Gardening with guineas...

[lesa]

I think "freemotion" mentioned she gardened with guineas. I am very interested in this idea. I think they might be the key to organic gardening. I can pick bugs off plants, but not very well!! My question is- does anyone in a cold climate keep them over the winter? What shelter do they need, food, etc. If they fly off, can they survive in the wild? Can they be housed with the chickens? Can anyone recommend a good book about raising them? Thanks for your help!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey! i just gone a passel of guineas for the same reason! and b/c i refuse to be defeated by those evil squash bugs next year!

here is what i found:

* they are crazy looking birds
* apparently they arent very cuddly or snugly
* when they get bigger they will start harassing the hens
* they make jungle noises
* everyone has told me to keep them cooped for several months b/4 letting them loose.

i've been reading the BYC site for guinea info.. and i read an article in countryside journal about 'gardening with guineas'. my little ones are in with the hens but they'll be moved to a pen with the turks later. apparently, with shelter, they can do well in the winter.

 

[lesa]

Oh- thanks! Keep us posted on your results! I think this is a fascinating idea- I love the notion of nature taking care of things....Yes, I saw the article in Countryside as well. What are you feeding yours? Did you order them?

 

[Greensage45]

Hey there,

Guineas are a natural species and so they have built in habits.

I also heard that the training to a coop is the most difficult and as such predator losses are greater.

They also take on a 6 mile range. This can be in any direction, but what you will find is that they do seem to recognize the edges of roads as being 'boundary lines', so if you are in the country and it has been several days or a few weeks and have not seen your guineas, there is a good chance they are within the confines of the surrounding roads.

Respectful neighbors are a plus with keeping guineas, since they will inadvertently spend just as much time in other folks gardens as they do their own (if they are nearby neighbors). Be sure and introduce them to the neighbors as you begin to let them have freedom.

It is also a good idea to make a small sign to warn drivers on nearby roads to be Cautious of Crossing Guineas; as noted here in my area they seem to be attracted to roads. I think it is the same reason doves go to roads because cars passing stir up and break up seed debris, and trucks carrying waste material has seeds falling out of it.

I think it might be a good idea to mix a white (pearl) guinea in the bunch because the normal feathering is so easy to camouflage them; roadside grasses get tall.

Well, other than waiting for the nearest flock to come visit my home, I have no guineas and I look forward to hearing of your adventures and how they work out.

Ron

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

we got 2 adults from the livestock auction - honestly i was so excited about bidding that i didnt even bother to ask males or females! hee hee they must have thought i was the biggest country bumpkin in the place!

they are both males and we call them Bob and Roy

the next day i found a CL ad for babies - wouldnt that just figure. so we got 3 more month olds. right now they are separated.

the gal who sold us the babies said that chick feed is just fine - but technically you'd want to feed them a higher protein ration. and when they free range they will load up on bugs and such.

we are braced for high mortality and hope that at least one of the babies will be a laying female in the spring.

we also read the article from themodernhomestead about clipping their wings and using electric netting to keep them in the garden. so we'll give that a whirl.

 

[freemotion]

Clipping their wings??? You could pluck those buggers bald and they would still be able to fly into the rafters!!!

Mine survive the New England winters just fine. They abandoned the coop and the hens to roost in the rafters. Sometimes they will roost in a tree, but not too often. Sometimes, more often when they were younger, they will choose to sleep in the coop, usually on the floor with a Buff Orpington spreading her wing over them, actually, several. Those hens are so mothering!

Mine eat with my chickens and spend the day where-ever they want to. I live in a sort of suburban neighborhood where all the yards are 75' wide, but we have about four acres behind the neighbors' houses and it adjoins a farm in the back....busy road in front, and shopping center within sight of us. The guineas will go 3-4 yards over and only a little ways onto the farm, and will not cross the road in the front. They lay their eggs in other yards....we haven't found the latest nest. We found the last three in one neighbor's yard, and recently he cleaned up all the brushy areas, so I don't know where they are hiding their eggs now....last two nests I found held 26 and 27 eggs, the previous one was in a brush pile that the neighbor burned and said he found about 40 eggs!

I trained them (ha-ha!!) to come when I call by giving them a handful of sunflower seeds twice a day. They still patrol the neighborhood, but my neighbors have stopped showing up to have me come get my birds.....I explained that I'd read about clipping their flight feathers, and naively believed it. I told them about the bug patrol, and to let me know if the birds were a problem. Thank goodness no one has complained. I would never be able to catch them to get rid of them if I needed to!

