Muscovy ducks or Guinea fowl?

[ChickenPotPie]

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?

 

[fowltemptress]

Of course Muscovies will eat snakes. They eat anything they can get a hold of and fit down their throats. Guineas just put on more of a show, forming a noisy ring and attacking larger snakes like a tag team wrestling match.

I'd get muscovies because they will eat snakes, rodents, mosquitos, will take to being cooped much easier than guineas who will fight to stay outside in the trees, and they're extremely quiet. They also breed butt loads of chicks and are great parents . . . I have yet to have a guinea who can keep a keet alive on her own. It's ridiculous. Plus muscovies taste better, in my opinion.

You will, of course, be wanting to check out the thread about muscovies being prohibited, and realize that by choosing them you'll be walking into a potential battle to keep your birds and the right to breed them. I wouldn't let that deter you, though, and hopefully it will add another voice to the many that are rightfully protesting.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=304055&p=1

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Ah, quiet and they eat snakes? Sweet.

Thanks for the link to that thread. Wow. Long. I'll have to take about a week to read it but it looks like I'd better. I actually started thinking I'd better make my decision fast because a link to the ruling was posted on a yahoo group I belong to. Started joking around and someone offered me some muscovies.

Sounds like it's all good if I get them before the 31 of this month. Sounds like the fight is not over. Perhaps the Floridians want to be able to go out and shoot the prolific buggers? I think that there must be room for adjustments to the ruling to allow more room for production and sales.

I'm way out in the boonies with the nearest town being considered by most as the boonies. So, I live in the boonies of the boonies on a huge ranch so I don't think there is much chance of anyone even knowing I've got them. I'll be using them for food anyway and it sounds like that is allowed in the ruling as long as you have an existing flock by March 31st.

Looks like I'm making a trip to go pick up some scovies. Thank you for your insight. If anyone else wants to chime in, please feel free.