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Around these parts, it's an inevitable part of spring and summer. Ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, buffalo gnats, just to name a few. For me, the ticks are the worst. Especially the Lyme disease carrying Deer Ticks. It's impossible to walk out the door without finding one crawling on your skin. And if you go in the woods? You're guaranteed to come back in, crawling with ticks. DH and I have come out of the woods, with literally hundreds of ticks, the size of a pinhead crawling on our legs! Not a pretty sight!
Since our homestead is situated on a hill, surrounded in woods we have a lot of trouble with ticks. For this very reason, for the last couple of years I have been considering getting Guinea fowl. Guinea fowl are native to Africa but are commonly raised here in the U.S. for insect control on farms. Typically they are allowed to roam free during the day, then put in the coop at night. Since they like to roost in trees, this helps keep them from being preyed on my night predators, such as owls and racoons. (I had no idea owls would attack guineas!)
Guinea fowl will also alert you to any intruders onto the property, with their loud screeching. Because they can be so noisy, it's probably a good idea to listen to them to know if you (and your neighbors) can handle the noise!
In addition to their tick eating abilities, they also will supply you with tasty little eggs, and you can also eat the guinea fowl meat. I have read it is comparable to chicken and turkey, although personally I have not tried it.
I have been getting really excited about my newest poultry adventure! Because of their noise, and the close proximity of our chicken coop to the house, I am planning on building a small guinea coop to house them further away from our homes.
Since guinea keets (babies) are not available through hatcheries until May or so, I still have about a month of waiting before I can place my order. Patience is not my strong suit!
Does anyone have experience with guineas? I'm really curious to hear everyone's adventures with them!
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I don't have experience with them, but I'm curious to find out how your experiences pan out! I live in the South and grasshoppers seem to be our biggest problem. They destroyed my garden last year. ;(
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your garden :( I would imagine they would help with the grasshoppers too. Another benefit I read about, is they tend to not go after plants as much as chickens do. Supposedly they don't scratch as much. I hope it's true!
DeleteNichole I am getting ready to order some chicks and I have been super impatient too! I am thinking about getting quails at some point too but don't have the room for guineas...I think is so cool you are going to get some! Thanks for linking up to The Ole' Saturday Homesteading Trading Post!
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to wait, isn't it? I have always though keeping quail would be neat too!
DeleteOur favorite tick control method so far has been bantam chickens. We haven't been able to keep guineas, they always end up falling to predators because they hate being penned up at night. And they're NOISY!
ReplyDeleteHopefully you'll have better luck than we did though! :)
Thanks for sharing your experience! I am a bit concerned about how they will do with predators, but I figured I will at least give it a try. We used to free range our chickens, but they drove my dad crazy by pooping on his new concrete. lol I'm hoping we won't have that problem, since I am going to keep them further away from the house.
DeleteWe have 4 guineas. We started out with 6. We bought them as keets. They did really well, going into the coop at night, hanging out in the chicken run. Then, I don't know what happened, but they started roosting in the oak tree above the chicken coop. I'm not about to climb a tree and make the dumb things go inside. We had a bad winter storm and I swear to you, one of the guineas was blown down the road to my neighbor's place, though of course, I can't go up and say "hey that's my guinea". Another one ended up in something's stomach. Now we have four, 3 males, one female.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you, it won't matter how far away you put their house, you will hear them. You will hear them at dawn, you will hear them all day long. Don't let people fool you into believing they are good guard control. Mine honk and carry on ALL DAY LONG. A leaf can blow across the yard and they will carry on...for 30 minutes or so. You notice the quiet when they finally hush. It's a strange feeling NOT to hear them. You really will want to check with your neighbors to make sure they are cool with it. I'm actually surprised that our neighbors have not killed the guineas yet. I would have if I were the neighbor!
I'm not sure about reproductive value. The female laid a clutch of eggs on the bank of a creek. Then we had a flood. She laid another clutch in the same location. We had another flood. She gave up for a while, but I did see the males trying to mate with her this morning. Maybe we'll get another clutch of eggs. Their eggs are tasty to eat, but you'll have to search for them if they escape your coop/run area.
We are probably going to butcher the four we have because we don't want to lose them to a predator. The whole point of getting them was to eat them. They taste like dark turkey meat. There's not a lot of meat on them either, sorta like a small grocery store fryer.
We don't have ticks in our area, but I can attest they do not bother my garden plants. They also are very amusing and entertaining. They fly very well for such an awkward bird. Clipping their wings really doesn't make a difference like it does with the chickens. They are not afraid of cats and will chase them off, but they will go silent if a hawk or dog comes around.
Good luck with them.
Ours roosted in the trees too and one by one"disappeared" with sometimes a fwe feathers lft behind. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through the Teach Me Tuesday link up. Here is my link-up : http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-tuesday-green-smoothies.html
We have 3 (at the moment). We started out with 2 males and a female. She laid eggs every summer (usually 3 times). In our experience, it is best to collect the eggs and the hen and seperate them from the males and other wildlife. We had a problem with coons getting the eggs. Also, when the babies hatch, they are really bad about getting lost or drowning in the rain. Babies can drown in wet grass if it is over their nostrils. We tried letting her take care of them by herself, but wound up losing all of them. At one point, she led them all into the creek and we had to save them. We kept the other babies seperated from her after they were born. They need to be fed chick starter until they can eat bugs and forage on their own. I think we had twenty-something guineas running around at one time. All of ours roost in the trees at night. That is their defense against predators (another reason to keep the babies in a seperate pen until they are bigger).
ReplyDeleteWe are getting some in a couple weeks. We found a local breeder to get them from. We have 10 acres and lots of woods so I am hoping to get some help in the tick department. I am just hoping we can get them to roost indoors at night, as we have already lost one chicken who got left out at night....
ReplyDeleteMy sis-in-law has them and they're very hearty. Hers even chase her large dogs around. The guineas rule her yard with an iron fist. She did have to separate them from the hens because her guineas are bullies. She says they really keep ticks at bay.
ReplyDeleteWe just got keets through someone locally on Craigslist, and they are just now old enough to let them out and roam around. We are hoping they will take care of fleas on our property, as we are in Central FL where that is a problem. We also have rattlesnakes and we hope they will do their job to alert us if one is around. And we have some good guard dogs here on our little off-grid homestead, so if something hungry comes to try to eat our guinneas they will have to pass them by first!
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you and dh as you build your little homestead and learn to live sustainably.
I've got 6 in my breezeway right now! My future MIL has had them several times. I think one of the biggest helps is keeping them where you want them to stay for as long as possible before letting them out. The batch she had the most luck with was raised in the barn (in a tub, it was summer so they didn't need to much protection) where they eventually ended up ranging. We got them for bug protection, both for ticks and to help out in the garden/orchard.
ReplyDeleteStopping over from the Farmgirl Hop
Excellent blog post, guinea fowl can be domesticated.
ReplyDeleteWonderful blogpost. I'm your new follower. More power to you!
ReplyDeleteWe never had any insect problem, but as the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”. That’s why we grow plants known to drive these insects away. We also use natural methods that are way far cheaper, healthier and proven to have longer lasting effects compared to chemical-based products.
ReplyDelete