Wing clipping, pinioning or all natural - why do you do what you do?

[PeepsCA]

LOL Brit, I have the same problem with Guineas on a metal roof...

I usually will stomp out there, take an empty grain sack, or a towel, (but the grain sack makes more noise), shake it at them, cuss them out and they bail

The hose works too tho... lol.

 

[Beekissed]

The most logical solution, of course, is to just not keep such a worrisome, troublesome bird at all. They provide very little benefit for the feed they eat, they are loud, they are extremely ugly, their eggs~if you can find 'em~are hard and small, they are difficult to contain...sounds like only a person who thrives on high stress levels would even contemplate owning such an animal.

 

[cupman]

Well I had planned on getting 10 or 15 but after reading about these birds some more I think I'm going to start small. The guy who has the eggs for me said he would take any of the extras that I hatch. I'll probably start out with 4 guineas and try to train them where home is. I guess if it becomes too big of a hassle they have a home on my friend's farm. Fingers crossed, though!

 

[perchie.girl]

The most logical solution, of course, is to just not keep such a worrisome, troublesome bird at all. They provide very little benefit for the feed they eat, they are loud, they are extremely ugly, their eggs~if you can find 'em~are hard and small, they are difficult to contain...sounds like only a person who thrives on high stress levels would even contemplate owning such an animal.

LOL.... they are perfect for me..... they dont cause me stress.... I guess cause The main reason I want them is for a burglar alarm.

 

[Kevin565]

Mine are natural simply because I enjoy their flying antics

 

[PeepsCA]

The most logical solution, of course, is to just not keep such a worrisome, troublesome bird at all. They provide very little benefit for the feed they eat, they are loud, they are extremely ugly, their eggs~if you can find 'em~are hard and small, they are difficult to contain...sounds like only a person who thrives on high stress levels would even contemplate owning such an animal.

LOL

It definitely takes a special breed of humans to be content with being owned by Guineas, lol. But all breeds of poultry have their own set of pros and cons. I don't have very many complaints about my Guineas..and truly, they are less trouble and less noise AND WAY LESS STRESS than a family of bratty kids by far! (Plus it's legal to cage them up when they are bad, lmao!).

Ugly? You've seen all the different breeds of turkeys, turkens and the naked neck, show girl chickens etc right? Some of those are way worse in the ugly department (no offense to those that breed and raise them), without the beautifully marked and colored feathers to even out the ugly part! People buy up my Guinea feathers by the handful for arts and craft work.

As far as their benefit to feed ratio goes... that depends on one's routine with them, but I've worked with mine, established a normal routine with them and believe me, they DO do earn their keep - They eat ticks by the thousands, devour tons of weed and thistle seeds, control the big nasty hairy wolf spiders and all the grass hoppers around here and take care of rattle snakes. They even kill mice if they get the chance. Plus they alert to sky predators and any predator that happens to get inside my fenced 10 acres. Yah sure, some breeds of chicken can do most of this too, but most usually won't range as far from the coop/pen as Guineas do, and aren't nearly as effective at it. Mine cover every sq inch of my property!

I mainly only keep Guineas (plus 4 Peafowl and 1 Turkey), I don't own any chickens so there are no aggression issues around here other than a few extra hormonal males during the breeding season. I have no problem finding/collecting the eggs, during the breeding/laying season I keep them in for the day until they lay then they are let out to free range. And if on occasion I do have to hunt down a nest or 2, I've learned their behaviors well enough to easily figure out where their nests are. I collect and incubate tons and tons and tons of their eggs each year, selling keets (and also hatching eggs) making plenty of money to pay the flocks' feed bill, and then some (again, earning their keep). And yah, their eggs are a little small, but the dark yellow almost orange yolked eggs are delicious and nutritious. Nothing like a free range egg! You get used to cracking the hard shells open after some practice, I have it down to an art

The longer you keep them and the more you work with them (starting from DAY ONE), the less work, problematic and stressful keeping Guineas becomes. Like any animal, they need to be trained, and they need a routine. And if you can be consistent, it can be done! But as I said above, it takes a special breed of human to be able to handle being owned by Guineas. But in case ya can't tell, I for one LOVE MY GUINEAS!!!

 

[perchie.girl]

Test.... Ive been having probs getting notification by email. Just wanted to see if I had something to do in fixing it.

 

[PeepsCA]

Did ya fix it?

 

[perchie.girl]

I was hopefull but it looks systemic with a group of people We are all commenting and the staff is ferreting it all out.
I didnt Get this one. I may go web only for a while if we cant figure it out. So we will see.

Did ya fix it?

 

[BritinMO]

Absolutely brilliant summary by PeepsCA of why we love our guineas!!!!