Guinea Fowl

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

In this thread:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/concealed-carry-self-defense/432063-rural-home-security.html

Guinea fowl was mentioned as an Alarm system.

Soo, I looked them up.

And I found this site:

Guinea Fowl International Association - Guinea Fowl Breeders List

In looking thru the color chart for the birds,

I found that there are quite a few different colors.

At this time we are thinking of moving to Texas Hill Country after she retires.

The Wife has read the original thread and is OK with the idea of having guinea fowl.

She wasn't happy when my Dad had a pair of guard geese in the yard.
They bit the hand that fed them and her.

Our cattle dog was constantly protecting her from them.

Don't know a thing about raising birds, but, I can learn.

Again, your comments are welcome.

If it doesn't work out, they are edible.

 

[ringo1597]

I am right on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, you will love it here, packing up and heading out to West Texas in the morning. There is nothing to raising Guinea Fowl, toss then some grain in the morning, they peck at it, but they tend to forage on their own. They will keep your property clean of bugs and even snakes.

 

[Jinglebob]

Nothing to raising guinea fowl, they pretty much fend for themselves. You can eat them, they taste like pheasant to me. Don't forget the guinea eggs. They are delicious fixed any way you like. They make excellent deviled eggs and are great in potato salad and in cakes and pies. I think guinea eggs are tastier than chicken eggs.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Guinea Fowl are interesting and useful birds.
I wish I could have them where I live.
Me and geese don't get along that well either.
It wouldn't take many geese attacks before they did like Elvis and left the arena.

 

[Texas Star]

Are these the same guinea fowl shot in Africa on safari?

One form is called the Helmeted Guinea Fowl.

 

[Stevens]

When I was selling sugar cane machinery I had customers on a sugar plantation in Somalia, late 70s and 80s, when it was safe there. There were so many wild Guinea Fowl running around on the plantation field roads they used to go out in the evenings and hit a flock in their Land Rover, pick up the dead or injured and fix them for dinner, they were very good!. Of course no guns of any kind allowed but once I brought them some Whammo sling shots to try hunting them with but the Land Rovers were more effective.
Steve W

 

[Jim R]

We had them here until we got too many neighbors. They will let you know when anyone is coming and they taste great. Very easy to keep. You won't need a hen house as they would rather be in a tree at night.

BTW after you get them you will not be sleeping in anymore.

 

[kthom]

BTW after you get them you will not be sleeping in anymore.

This is absolutely true. You will have an alarm clock that goes off early every day of the world! That said, they are neat fowl, and they eat a ton of bugs. And they will sound off anytime any one or anything disturbs them. I like having them around! They are a little hard to catch though ...

 

[chaparrito]

The other nice thing about Guineas is they don't dig the way chickens do. Guineas will patrol your garden and neatly peck bugs off the ground and off the plants, chickens will devastate a garden in a day.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Neighbor used to keep a flock around his place. I think they roosted in his tack shed or maybe on the roof. They set up quite a racket when animals or people come around. They seem to know who belongs there and who doesn't. They don't like snakes either. I'm pretty sure when a flock of them descend on a snake he's a goner. As I recall they are good fliers and don't require much in the way of maintenance. His just roamed around his house and corral chattering all day.

 

[chaparrito]

They will naturalize. I bought a dozen unsexed chicks about 20 years ago. Tried to keep them in my poultry yard but they flew out and did their own thing. Haven't bought any since. They nest somewhere down in the bushes along the creek and the coyotes seem to keep their numbers at about an even dozen all the time.

 

[gdnagle]

They make good watch dogs but be warned we had some that were not very friendly. You could walk up to them and just as you walked past them they would climb up you back and peck your head. If they weren't such good watch dogs they could have been on the dinner table like a certain roster we have if he doesn't settle down. Great at bug control and they love to eat ticks, and are self maintaining. They don't lay eggs like a chicken they only lay seasonally so I find it better to just let them hatch, you can never have too many.

Now if you want a loud watch dog-bird look into peacocks. That's if you feel you've had enough sleep so far in your life time. When they scream it sounds like someone stepped on a baby and are they loud.

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

Thank You for all the information.

We have peacocks running wild here in Honolulu.

Worse yet, they are Protected by Law.

There was a case a few years ago that a woman was arrested and had to

go to court because she killed one with a baseball bat. The flock was

pooing all over the cars and making waaay to much noise in the area.

OK if killed by another animal.

Down side of guinea fowl so far, the Wife likes to Sleep late.

Fowl attacking her will be interesting, don't think the Cattle dogs

will take to kindly to bird attacks.

Hope they learn fast or the flock will be thinned out,

or, they will be "herded" by the dogs.

 

[tyusclan]

As others have said, they eat ticks, fleas, and most other bugs, and they are excellent watchdogs.

You will also never have another quiet day as long as you own them. They make some kind of noise almost constantly, and set up a din that will wake the dead any time something out of the ordinary sets them off.