perchie.girl
RIP 1953-2021
Quote:
Cari do they carry Gamebird? I am raising Guinea Keets. Ten birds are eating fifty pounds of Gamebird starter every four weeks. I have thirty three one week olds. So I am looking at going through 150 lbs of Gamebird starter in this first month. The feed needs to be at least 30 percent protein, because the growth rate with Keets is much faster than Chicks.
Wow that's a lot of food!!! Can I ask (because I don't know Guineas) what their purpose is for you?? All these new varieties of poultry are so intriguing to me!!! And, how are your goats doing? If you remember back to when I said I had spools available.. I found a great use for the smaller spools. I cut out a hole into the center, and it makes the perfect nesting box for my chickens. My Seramas and Games love them, and when my Games are out ranging, my LF hens jump in there and lay eggs too!! Very funny!
Guineas are an odd critter. They look like army helmets with feet..... They are Loud I mean loud measured in Decibels. LOL. But there are several reasons I want them: They eat bugs like ticks, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. They have a strong sense of predators and will alert if there is anything unusual on your property. Because of this, they make good walking burglar alarms and the chickens are a little bit safer. I personally have seen my own small original flock of Guineas escort a coyote off the property Chi Chi Chi ing at him charging and threatening to peck.... all the while the coyote kept moving and looking back as if to say... "This aint Righhht...." They are excellent fliers and if allowed to free range have a tendency to range over about twenty acres. They also lay eggs which are about the size of a bantam egg or a little bit larger. Edible of course. The egg yolk is larger in proportion to the white. I have heard the meat tastes like pheasant also. By the time they are two weeks old they are capable of flying up onto a perch six feet above the ground.
Once they reach the tweenager stage about four weeks the food consumption begins to taper off to more normal levels. But by the time they are four weeks old all baby fuzz is pretty much gone and they can fly with the rest of the flock which means they can go up to about twenty feet above the ground and motor along quite some distance. But for the most part they run like quail. Everywhere they go. They are most definitely not like chickens they don't get friendly unless you have a food treat, They pair off so it doesn't matter how many males you have. They don't crow at night but don't wake them up if you don't want to get Chi Chi Chi'd at.... LOL.
So my main reasons are Because I like them and their quirkiness. And as an added benefit they will alert when they perceive something different on the property. I live about half way between the highway and the border and we get the occasional foot traffic through. I feel safe there but I like the idea of having about forty more sets of eyes. And they come in colors.... The original color Pearl (Dark with white polka-dots), Then there is Lavender(light with white polka-dots), Royal Purple (black with Purple sheen), Brown (Dark with Bronze sheen), Pied (White and Pearl), Lavender Pied(White and lavender). Those are the colors I have. There are at least twenty five that I know of there may be more.
There is also a market for the Eggs either for cooking or Blown for crafts. The egg shell is so hard you have to use the back of a knife to get them to crack. The feathers are good for crafts. Some fishermen use them for lures.
edited to add:
Whew I wrote a book....LOL.
And Yes I do plan on getting chickens but not till my Guinea flock is established.
Cari do they carry Gamebird? I am raising Guinea Keets. Ten birds are eating fifty pounds of Gamebird starter every four weeks. I have thirty three one week olds. So I am looking at going through 150 lbs of Gamebird starter in this first month. The feed needs to be at least 30 percent protein, because the growth rate with Keets is much faster than Chicks.
Wow that's a lot of food!!! Can I ask (because I don't know Guineas) what their purpose is for you?? All these new varieties of poultry are so intriguing to me!!! And, how are your goats doing? If you remember back to when I said I had spools available.. I found a great use for the smaller spools. I cut out a hole into the center, and it makes the perfect nesting box for my chickens. My Seramas and Games love them, and when my Games are out ranging, my LF hens jump in there and lay eggs too!! Very funny!
Guineas are an odd critter. They look like army helmets with feet..... They are Loud I mean loud measured in Decibels. LOL. But there are several reasons I want them: They eat bugs like ticks, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. They have a strong sense of predators and will alert if there is anything unusual on your property. Because of this, they make good walking burglar alarms and the chickens are a little bit safer. I personally have seen my own small original flock of Guineas escort a coyote off the property Chi Chi Chi ing at him charging and threatening to peck.... all the while the coyote kept moving and looking back as if to say... "This aint Righhht...." They are excellent fliers and if allowed to free range have a tendency to range over about twenty acres. They also lay eggs which are about the size of a bantam egg or a little bit larger. Edible of course. The egg yolk is larger in proportion to the white. I have heard the meat tastes like pheasant also. By the time they are two weeks old they are capable of flying up onto a perch six feet above the ground.
Once they reach the tweenager stage about four weeks the food consumption begins to taper off to more normal levels. But by the time they are four weeks old all baby fuzz is pretty much gone and they can fly with the rest of the flock which means they can go up to about twenty feet above the ground and motor along quite some distance. But for the most part they run like quail. Everywhere they go. They are most definitely not like chickens they don't get friendly unless you have a food treat, They pair off so it doesn't matter how many males you have. They don't crow at night but don't wake them up if you don't want to get Chi Chi Chi'd at.... LOL.
So my main reasons are Because I like them and their quirkiness. And as an added benefit they will alert when they perceive something different on the property. I live about half way between the highway and the border and we get the occasional foot traffic through. I feel safe there but I like the idea of having about forty more sets of eyes. And they come in colors.... The original color Pearl (Dark with white polka-dots), Then there is Lavender(light with white polka-dots), Royal Purple (black with Purple sheen), Brown (Dark with Bronze sheen), Pied (White and Pearl), Lavender Pied(White and lavender). Those are the colors I have. There are at least twenty five that I know of there may be more.
There is also a market for the Eggs either for cooking or Blown for crafts. The egg shell is so hard you have to use the back of a knife to get them to crack. The feathers are good for crafts. Some fishermen use them for lures.
edited to add:
Whew I wrote a book....LOL.
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