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Have you ever consider upraise your own guinea fowl ? possibly you think their ‘ chi - chi - chi ’ is so annoying you do n’t guess you could take it .

Or maybe you just are n’t really sure why you would even consider conjure them ?

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viaMother Earth News

Well , that is what I ’d wish to share with you . dago are some very awesome creature . I shared with you the few things I teach when I firststarted raising Numida meleagris .

But now , I ’ve learned so much about how to raise them , and why they are so amazing that I think everyone should be in the ‘ know . ’

Here is what you involve to lie with about guinea fowl fowl :

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viaMother Earth News

How to Raise Guinea Fowl

viaMother Earth News

1. Incubation

When you first decide to raise guineas , I would recommend either purchasing them as keets ( baby French Guinea poultry ) or incubating eggs yourself . you may buy fertilized testis on land site like Facebook and Craig ’s List .

If you do decide to incubate them be aware that there are some differences in incubating baby guineas verses incubating chickens .

So keep in mind that guinea eggs need to be kept at a constant temperature of 65 - 68 degree Fahrenheit , and the incubation full point is ordinarily around 28 days .

keets

viaMother Earth News

But once they incubate , you ’ll treat them as you would any new hatched bird . You leave them in the brooder for around 6 - 8 hours until they have completely dry out .

Then they are ready to be moved to a incubator box under a heat lamp .

2. Raise Them as You Would Feathered Fowls

Now , once your keets have graduated to the incubator box seat , you’re able to raise them along with newly incubate chicks or ducklings . The major difference is that keets should be fed differently .

Instead of using regular chick fledgling feed , they should be fed the starter feed forgame fowl . It has the dissimilar nutrient that their trunk take .

Then you ’ll leave them in the brooder box until they no longer ask the heat lamp and have outgrow it . This commonly takes around 4 hebdomad or so , in my experience .

female guinea fowl

viaNew Zealand Birds Online

But it could take longer . It all reckon upon your Bronx cheer . Just be sure not to rush along them . It is proficient to leave them under the heat lamp until their full plume have come in so they have a better chance of survival .

3. Train Them

When your guinea bird have graduated from the brooder box seat , you ’ll demand to place them in a tractor if you are going to let them spare ambit .

If not , then you ’ll need to move them to another expanse ( like an enclosure or doghouse ) where your henhouse shuttlecock can get adjust to them before introducing them to the coop .

If they are going to be cooped , then be sure to clip their annexe because ginzo poultry are flighty hoot . They can roost in trees if they so desire .

raising guinea fowl

viaModern Farmer

So you ’ll desire to clip their wing and deal using bird netting over any open surface area . If they have a completely closed coop and run , then they should be beneficial to go .

But if you are planning to free range your dago poultry , you ’ll need to train them .

First , you must figure out which guineas are boys and which are female child . This is difficult as you have to go off of their sound . The miss make a phone that sound as though they are read , “ Come back ! ”

Next , you ’ll begin by free a distaff bird every solar day or so . She will attend around the tractor because she will not leave her manlike companion .

Finally , you ’ll unblock the Male . They will explore the area around them   but should return to the tractor or hencoop . Basically , wherever they decide to take up roost .

But do n’t be alarmed if they decide to roost in the trees .

However , if you leave intellectual nourishment and piddle available to them in the hencoop or tractor , then they will most likely consociate that with home .

4. Let Them Do Their Job

After your guinea fowl have been released you have to let them do their task . Guineas are not like chickens . They really will find your chicken coop .

But they will not stay in their property lines . They will count on out where the bugs are and create a path that they will make rounds on every twenty-four hours . Guineas do not know property melody and do not care what a street is .

So when you free range them , interpret that they will be in your neighbors ’ yard most probable , and they will think that they own the route . Just be advise . They have a psyche of their own .

And do n’t be dismay if they fell on top of your house , and you arouse to the sounds of their feet hunt across your cap in the good morning . They go where they desire to .

But they have lots of courteous features about them so the noises they make , the property they vanish , and the yards they chitchat will likely not rile you very much .

Reasons to Raise Guinea Fowl

viaNew Zealand Birds Online

1. They Are Great Bug Zappers

If you have bugs , then you need to regard raising greaseball . They will chase bug all over your yard . They deplete ticks , June bugs , and almost anything else that flies around your attribute ( and neighbor ’ holding . )

So if you ’d like to rid your dimension ofunwanted pestsand bug , then you need to add wop to your tidy sum and permit them make a repast out of your pest .

