How many guinea fowl per acre

Forum: guinea fowl. Optional 'thank-you' note:. HI there everyone i am new to the forum and i thought i come on here and ask for advice. Myself and 2 other friends are looking to set up a large scale broiler guinea fowl farm. I am in the process of of buying a acre plots of land in East Africa, prime savanna land natural habitat of the bird , we intend to have a dozen goat on site as well.

So how much space does a bird need what would you consider a good starting flock and money and manpower are not a a issue. White Cloud. Hello Ibnahmed, welcome to Permies Can you give a google link to your farm Regards, j Thanks for the warm welcome jay I intend to be a permaculturalist, one of the prime reasons we are doing this in our home country rather than the Europe is because we are not limited by law in East Africa and have Free-range is the norm.

The biome we are working in is the West Somali ethiopia savanna area. I have provided some pictures here they are from a website but they display the land that will be the farm well. John Elliott. Solving the deforestation is the key to your success. As long as goats are free-ranging and can eat whatever you plant, you will be fighting a losing battle. If you can keep herbivores away from small plants so that they can grow into big plants, you will be able to re-green the desert and it will support many more animals than it is currently capable of doing.

Other trees that you could consider planting are ones of the Parkinsonia genus. These are quite common in the southwestern U. If you would be interested in seeds of these, you can try contacting the Desert Legume Program at the University of Arizona.

The neighbour captured him for safe keeping. He says he will return the guinea when I have a coop. I called today to see him and he is in a little enclosure approx 6 foot by 2 foot with a small kennel type house attached. It seems so small for a wild bird.

I dont know what to do to sort this? Any ideas welcome?? Also, get him a companion. For an adult guinea, you need square feet of room, for each bird. These birds are monogamous and mate for life, like us and eagles. If one looses their mate, they will grieve their loss. Normally, they roam a 5 square acre area. Hope it helps!! Hahahah this is too funny! They sound like characters out of a cartoon! My grandma had guinea fowl when I was growing up and I was absolutely terrified of them.

They would always chase us. Now I would know how to deal with them and hear they are great to have on the homestead. If they had gotten along with our chickens we would still have them. I have a friend who was going to give me babies in the spring — I am definitely going to pass! Good to know. I also did not realize they would bully chickens.

One question for you: What are the males like? Are they similar to roosters? Can they be aggressive towards people? Is it better to have a single male with a harem of several hens, or can a mix for half hens and half males happily coexist? Would love your feedback. Will share this on FB. We never had any show aggression toward us, I believe others did. We had bought unsexed keets and ended up with about half males and half females.

I am not sure if that is because they were raised together or because guineas are like that though. Guineas pair up and usually for life like geese but if something happens to one of the they will find another mate. And if there are excess females sometimes a male will take two mates. I raised them for several years with chickens and never really had a problem with bullying. I had to give them up when I moved to the city but now have a farm again and am looking to get more.

I have had guineas for years. At one time I had about I have a chicken type house for them with very high roosts because they like to roost high. Otherwise they free ranged. Mothers walk them crazy and loose them when they walk them thru wet grass and they catch pneumonia and die.

Sometime the hen will abandon them after they hatch and my husband and I have been known to go thru a dry ditch on our knees trying to catch the babies which run liked the dickens even when a day, or a few hours old.

They are so tiny that is almost impossible to see them except their little pip-pip gives them away. I lost many to predators and I was down to 2 when someone gave me three.

Now I have five and six keets hatched ten days ago. Hen was sitting on a chicken next high off the ground so we took the babies and put them under a brooding light in the old guinea house. Guineas are now living with the chickens and they get along, as the hens are as mean as the guineas. They do eat bugs, like grasshoppers really well. Clean any vegetable garden bugs too. I have not seen a single snake since I have had guineas and we use to see a few rattlers now and then, even on the front porch.

So if you can put up with the noise, they are not bad to have. We have 26 Guinea fowl on our six acres in Thailand and have had them for nine years.

They are loud but so are our turkeys and ducks. They are so entertaining to watch play, quarrel, and run around.

They are also survivors with their running and flying ability. I recently had someone wanting to buy a couple of them and when he told me he was going to eat them I refused to sell them. They are a joy for us and I would recommend them for people who live in the country.

Have 7 males and 6 females. Raised from babies since last spring. Very noisy. Husband hates them because of noise. Males more quiet as they only let loose every so often but are lots louder in volume when they do. Females even squawk at night so we keep our windows closed to sleep.

If they keep the ticks in control this summer we will keep them other wise they will go. I do like them though and find each has a very different personality. Interesting experience. Guineas are very light controled. I raised mine with our big rooster who overbreeds. We wrap their cage in black landscape fabric. Even the smallest solar light will agravate. But they are definitely not bright! Ours were picked off one by one, by predators, and eventually I had only 4 left, so I took them to the sale barn.

