thinking about guineas plz help

[pringle]

well ive been thinking about getting guineas but I have a few questions.First can you keep them with chickens or do they need a seperate pen.2nd are they docile to you and come when ypu call them or do you need to keep them in a tractor. 3rd are they noisie? 4th can you eat there eggs like chickens?5th do you need to clip there wings from flying?and last how much do they weigh?thx

 

[Debbienmousey]

Hi! This is our second year of guineas and I absolutely love them

I hope I can be of help in answering your questions.

1st: We keep our guineas and chickens together and they live great together. The guinea cocks will occasionally chase a rooster for a little bit, but then again the roosters will occasionally try to mate a guinea hen. Our guineas show absolutely no aggression or bullying towards our roosters or hens. It may depend on your guineas/chickens. Do you currently have chickens? I assume you do and then it would probably be easiest to integrate guinea keats into your flock. (Although I wouldn't suggest letting the keats roam in your chicken flock until they're at least 10-12 weeks old) They should get along fine together.

2nd: It depends on what you mean by "docile". Unless you particularly tame them, you cannot hold/catch them easily. You can train the guineas to come when called I assume. Ours don't exactly come when called, but if they see one of us with a bowl or container in our hand then they come running. Personally I think guineas work best free-ranging. I've never used a chicken tractor so I don't know how that'd work.

3rd: Are guineas noisy? I'd have to say yes although I like their calls. All of the keats will be extremely noisy their first year. Once they "pair off" they tend to quiet down a bit. The hens are chatterboxes and talk buckwheat all the time. (This does vary per hen of course, some are very talkative and others are rather quiet) The cocks are not so noisy and generally only talk if their sounding the alarm or calling the hens for food.

4th: Yes, personally I believe guinea eggs to be more nutritious then chicken eggs. Why? Because they get out and eat more bugs and grass seeds. Guinea eggs are generally smaller than chicken eggs but they do vary in size.

5th: Err, this would depend on how you let them range. If their in a chicken tractor then I guess you could clip them. If you let them free-range, do not clip them. A guineas wings are it's safety. If a predator is chasing the guinea it will simply fly into a tree.

6th: I've never killed/eaten a guinea before so I don't know. I'd say at least 3 lbs for your average hen. But I honestly don't know.


I hope I helped

 

[pringle]

ok thx sooooo much

 

[Guinea Goonie]

You can raise and keep your Guineas with your chickens. They will roost in the coop with them if you train them or get them at a early age (about 8 weeks or so).

They are DUMB, NOISY, They do no come when called except for food, They are not docile, but mine are very sweet and a few come up on the back porch for bread.

They apparently are delicious for eating both the eggs and the meat.

You can get "french" Guinea fowl that are about 30 percent bigger and they are the same as far as temperament.

The "french" Guineas only come in one color, Pearl

You can get regular Guineas in a wide variety of colors and some are really cool looking.

White, Lavender, Royal Blue, Pearl, brown and pied are popular and many hatcheries carries the chicks in theses colors.

YES, you can order chicks from a few hatcheries during the summer months.

Get some, you will not regret it and they EAT TICKS !!

 

[lotzahenz]

I have guineas and they are very noisy, but that is a plus because they are the watch-dogs on the farm. They get very upset when strangers are around. I have some that seem smarter, and a couple of very dumb acting ones. The dumb ones were raised with chicks, the "smarter" ones were raised by their mother. They are wonderful for gardens, as they don't scratch up the dirt and just patrol around eating the bugs. I've never ate them or their eggs. I do love having them (most of the time) and would recommend them, especially if they can be a part of your garden. A great book to buy is: Gardening With Guineas. There is a web site the author has that has great info. Best of luck.

PS Buy baby guineas, as supposedly they will fly away home if you buy adults. We have one solid white guinea that picks out all tail feathers of ALL the chickens if he can get ahold of them. He is banned from the chicken yard, but runs the fence, back and forth, back and forth, trying to get in................yep, raised with chickens. He loves them, just loves to pluck feathers out I guess.

 

[sparkles2307]

I found out last night that the lady who bought my mother in law's childhood home has hundreds of guineas...so we are going over there to see fi she will sell me some!!!