/8th inch across. I just googled to verify sizes, now I'm worried that there might still be deer ticks.

ACK!!! Maybe I should biospot myself!

My brother had lyme disease, one of the first to get it apparently but went undiagnosed for a couple decades. Now his kness are shot. I remember them being swollen like melons and spending weeks in the hospital while the docs all scratched their heads. Nainly they pumped him full of arthritis meds. Obviously, they didn't work, now we know why.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Mine did not like a coop. I kept them in a coop for about 2 months after I got them at 4 weeks of age. Once I let them out they didn't want to come back and started roosting with my goats.

My guineas free range and never stray far from where they were originally houses. They wander my pasture all year long, even in the dead of winter. I feed them a ration of grain every evening so they know where home is and they come to me looking for that feed too. They stand at the barn and wait for me to give it to them. If you have a few acres they do much better being allowed to free range and remain rather wild.

 

[swampducks]

Quote:
I would love to be able to let them do that but with winter temps dropping below zero frequently, I'm thinking I'd end up with guinea-sicles. I intend ot let them free range (I've got acres and acres of swamp land, care to buy a couple?

) I just hope I can convince them in winter that a nice coop/garage/etc is better than a cedar tree when it's -12f outside.

 

[rooster0209]

Last year my doxie went into the shelterbelt looking for rabbits. Came out with 34 ticks on her...NO LIE. I even use front line. That was it. I got some Guineas. Last year they cleaned the yard of bugs.

So far this year, I have not seen one tick. My coop is one corner of the not used hog barn. I put a 4ft fence around the outside. They come and go as they please. It was no trouble at all getting them to winter inside.

Guinea's make themselves at home anywhere. As long as there is a place to roost and shelter from the weather they will be fine.

If its ok to post a web page, this is where I learned all about my guineas and how to care for them.
http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/
Real informative site. I especially like the pictures of some of the coops..from expensive to cheap!

 

[Chirpy]

Rooster - thankyou so much for that web site. I've been looking for something like that.

 

[GwenFarms]

You'll love having guineas. They are the best pesticide you can buy. Most of them don't care for coops. They like to roost really high. If you don't have any high limbs they will roost on your roof, so you might want to build them roosting poles. Be careful when you release them. Put them in a temporary little pen and let one out, then wait a couple of weeks and let another out, wait a couple of weeks again, then let the rest out.

Good luck with your guineas. If you want more, I've got eggs in every bator I could find around town and under everyone's broody hens that I know

They lay really well when the mood strikes!

 

[swampducks]

I've gto so many huge trees (I live in a cedar swamp) I could probably make 100 guineas quite happy. I'm not sure about my neighbors though.

 

[rooster0209]

When its nice out, my Guineas will roost in the trees too. They also love to look in my patio door

and poop on my deck. Sun themselves on my front porch and cackle..mostly when its really cold out. The porch faces the south so they like the warm spot

But roosting in the trees does have an advantage...no poop to scoop out of the coop.