I'm wanting to be able to provide all the meat for our family here on the ranch. We have the rabbits, RIRs (provide eggs but are slow growers - not the meaty grocery store chicken), and a trio of small Royal Palm turkeys (no successful hatch from them yet). I'm looking to add another type of meat bird that will:
1) provide a good amount of tasty meat
2) eat bugs, snakes, and/or ground squirrels (snakes AND ground squirrels is preferable but snakes are more important)
3) stick around and be cooped at night
4) reproduce like rats all on their own
So far, pros for Guineas are that they'll eat snakes. We've got rattlers that abundant enough that my back door neighbor (about 40 ft away) caught two of 'em trying to get into his house last summer and another by our wood shed about the same distance away from our back door. I have lots of little kids running around here and the snakes are perfectly camouflaged. I need a reliable and tenacious snake killer. Cons for Guineas is that I hear they are loud. Our neighbors might not like that.
Pros for Muscovies is that I hear they grow fast, have a good amount of meat on them, and reproduce on their own very well. I don't know that they'll eat snakes but someone told me they'll eat ground squirrels. Not sure if that's true or not.
So what do you think? Muscovies or Guineas? Why or why not?
1) provide a good amount of tasty meat
2) eat bugs, snakes, and/or ground squirrels (snakes AND ground squirrels is preferable but snakes are more important)
3) stick around and be cooped at night
4) reproduce like rats all on their own
So far, pros for Guineas are that they'll eat snakes. We've got rattlers that abundant enough that my back door neighbor (about 40 ft away) caught two of 'em trying to get into his house last summer and another by our wood shed about the same distance away from our back door. I have lots of little kids running around here and the snakes are perfectly camouflaged. I need a reliable and tenacious snake killer. Cons for Guineas is that I hear they are loud. Our neighbors might not like that.
Pros for Muscovies is that I hear they grow fast, have a good amount of meat on them, and reproduce on their own very well. I don't know that they'll eat snakes but someone told me they'll eat ground squirrels. Not sure if that's true or not.
So what do you think? Muscovies or Guineas? Why or why not?