Training Guinea Fowl to Kill Snakes

[NickiV]

I have heard a couple people say that guineas can be trained to kill snakes, but no one has described how they did it. Has anyone had experience with this?

 

[Gill-b]

As far as I know it is a natural instinct for a flock of Guinea Fowl to take on a snake. No training needed.

 

[R2elk]

I have heard a couple people say that guineas can be trained to kill snakes, but no one has described how they did it. Has anyone had experience with this?

Number one is that you need a large flock of guineas so they can have and exhibit proper flock dynamics.

You can't train them to kill snakes but as a flock they may kill but will definitely chase snakes away.

I've had better luck with turkeys as snake deterrents.

A neighbor had his turkeys surround a rattlesnake the other day. They took turns pecking it viciously in the head. There were about 10 turkeys in a circle around the snake. He broke up their circle and finished the rattler with a shovel.

 

[NickiV]

As far as I know it is a natural instinct for a flock of Guinea Fowl to take on a snake. No training needed.

I've heard that too, but recently I've seen a bunch of posts from people saying their guineas won't touch them. Seems to be 50/50 on whether they eviscerate them, or ignore them.

 

[R2elk]

I've heard that too, but recently I've seen a bunch of posts from people saying their guineas won't touch them. Seems to be 50/50 on whether they eviscerate them, or ignore them.

You can't expect a couple of guineas to act the same way a flock of guineas does. There is bravery in numbers.

People get a couple of guineas and expect them to do the same things that naturally occurs in a large flock of guineas.

 

[NickiV]

You can't expect a couple of guineas to act the same way a flock of guineas does. There is bravery in numbers.

People get a couple of guineas and expect them to do the same things that naturally occurs in a large flock of guineas.

How many would you say is a large flock? I have 18 guineas.

 

[R2elk]

How many would you say is a large flock? I have 18 guineas.

18 is a decent sized flock.

 

[tranquiliti]

Here is my hen “Chief” pouting due to a bull snake—at the time I think I had eight full-grown guineas and two nearly-mature adolescents.
Not a true flock per @R2elk’s definition