Their "intruder alert" call is deafening when all three get going. I cannot imagine having more than that!

I have two hens and a cock. The cock is mean to my chickens around food, and I had to confine my turkeys because he continually beat them up and terrified them. My tom is about 35 lbs!

Whew! They are amazing at bug patrol....if only I could confine them....

 

[lesa]

I spent several hours reading a bunch of posts about guineas on BYC. You won't be surprised to know, I had a very vivid dream that i looked out at my bird feeders and saw several guineas!! I woke up this morning, wondering if it really happened!! I've got it really bad! So, freemotion, can you see a difference in the bug population since having the birds?? Or are they all over the place, not helping you out? I am interested to hear that you are in a neighborhood, near a busy road. Many of the posts on BYC mention that the birds are very attracted to the road. Do you find that to be the case? All in all, are you happy to have them? Thanks for the info!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

pluck them bald!?!? honey could they GET any uglier!!!????? we keep laughing that they look like dr seuss animals.. eeeeek!

good thing we are tucked way back here away from most decent folks. i kinda like their chattering but wait..... 26 eggs?!??!?! are you freakin' kidding me?? so um... how often do they set a nest and have you had babies?

my tom, TurkZilla, is huge and hates me..he's aways trying to peck my eyes out. maybe i'll set Bob and Roy on 'im and see how he likes it

;-)

on a serious note tho - the little ones REALLY start peeping when it starts to get dark. are they scared? cold? just weird? they are in a brooder coop in the hen house with a screened front so they can see out.

 

[freemotion]

ofg, they are just practicing their intruder alert. They do it all the time for no apparent reason. One of mine is sounding the alarm right now. Sometimes they get separated and will call for the others.

Yes, 26 seems to be her (my white-belled hen is my broody one) magic number. They both have to be laying in the nest for there to be that many eggs. I wish they would lay in the coop...they used to, and we could use their eggs. The yolks are even darker than my free-ranging chicken's eggs, probably from the higher bug diet. I was able to use one nest's worth of eggs, since we had a very cool early spring/summer, and I found the nest the first day she started brooding.

I don't let her set on them because, from what I've read, they will lead the chicks into the wet grass and get them chilled, unlike a chicken who is very good at keeping her chicks warm. Also, three guineas IS ENOUGH!!!! So I don't even let it happen for a day or two if I can find her. I usually find the nest when she starts sitting. I think she covers it with leaves and such until she sits. Twice the nest was within a few feet from my gate, on the other side of the fence, within full view of where I walk....and look....many times a day. I didn't see it until I walked too close to her the first day she sat all day and she forgot herself and let out a little squawk.

Yes, there is a difference in the amount of bugs. In the neighborhood, too, I'd guess, if our yard is any indication. They won't go into my pasture, which is what I got them for, and to fence them into the garden, like Harvey Ussery does. He must have a different type of guinea than I do!

I think I have been fortunate, I bought three keets locally, raised them with a batch of chicks in a brooder, and they lived the first winter with the chickens in the coop. Then they formed their own little flock of three and moved into the horse's stall, in the rafters, and that is where they live. I see them going into the coop and sometimes they will lay an egg in there. Twice I had a bird badly injured, and with a few days of quiet, they survived. They seem amazingly hardy, at least mine have been.

Get permission from your neighbors first. Really emphasize bug patrol, talk about ticks and wasps. That helps!

No outdoor cat survives on my road for more than 3-4 days and a loose dog is a goner, but my guineas are going strong after two....or is it three now?....years.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

wow this is great!! when my little get bigger i'll start putting them with my spring chicks so they can acclimate...

and i LOVE Harvey!!! he's really been a great mentor (i talked to him once or twice but i read everything he writes) - lots of great info. i love what he does with worms for his chickies

a funny story -

i got some worms to compost in the kitchen... well one day there was the big worm stampede!! they all got out of their tub and made a break for the drains etc. i was so mad. some friends teased me and said i needed to get one of those kiddie farm sets and use the teeny tiny fences to keep them in. oh ha ha ha

my cats had a field day with the stragglers and i still have the oogly-booglies from the whole thing!

anyway i'm so excited about the guineas!