I think I could agree with that saying : Ours never roosted on cars, but they were obsessed with pecking at the shiny paint on the sides…. If you think they are obsessed with the shiny parts on your car, just put out a mirror and watch the fun. It worked, but the poor thing would hardly leave the mirror except to make a quick food run. He finally fell prey to a predator as well. We have about 20 guineas and I agree they are loud. They all share a coop and they are the first ones in at dusk.

During the summer they would roam through the yard, pastures and field around our house but since there are fewer bugs to eat this time of year in NC they started going farther and we lost 2 to the road.

We have been training them to come by ringing a bell and giving them scratch grain. But they do not move for traffic and will run in front of a car or tractor. It has helped to keep them out of the road by spreading small amounts of scratch grain around the yard.

It gives them something to do during the day and they have been staying close to home. We are happy having guineas. Thanks for sharing! I was hoping we would avoid bullying by housing them together from the get-go. Sometimes they would come in at night and sometimes they would have nothing to do with it….

In middle Tennessee we have ticks, fleas, and chiggers all over, in the yard, in the weeds, in the woods…. In addition to insect control, guineas are excellent watch animals, all that noise should serve to warn you that a hawk, fox, opossum, or visitor has arrived!

We have had several chicks hatch, but unless we catch them and protect them from predators, the small ones rarely survive to adulthood. Thanks for sharing your story!

I was worried we would have an explosion of ticks this year since the guineas were gone, but we still had next to none, so the chickens must be getting most of them. Ours must have just been a mean bunch : They tormented the rooster as much as the chickens. Totally love Guineas, I miss them and my plus chooks, I found them very tough once they hit about 2mths old.

We had a nursery that covered about acres and the Guineas came thru like a dose of salts — eating grasshoppers caterpillars and all manner of bugs and baby snakes.

They are noisy and dum but did seem to recognize that customers did not get yelled at between after hours strange cars were yelled at.

I had a flock of 30 and loved them. I raised them from the times they hatched by hand.. But over the years they were taken by fox of some other creatures from the swamp and woods. We have 18 acres and they never wandered off the property. Yes, they were loud, but more like watch birds..

We never had ticks on the cats of dogs while we had them… we do not have them any more. And I mi9ss them. We have chickens now, and they are enough to care for. But if you have the space and time to hand raise guineas.. I would.. Thanks for sharing your experience! I think hand raising hatched birds can make a big difference in personality! No-one wanted to come catch them even if I gave them away, so they stayed.

I think the noise is one I could get used to and not even hear anymore. It was eerily quiet when they first left! They are more wild than chickens, I had a friend who had neighborhood guineas…their numbers would rise and fall but they just hung around the neighborhood even though no one actually owned them.

I found your post at the HomeAcre Hop. I am planning on getting guinea fowl when we purchase land, if anything else, just for their usefulness at eating ticks. But thanks for the reminder of some of the negatives about them too!

I love your blog! Thanks for joining me! This post is hilarious! It kind of makes me wonder what guineas have in the pro column. I guess the bug eating is a big one! I have a neighbor who keeps guineas, and they do raise a ruckus but I like the sounds of animals around. THEY are spoiled, obnoxious sheep who baaa up a storm anytime they see a person they think they can convince to provide some corn. Bugs are a big pro for the guineas, but I have found the chickens do a pretty good job on their own.

Our goats are the same way- if they see a human it must be time to eat :. Try coming near my pig pen! So in not too many more months, little piglets all over the place, haha But back to the noise, you never heard such screaming coming from them when I go out twice a day to give corn soaked in water with a protein concentrate.

I know it is the protein concentrate they love, because once I made the mistake of buying it in pellet form, and darned if those pigs did not dump all the corn out, and eat every single concentrate pellet. I also have a hopper with straight corn in it, and the pigs will nibble a little bit on it, but definitely prefer the corn mixed with the sweet I am guessing concentrate.

So is life here at Country Grown Farms. Makes me laugh. I have guineas and roosters, but nothing bothers me more than my sheep. Their baaas are so pitiful when they see me. The want their grain fix and get louder and louder until they get it. Good thing we are on 30 acres and its roads on all 4 sides. Thanks for sharing on Tuesdays With a Twist. Yes, they are loud, like alarms, our neighbors had some and whenever we went for a walk they would let everyone know we were there.

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas. It took me 31 years of marriage to convince my husband that we really needed them…. Where in South Arkansas do you recommend buying guineas Anita?