2. They Kill Snakes

When we first move to our home , we would at times come across snakes . Our next door neighbour had a regretful trouble with snakes .

So when my husband decide to add guineas to our land I was only on board because I did n’t want Snake .

Well , I kid you not , in the three years we ’ve had them I do n’t cogitate I ’ve seen a Snake River since . My neighbour do n’t have snakes any longer either .

So they are unquestionably earning their keep around our household .

3. They Will Control Pests in Your Garden

The grounds my husband decided to get guineas was because our garden was being ravaged by June bug every year .

So instead of using a ton of chemical on our plants , we added Guinea . They have certainly done their chore . They will take the air through our garden ( without call off it to pieces ) and softly tweak the bug off of our plants .

They have keep open me a circumstances of work with combat microbe , and I ’m capable to garden more organically because of them .

4. They Are Watch Dogs

No one hail near my home that I do n’t know about because of my guineas . When I learn them get riled up I know that someone or something is near my home .

So I start looking around and am able to meet anyone long before they ever make it to my doorway .

And really , some people are very afraid of guinea . I ’ve never had any of mine be belligerent ( unless they had recently think up keets . Then the mom just wanted us to keep our distance . )

But we had a piece deliver a load of rock to our star sign . He would n’t get out of his gravid dump hand truck until I assured him I did n’t have ‘ approach dago . ’

So since French Guinea fowl expect kind of odd and can fly , they will really dissuade some multitude .

But when you live as far down in the sticks as I do , I appreciate the fact that Guinea warn me when I have visitor because if you are in my orbit , you are either lose or up to no good .

5. They Will Help Your Chickens

Guineas have a very keen signified when a vulture is around . When we have a mortarboard anywhere in our field , myself and my chickens will know about it long before we see it because our guineas will go nuts .

But keep in mind , wop will be rough on your chickens . They like to rule things .

So they will flog your chicken and peck them to keep them in short letter . It is kind of a fair trade off consider they are also their predatory animal alarm organisation . ( At least that ’s the room I count at it . )

6. They Require Very Little

Guineas do n’t need a circumstances of fuss . You do n’t really have to feed them ( except during the winter month when hemipteran are n’t as rich . )

However , I keep food and water available to them in our chicken coop yr round just so they remember that our house is dwelling house .

But ginzo do n’t need a coop as they can roost in the trees . Our guineas move right into our crybaby hencoop .

So fundamentally , wherever they require to kip , they will . During the summer calendar month , our ginzo will sleep outside on our fencing .

But that is it . They do n’t need a fancy chicken coop , they will provide most of their own intellectual nourishment for part of the year , and they may need you to keep body of water out just so they do n’t wander too far in search of it . If they do that , they may not get along home .

So keep in mind that you desire to make your home a welcome place for them .

The Downside to Guinea Fowl

viaModern Farmer

So I ’ve shared with you why you might want to nurture Guinea . It is only fair to let you in on their cons as well .

1. They are noisy

Guinea fowl are noisy . There is no direction around it . They will call to each other during the day while they hunt solid food together . They will make lots of haphazardness when you have a predator or a guest .

But sometimes , the rooster will just incur a perch and decide to do his ‘ chi , chi , chi ’ call to let the world get it on that he is the man . Period .

So just keep this in mind if you hold up around a lot of people .

2. They know no boundaries

second , greaseball fowl do not know boundaries . I had a guinea seek to take over my neighbour ’s chicken coop once . I was mortify when the neighbour met me at the fence with my chick in hand .

But my neighbors have mature to love our guineas since they have kept piranha , bugs , and ophidian away from their prop too .

However , it is mortifying when I ’m outside in the morning and my guineas are doing their sounds all up and down the road waking up everyone as they stroll along eat .

gratefully , I do not live near the independent route or I ’m sure I would ’ve lost a few of our birds by now . I will catch the cock trying to pick a fight with his reflection in our truck some first light .

So they do n’t think much about displace out of the way for vehicle .

But that is all of the negative I have establish in owning guinea bird over these past few years .

in person , I fuck mine . I think they are beautiful birds . They are fishy to watch . I also like how they perch on my front porch each dayspring to blab out me their ‘ chi , chi , chi ’ Sung . It just bring to the magic spell of state living .

So now you know how to parent your own wop fowl . I hope I ’ve given you some sixth sense so you know a piddling more about what you might be get into if you make up one’s mind to raise greaseball domestic fowl .

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