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I just had to jump in and agree with the previous poster who mentioned the great book "Gardening with Guineas" and the awesome message board moderated by the same author (known as "Frit"); http://guineafowl.com/board/list.php?2 I found the book first as I was interested in guineas because they would NOT SCRATCH at dirt/plants like my chickens do. (We practice organic gardening and love the help w/pests.) I provided the guineas a mirror and dust pit which also keep them happy and away from my house. I must also mention that I find their poop much less icky! ;-) I love my chickens but they make me insane when they scratch all my mulch out of the beds and eat my flowers. I've finally made a run to keep the hens locked up more (tho they are still let out frequently). I LOVE the silly silly guineas tho - they do not hurt my plants and are so entertaining and helpful as they roam our pastures eating bugs and weeds. We do have a large farm, set well back from the road so neighbors aren't really a problem. Their noise only bothers me occaisionaly if they come up and interrupt a conversation by "barking" at the stranger to our farm. I did follow all of Frit's great advice; started keets in my house w/handling, transitioned out to "nursery" pen in my chicken coop for another 6 wks, then allowed them out. They share the coop nicely w/my hens, eat the same layer feed (now that they are grown - turkey starter w/AMP as keets)although in early spring hormones(?) made my dominant cock a bit mean to the lowest ranking hens and scary for my small kids. They are very good about "going to bed" but they'd like me to close them in earlier than my chickens. On the rare occasion I've left them out too late they have had predator loss so I feel that following Frit's set-up works best. I do gather their (many)eggs to eat. It can be hard to get them to lay in the coop as they want to be more secretive and make nests in tall grass. Right now we've even got a bunch of eggs in an incubator and are eager to see if they hatch. If we get many keets I'll be sharing with all my chicken friends who are now excited to try guineas too. I highly recommend guineas and wish you much fun with them! |