My husband and I own 5 acres and have been researching raising guineas as pest control for our large garden. We live in southwest MO and ordered ours from Pennsylvania. We got the French Variety that get heavier because we wanted to try the meat. I had read that it taste similar to pheasant. It does and the ones I cooked at Thanksgiving were out of this world delicious. I had made 5 meats; reg roasted turkey, smoked turkey, smoked quail, pork tenderloin and roasted guinea.

Everyones favorite hands down was the guinea. Our flock has dwindled down to 4, because they do roam; even with 40 acres they still go to the neighbors during breeding season. I have never been lucky enough yet to have them show back up with babies; if they do I will capture them and raise them because guineas are horrible mothers.

We had a huge flock of guineas when I grew up. So huge that we had to thin it out. The meat — problem. Holy Smokes! We found out that after the age of 7 weeks — no matter how long you stew it — it was like rubber! You would chew and chew and chew and finally just give up! I have heard that Guineas are very loud. Never been interested in raising them. Thanks for sharing with the HomeAcre Hop! Ha ha. We always had them around wild where I grew up in Africa. Never had them as pets, but their sound brings back wonderful memories.

I love it!! Course, they never stayed by our house for long ;-. We have guinea fowl, about 20, primarily to rid us of ticks. The guineas are successful in bug control. I am glad I read this! I have always considered getting guinea hens as tick eaters but not any longer. Thanks for the info! My guineas are wonderful and we enjoy them as well as our neghbor does.

Spring is a little more busy but our flock is fantastic. Get them. Young ones. You will not be disappointed. Its an honest list for sure. Around here we refer to them as a gang of thugs.. I do still love my guineas. They eat from my hand. I appreciate the hawk warning sounds. Between the guineas and the roosters my hens usually know when danger is near.

My guineas dont roam. We have a few acres and they have been content here. They have been over the fence where they wear a bald spot in the grass because the stupidity factor wont allow them the knowledge of how to return from whence they came.

They keep chasing the new ones into the woods. A friend told me to enclose them all together and let them sort it out but they are so brutal and they gang up. How did you keep them from running off? I have 5 guineas and live on 7 acres. After 2 nights of them being gone we found them down the road. Is there any way to keep them on our property without fencing the entire property?

Thank you very much for any help. Guineas are hard to contain. Even with fencing they would just fly over.

The key is to start with keets and keep them in their coop for the first weeks before letting them out so that they know this is their home. They will roam during the day but should come home to roost.

Put them in an outside enclosure for several weeks. Then take one bird and let it out of the enclosure. After a week, let out a second bird. If the two birds stay close to the rest, you can let them all out after a week. Worked well for us. And I will also attest that they are the stupidest animals on the planet. They are also the funniest. When I had about ten, they were all pearls, one day I went out to the front yard and I counted 20!

Come to find out a neighbor about one mile down the road had acquired some guineas and for some reason they did not like the accommodations and left after a few days and somehow found my flock and joined them. As of the first night they were going to the coop with mine. They were all pearls so no way to know which belonged to whom. Told my neighbors I had them and they were surprised but said I could keep them. Well all birds are territorial when they have eggs.

Also thinking that they are stupid is an opinion. And of course if you have a male and femal they are going to breed. I just hatched five Guinea fowls and they are adorable! Well they are also going to be bullies when they have eggs too. For at least 2 full weeks; when you start letting them out only let them out for 2 hours before roosting time.

Then call them back in with feed. This trains them both to come to your call for a treat and to come home to roost. We learned the hard way of course; and have had tthe heartbreaking experience of losing half of our flock 16!!! It has taken 3 years for the other 16 to dwindle down to 8 and now 4; hoping the other 4 are on a nest somewhere…. I remember growing up with guineas. Ugh, they were terrible. We had a problem with wild dogs, and we got the guineas to be an alarm- to keep our rabbits safe.

We also set traps for the dog, and a guinea ended up getting out and into the trap- it ended up with only one leg, but if you can believe it, that damned bird hopped around for an entire summer. The only thing I remember liking about them were the feathers they dropped. Loved your article! I agree completely with your take on guinea fowl. They have been a proverbial pain in the butt. I do not agree with the author of Gardening With Guineas whose book convinced me that they would be a wonderful bird to add to our new life on the land.

She touted how gentle they were in her garden. They have practically uprooted saplings, grapevines, rose bushes and more by digging their dusting pits in the easiest soil they could find on my property. And bullying was the latest eye opener for me. I had wondered for months why so many of my poor hens were losing feathers. I figured they were doing this to themselves overnight or fighting in the hen-house overnight.

I finally saw the dark-side of Guineas in the hen-yard over this winter. I only have two left out of the original 15 and would not be sorry to see them go. Thanks for the entertaining and insightful read! We are house-sitters in Australia. We were looking after a property that had ducks, chickens and a dog.

