Dang

ive got a dozen we got as keets and raised in a brooder then put outside with the chickens now they act like chickens at least with the whole they go in on their own at night but dang are they noisy and don't be surprised when you find them on the top of the yard light pole. I couldn't believe they could get that high up lol. good alarms as well.

Originated from Africa so they can survive.

Like Keith said. Raise the guineas with chicks. Start as young as possible. And more chicks than guineas. Hatch together or purchase keets and chicks at the same time and raise together. They will coop up same as chickens and are less likely to leave. If you live near a main road they will become road kill. They are dumb. And predators can be hard on them because they do roam more than chickens. I'm alright with that as long as they get the guineas first. Cannonfauder. When they start to disappear it also lets me know that a predator is around before it gets to my other poultry. I'm down to 3 so I need to restock this spring.

Eggs are good. Great alarms. Great for insect and rodent control. Also snakes. This I don't like because here all we have is garter snakes and small racers, which are also great for insects and rodents. Mine also seem to handle the winters as well as my chickens. I also seem to eat weed seeds better than chickens. Also I just plain like to watch them. They are comical.

If you get them I would recommend keeping more females than males. Can keep the ratio close but less males.They are more peaceful.

A friend of mine designed feed bowls, with a space under them for mice to hide. When he retired from raising birds, I got his bowls. Before we had a rat issue and started using poison, in pens with those bowls, we would get the guineas and chickens attention, lift the bowls up and let the guineas and chickens eat the mice. It worked well and it was fun to watch the guineas scramble and fight for the mice.

Keith

Going to order some royal purple guinea hen keets.

I like the royal purples. I have about 40 of them. I had a lot of colors in guineas, but last year I hatched almost entirely purples, because of the dominance of the genetics. I've been crossing the colored guineas on the larger French guineas and doing back crosses, to get more interesting colors with better sizes. The biggest French guineas I've butchered and plucked weighed a little over 6.8 pounds dressed.

Keith

Those are some big guinea hens

Guineas are like a car alarm with a short in the wires... you can't pick when they sound or shut them off.

Dad had some raised with chickens and they stuck around like the chickens. They roamed a little farther than the chickens but we had a big place.

Lol......either you love them or you hate them.

Keith, tell me more about those seven pound guineas!

They are called French guineas. I suspect they are the French hens in the 12 Days of Christmas song. The French supposedly eat more guineas per capita then chickens. Live weight of some of the females will go close to 9 pounds in their second year. Guineas that are a few years old lay as well as younger ones, unlike chickens, probably because guineas lay much fewer eggs per year. They have a nice yellow fat and taste pretty similar to ringneck pheasant.

I bought my French guineas as eggs off of Craigslist, that I hatched. When first crossed to the regular sized pearl and colored guineas, that mostly weigh under 3 pounds live weight you get guineas that will average around 5 pounds. I have not been able to get the colored guineas up to French guinea weight yet. I did not control the breeding enough.

Some of the hatcheries call them Jumbo French Guineas. Most hatcheries call them French guineas to differentiate them from the smaller guineas. Ridgeway hatchery, in LaRue, Ohio carries them. I bought a bunch for pet food manufacture last year. They average 4 pounds at just 3 months. By 6 months, they will be over 7 pounds.

http://www.ridgwayhatchery.com/gamebirds.htm

Keith

I was going to get some a few years ago but they seemed very expensive

Around $4 each for Guinea keets(young ones)

Can the french fly like the ordinary guineas? I am interested in getting some of these.

Lee, the French guineas don't fly as well as the smaller guineas. They are a lot heavier bodied, especially on the breast.

Keith

Almost all hatcheries sell extra chicks and keets much cheaper than their regular prices. They call the extra hatchlings over hatch. If you call them on their hatching date, after they shipped, you can typically get chicken chicks as low as a nickel a piece and guinea keets as low as a quarter each. Over hatch is basically trash for a hatchery. The more you buy the cheaper the price you get, especially if you can pick up.

Keiith

But you have to get the color guineas or breed of chickens that they send you.

No marten around my house.