ideal number of guineas??

[peeboo]

tick infestation confirmed

mulling idea of getting some guineas integrated into the flock. what's the ideal #? i mean the ideal minimum. i'm living in a neighborhood not even on an acre and my birds free range. i dont want to get the neighbors too mad

 

[PoultryPotts]

I would say get 2or3 males since they make less noise.

 

[jlbpooh]

Guineas = noise especially when young. Mine were stupid a couple of weekends ago and decided to take a walk down the railroad tracks about 1/2 mile. The stupidest one was the leader that day I think. Then right when I caught up with them, they got spooked by a deer that ran out of the woods and they ran into the woods, of course still going the wrong direction. Here I was chasing them in the woods paranoid about finding a copperhead or rattlesnake since the weather was warmed up that day. I finally got them turned around to head towards home. I found that they stayed much closer to home and didn't get into as much trouble when I only had 7. I have 17 now (ten of them being 6 months old). Now they will do all sorts of crazy stuff because they must feel safer in a larger group. I have a love hate relationship with them. They drive me insane some days, but I love the lack of ticks, and their eggs taste so good. We have not found a single tick in the year that they have been freeranging. (They only freerange on the weekends and in the evenings.) Before the guineas I was pulling 4-5 ticks a day off my dog, now none.