They were never any trouble and as the dog was getting fairly deaf, it was great to have the guinea fowl alert us of visitors or predators. We found a dead poisonous snake near the residence, which we think the guinea fowl disposed of, as it had numerous little holes in it, which appeared to have been caused by their beaks.

The water dragons did that from time to time. Those guinea fowl roosted in the trees at night. Later we were looking after another property that was infested with ticks.

How we dealt with them, is another story! There had been bad flooding the year before. As we regularly look after the property, we suggested to the owners that guinea fowl may help.

They have guinea fowl now as well as chickens and the tick problem is almost non existent. We also saw a fox slinking off one day, which we attribute to the guinea fowl creating a ruckus. The guinea fowl are never locked up they roost on a perch, that runs along the top of the chicken yard and never show any aggression toward the chickens.

The guinea fowl came with rings around their legs, which occasionally they got their claws caught in, causing them to limp badly.

We eventually caught them all with the help of a fishing net and removed the rings. Not sure, but suspect that is caused by stress. Love this! I miss them sometimes. We have 9 acres of land and the guineas have chosen my bedroom window sill as their fav place to roost, leaving me wide awake until I get fed up enough of the squealing to go outside And flush them off.

Any suggestions on how to prevent them from roosting there and in one of the thousands of trees instead????? The males have longer and larger wattles on the sides of their faces. A recreational property, or any piece of wooded land, is not complete without some type of trail system. A trail building novice turned expert Map reading is a dying art, but it is an essential skill for navigating the great outdoors and for assessing large parcels of rural acreage before Rural land isn't just a great place to call home, it can also provide endless opportunities for active , semi-passive,or passive income.

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Here are some tips and resources for those looking to get off base and onto Wooded lots or timberland can offer an ideal alternative to hard-to-find open land and a great return on investment. The key is knowing how to get The meat of a young guinea is tender and of especially fine flavour, resembling that of wild game. The meat is lean and rich in essential fatty acids. Above: Guinea fowl trussed for cooking The eggs are of excellent quality and the shells solid. The feathers have value in the fly tying and arts and crafts markets.

Guinea fowl are native to the West Coast of Africa but the distinctive polka dot plumage, bald helmeted heads, and their insect eating appetites are earned the birds some supporters. They are an insect and seed eating ground nesting bird that spends most of their day browsing grasslands and undergrowth. Do not them loose amongst you young plants or vegetable seedlings. Pugnacious and belligerent, they are very funny too watch, I spend far too much time watching mine make mischief.

There are native to Africa but were spread around Europe mostly by the Romans and taken to America with the early settlers. They are a bit unusual in that they are both easier and more difficult to keep than chickens.

They are too independent to make cuddly pets but their personalities and antics are highly entertaining and many people love them for their quirks. They seem to eat less and are more thrifty birds than chickens and they do not scratch in the same way as hens preferring instead to potter around looking for insects, slugs, snails, caterpillars and grubs.

Some care is required and my Guineas are now kept in a covered run after they ate an entire hive of bees in a neighbours allotment. Domestic Guinea fowl eggs are smaller than hens eggs, by about a third, but have much the same taste and a surprisingly large yolk. They also have a very thick shell and require a crack with a knife to break them.

Guineas will also maintain this level of production for 3 or 4 years. Guinea fowl is a promising genetic resource for evolving a low input-grain saving poultry alternative for production especially in the developing world. The rearing of guinea fowl is a potential alternate poultry system.

The Guinea fowl is descended from the wild species of Africa. The fowls derive their name from Guinea, part of the west coast of Africa. As already mentioned guinea fowls are indigenous to Africa, but they were brought to Europe during middle ages.

In Africa, guineas are hunted as game birds; and in England they are sometimes used to stock game preserves. Guineas have been domesticated, if you can call it that, for many centuries. Ancient Greeks and Romans raised them for table birds. To date, guineas are ubiquitous and are found the world over. It is believed that they might be more popular were it not for their harsh and seemingly never-ending cry, and their flighty disposition. When the Guinea Fowl start to laying the spring we advise eggs should be collected every day and a dummy eggs left in the nest to encourage them to lay all season up until late October depending on the weather conditions.

It is important that the eggs are collected when the hen is not in the vicinity of the nest or she may move locations, some will lay with chicken other preferring to make their own nest in a hedge or clump of weeds. The eggs are heavy shelled and the size of a small hens egg they have a large yoke and many people regard them as superior to a hens egg.

The eggs take 25 to 28 days to hatch and are incubated in the same way as a normal chicken, we tend to prefer a broody chicken if possible but also hatch out many in incubators.

The common guinea is a bird that weighs about 2 kg when mature.