[SLI]

Hi,
I have two guinea fowl coming and have been reading up on keeping them. I have a small flock of laying hens (6) and will keep the guinea fowl in a separate but joined pen at first and after about 8 weeks will allow them to free-range like the chooks.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[bloomer]

i don't keep them but observed behaviour from birds seen at other peoples places...


they really like to range a lot further than chooks,


they don't like going into there houses,


they want to roost up tree's,


they are bloody noisy,


other than that they look really nice, there were some really handsome white ones at Lanark market yesterday...

[bigchicken]

Yes they are free spirits, the one thing I would add is they taste very good

[bloomer]

i'll add them to my dishes to try if offered list!!!

[Marches Farmer]

We kept them alongside our hens for many years and they largely ignored each other, although the males occasionally crashed into a hen when chasing each other around in the breeding season.  They will probably put themselves to bed in their pen at night - ours always did - we kept them shut up for three weeks before they were allowed to free range.  Probably worth taking the time to train them to come to call by sprinkling a little grain in the pen each day  - always handy if you need to get hold of one as they're flighty and escape a poultry net with ease.  They lay anywhere they happen to be and we never had one go broody.  Tough as old boots and good at warning about birds of prey, foxes, the postman, delivery drivers .....  Worth keeping just one male or the dominant one will turn the others into motheaten feather dusters by early sumer.

[SLI]

Thanks All,
You've pretty much confirmed what I've read. I'm getting 2 females (hens?) and will definitely train them to come. My chooks come when I rattle the grain tin, so hopefully the guinea fowl will do the same. I have one crabby neighbour about 200 yards away and have already spoken to the local Environmental Health Dept. (Just in case they're very noisy). I intend to pen them at night so hopefully any noise will be during the day.
Fingers crossed then - another hare-brained scheme is off and running!
Incidentally I have eaten Guinea Fowl. It's rather like partridge I think. Pretty good!
These will be pets, though 

[SLI]

I haven't seen white ones, apart from photos. The two I'm getting are the 'ordinary' grey and a lavender that's really pretty.

[Eve]

My last guinea fowl roosted in the chicken coop with the chickens - it took a fortnight of taking it off its perch (the highest it could get as our run has a covered roof) and just when I was thinking it became too difficult to catch it because it had come to realise what was coming each night, it got the message and went up in the coop by itself! Always the last one to go in but never mind. We had stoat problems at the time and had lost two of our three guinea fowl because of that, so we had to lock every bird in each night. If our run didn't have a roof the guinea fowl would have been high up in the trees 

So we lost 2 of our 3 guinea fowl to the stoat, but we don't have the third one anymore either... Because even 200m is a distance that is easily covered by the voice of a guinea fowl      
Maybe ours was calling out for a mate as it was on its own among chickens so perhaps usually they're not like this, but it really called all day long with few breaks. Imagine a cockerel crowing all day long...



Ours were trained to come and would eat out of your hand, but then again we had hatched them ourselves.

I hope you enjoy yours 

[roddycm]

Hatch your own or buy them as day olds then rear them with your chicks... this will make them calmer and will ensure they roost with your hens at night.

[SLI]

Oh dear, Eve.....I suppose I'll just have to wait and see now. Too late Roddycm as I've bought them. We're just sorting out the pen etc before we collect them.
I have read that they call if they haven't got a mate. When we were at the breeders they weren't making a lot of noise. I can live in hope. The breeder is pretty good. He's a farmer & I'm sure he'd take them back if we had problems.
Thanks for replying.

[roddycm]

keep them shut in and im sure they will be fine after a while... i love the noise they make, but i know its not to everyones liking haha as long as they have company they should be quite content! they lay lots of eggs which are good to eat and if you do eventually breed the extras are good to eat roasted!

[chrismahon]

We've given Guinea Fowl a heck of a lot of consideration and decided against them. Although we have no first hand experience I have been repeatedly told that unless they are under 4 weeks old you cannot imprint the coop as their home on them. They also need a lot of space because when stressed or frightened they will shed their feathers. They are definitely a free ranging bird only. Over here they are seasonal and command a high price.


I'd be interested to hear how you get on SLI because different breeding strains will have slightly different characteristics.

[SLI]

Well Chris, I'll let you know. I've certainly read and been told very mixed things and also pretty conflicting info about Guinea Fowl so I suppose I'm going to be the "tester" for some people!

[Eve]

SLI, maybe ours was indeed calling out for a mate - we couldn't risk taking another one in just to see if that would work. Perhaps the farmer who is selling them can advise you on that (and if he confirms it, you might want to take a cockerel as well? Three are not much more work than two  ). Mine were gorgeous, three different ones inc one lavender.

 

[Marches Farmer]

Females make a sort of whee-chuck noise, fairly constantly.  The alarm call is hard to miss!  The black-with-spots variety often has a white bib of sorts and is called a Pearl Pied.  Our tame(ish) ones were kept in a cardboard box in the living room until 3 weeks old so they got used to people, the television, telephone, vacuum cleaner .....