Newbie alert!!! To BYC of course// only a few ?s. Any help pls?

[MacCana]

First off, Hi! My name is Ashley & I'm new to BYC's site, but am not new to chickens. Grew up with them free ranging at my parents's home & all that. They pretty much took care of themselves though. Stepdad was an old school redneck. The chickens kinda sustained themselves & if we had chicks or one died- well"big whooop" was his thought....
I don't agree of course.
After living on my own for a while now, I've decided to start my own small flock. And actually take care of them & use them to make a little cash, eggs, & some meat now & again. This is still a long way off though- Since I've just now ordered my 5 Dorking chicks from a small hatchery a couple states over. Have their home mostly set up & am not confused about any of that. It will be ready by the time they get here. And to avoid redundant replies (to save you all some time lol!) I of course, have it to where the babies will receive the right amount of heat & all that until they're old enough to be without it.
The questions I've been pondering are this:
Should I get a "guard bird" (as a chick to be raised with my chickies) to protect/alert them when they free range?
If so, what would you recommend? (I've been considering a guinea, but sound may be an issue as we currently live on the edge of a subdivision)
Are there any species of guinea that happen to be less noisy than the insanely loud grey speckled ones I grew up around?
If so, can guinea become tame with enough handling?
Are there any vaccinations or wormings that need to be done when I get them or at certain stages in their lives that will help prevent any diseases? (I'm about prevention- not treatment....we don't have any local vets that treat chickens or I would've asked him/her lol.)
What type of substrate would be good for the bottom of my enclosure that will help keep things dry, & from smelling too bad that would also be good for the garden? (I read about mixing sawdust with mulch, but I also read mulch is bad, so any help appreciated!)
Sorry so many questions....bear with me here lol! I did searching on these before hand & couldn't come up with any solid answers, so I thought I'd ask the people with the experience!
Thanks so much!

 

[SelinaBroklyn]

Nope sorry the chickens I grew up with were pretty much took care of themselves as well. Grandparents put them n a coop at dusk.and let them out at day break... Sorry I couldnt be of more help. Lemme know what ypu find out as it may be beneficial to us as well good luck and good night

 

[MacCana]

Ahhh well thank you anyway Ms. Cat. It was worth a shot lol. I'll try to keep you posted & goodnight to you & your family as well!

 

[MacCana]

I guess no one can help me out here? I know my first post is long winded, so if you would like to save some time, this is what I need to know:

Should I get a "guard bird" (as a chick to be raised with my chickies) to protect/alert them when they free range?
If so, what would you recommend? (I've been considering a guinea, but sound may be an issue as we currently live on the edge of a subdivision)
Are there any species of guinea that happen to be less noisy than the insanely loud grey speckled ones I grew up around?
If so, can guinea become tame with enough handling?
Are there any vaccinations or wormings that need to be done when I get them or at certain stages in their lives that will help prevent any diseases? (I'm about prevention- not treatment....we don't have any local vets that treat chickens or I would've asked him/her lol.)
What type of substrate would be good for the bottom of my enclosure that will help keep things dry, & from smelling too bad that would also be good for the garden? (I read about mixing sawdust with mulch, but I also read mulch is bad, so any help appreciated!

 

[bugglesmommy]

I'm pretty sure there are no quiet guineas. They are very, very, very - did I say VERY? noisy. A rooster would be a decent flock protector and they may be a bit noisy but not guinea noisy. If a rooster would be too disturbing, then scratch a guinea right on out of the question. Have you considered a livestock guard dog?

Sand is a good substrate to use.

 

[MacCana]

Thanks for your reply! I was afraid no one was going to lol. Yeah, that's what I was thinking on the guinea-thing as well. I was just hoping maybe there was some species that was slightly less noisy that I may not have heard of yet since I'm not really too "knowledge-d" about guinea fowl. My only experience has been growing up around the gray speckled ones with the white cheeks (not sure what the specie name is specifically). I am actually hoping for a roo out of the few chicks I ordered. So yeah, a guinea would prob be too loud for where we live currently....I don't want to be "that neighbor". And we do have a wonderful cattle dog/shepherd cross named Lady that is excellent as far as alerting to any strange animals, but I'm afraid she'd be too gentle to fight off an raccoon, snakes, or possums, etc. Plus we have stray dogs that drift through sometimes, so was thinking a guinea shriek would scare the daylights out of them if they got too close. Too bad they don't breed a guinea that hollers just a few octaves lower huh? That'd be so perfect!

And as far as the sand, would that be ok for a garden? I'd imagine it wouldn't be, but here in TN I've not had to deal with that predicament too many times lol! I'm hoping for some sort of substrate combo that would be good for the yard as well.

 

[melslp13]

I really like sand because I scoop the poop and not much sand is lost in the process. I do throw the sand into the compost pile with the poop, but there's not much sand in the end compared with the poo (kinda like kitty litter)... oh so much poo. When I started this I had NO idea how much they go, lol.

 

[Traphill]

I am not a fan of sand....I am a gardener and the deep litter method is the only way to go there is no smell and when you clean out of the coop every 6 months or yearly you can compost it.

 

[MacCana]

What do you use for your litter? I'd like to be able to clean my run out less often - like you're talking about, when there's plenty of poo - & use it around the yard & garden. I have heard of the deep litter method, but i can't seem to find what I had read before again.