Need some Info about Guinea/Keets

If you have broody chickens you can use them to incubate eggs. They really are fun to watch and they let you know if something funny is going on. I bet your neighbor would give you keets when they hatch. Let them know you're interested in buying eggs and he'll probably be happy to help you get started. Most guinea people are nice and happy to know the birds don't annoy you. I had twelve guineas and they hatched out over a hundred keets. I gave a lot away. I really enjoy mine.
 
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My Guineas were death on scurrying critters of all kinds. I live in country where the ticks are year round but go dormant. I think the way they keep the snakes away is to remove all their potential food. Guineas love mousies so do chickens by the way. In the desert here we have about six kinds of small rodents. Anything small enough to get swallowed gets swallowed. We have Diamondbacks as big around s my forearm. I wouldnt expect them to directly kill snakes but that whole thing about disturbing snake habitat would be the ticket.

The feed stores wont sell them or at least around here because they are a bit more delicate to handle. Talk to your next door guinea people I betcha they have a few youngsters around they would part with. or chicks. Once they get some feathers on they are incredibly hardy. It would be a great way to meet the neighbors at least.
 
i have about 60 guineas and they do alert to almost everything. i wouldnt expect them to be at "home" if there was a larger flock around. they eat anyting that doesnt eat them first. they do leave the garden alone after it is growing good however they can remove seed faster than we can plant..my first guinea was a guinea that wasnt mine but after planting and watching it remove seed four days in a row i set about catching it and putting it in guinea jail ( a a frame house/cage/run, latter let it go and it went to roost with my chickens and has live here after, my goal wasnt to keep someones guinea, but to let my seed sprout and then let it go wherever its home was). gunieas are great as long as you go into the hobby as a long term time consumeing hobby knowing that a guinea isnt owned by anyone, you may buy it and you may invest in it in a coop, feed, time, etc, but a guinea is not realy owned by anyone..they do as they please when they please, you may catch and teach but when they decide they are going to do something then they are going to do what they decide. i would expect if you got a few they would go to the larger flock as soon as they could, i also would expect if you can hear the neighboors birds then the neighboors birds if free ranged will patrol your yard, here they wonder in a wide area.
 
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LOL sort of like the fowl version of a cat....
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I know they are far from being domesticated and that the best we can do is try to condition them to come home. But it never occured to me that having another flock in the vicinity would be a proplem. I am not the OP but this is very good information to have. Thank you so much.
 
thank you all for the information! I understand they aren't a pet that will be following me around or staying close to me. I did ready that you could keep them confined to a coop and run for 8-10 weeks to establish a home base, so I figured I could clip their wings a good time or so and once they grow back them them run free. The other flock is about 1/2 or more away and can only be heard faintly, in fact they are drowned out most of the time by the geese and roosters that the people have. Our mailbox is right in front of the nice neighbor's yard so I've been walking the good 1/2 mile or so to the mailbox and watching the guinea and geese. I think I've fallen in love with both. I love their little antics and their noise really doesn't bother me at all. I found a hatchery here in Tn that sells pretty much all kinds of fowl and I'm planing on getting 4-6 guinea (to start with) and 2 geese. We'll see though I have til the end of the month or the very beginning of April to figure out if I want to try the guinea or geese. Worse comes to worse they end up at the neighbor's place, but honestly if they ran away to them they would still be in good hands.

I will keep you guys updated. Finger's crossed though that, If I get them, my little group stays close to home after their initial wing clipped prison sentence. lol
 
lol sounds fun to watch, SO I will definitely get them a mirror
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I'll post on this thread once I get them the end of this month.

Thanks for all the info and help! I really appreciate it~
 
So glad to see this post. My hubby and I are going to get some. I have heard they are good at warning for anything that they know does not belong on the property and that they love to roost in trees.
 

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