Comments on: Guinea Hens

By: Jackson

Jackson — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:26:41 +0000

We had guineas when I was a kid and they are fun but very different from a regular chicken. They are excellent watch dogs and will annoy your neighbors. I think they are a wild chicken from Africa. We had the grey and white ones and after awhile we got a mix of both. They wouldn’t roost in the hen house but all over in the trees at night. Ours used to set up a nest every summer hiding in the best of places far from the house. They don’t stop laying when they set so the nests would fill full and mama would show up with 4-5 babies and off we would go to try and find and dispose of the rest of the eggs to keep the raccoons and other critters away. We would take the eggs to the highest hill several miles from the house and launch the eggs with golf clubs out into the fields. The shells are soooo hard (if their were chicks inside they were long dead because the mom had left the nest). Just another something fun to do on the farm.

By: Maven Koesler

Maven Koesler — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:11:27 +0000

Guineas don’t do well with neighbors as a rule. The hens’ alarm call (which they use constantly) sounds like a squeaky screen door slamming…over and over and over ad infinitum.
That said, we have free range guineas roaming our old hometown (pop. under 2000). They do what I call, “Cricket Patrol” in front of the post office and library. The lady who “owned” them passed away last year, and they continue to thrive and raise chicks in the abandoned lots and local gardens despite stray cats and dogs (and opossums, owls, and ‘coons in town) The population seems to stay around a constant 15 to 20 birds. I think the neighbors throw out leftovers for them, and I know they raid dog and catfood bowls when available.
Few folks seem to mind them, but they do spread out and make noise in different areas rather than in one backyard.
I look forward to starting them next year out here on the farm. I don’t mind the noise – my peacocks are louder. I am waiting to order until the second and third goat paddocks are finished. My yard dog (Anatolian ShepardxLab) cannot resist free range chooks and carries them around until they have a heart attack. The “lab” is strong within him. But he has seemed to have gotten the raccoons respect. They avoid the chicken house now.
I will let the guineas ‘range with the does next summer.

By: Ivory Soap

Ivory Soap — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:40:46 +0000

So sorry to be the bearer of bad news….but the guineas are no more. Mama fed them wrong and they didn’t take it very well.