Back Yard Buddy: Guinea Fowl

Comments

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    I would just love to have Guinea but everyone I know that has them, say they travel all over. With my busy road this would create issues

    I stopped to ask for directions one day and this Guinea comes up to me and follows me to the door where I planned to get directions. The lady comes out and just states. "That guinea attacks everyone who tries to come to the door. " I found it to be quite charming.

    As I left it peacefully followed me to my car.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Some of our friends had them. They refused to come inside their coop during the winter and either got taken by predators or froze to death. We had them when I was a kid, in FL. They were great watch dogs. Always alerting us if there was anything in the yard that didn't belong. Even warned us several times of snakes trying to get into the coops after either eggs or baby chicks.

    We are still thinking of trying them here and see if we can get them to coop at night. But we have lots of predators and below zero temperatures.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I'm listening to ours right now. They can get deafening at times, but I still love them. I have pearl, royal purple & a lavender.

    We keep them penned (I know, not ideal and really...useless except for selling & eating seasonal eggs), but if we don't, we have many predators that would love the gourmet meal, even through the day. They do warn of things that frighten them, but are easy prey most times.

    I have heard of one successfully attacking a hawk, however, it could just as easily have been taken by one.

    @vickeym They are very cold hardy. Ours had no issue with a few weeks of intense cold late this past winter. They weren't heated nor in anything insulated. Just closed up. Nothing to worry about there, but the predators do love them.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @silvertipgrizz I once lived on a property that had 1 peacock and 3 guinea fowl hens. At night they lived high up in a gum tree and of a day, grazed around the house, stables and yards happily. Always let you know when someone was coming or something wasn’t right. The guinea fowl were a bit on the nervous side, something I’ve noticed as a trait.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning That is so weird. Wonder why hers froze to death then. They literally found nothing wrong with them. They were roosting up in the trees every night and would not come down till they got hungry enough to come forage or raid the feeders from any of her livestock.

    She went out one morning and several were lying on the ground under the trees they roosted in frozen. She tried again to catch the few remaining ones but couldn't. Over the next few days some disappeared and more were found frozen till they were all gone.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @vickeym There is the possibility that up higher they may have been exposed to colder winds. It doesn't take much as you go higher to bring the temps down. Our birds are sheltered from the wind.

    They are extremely difficult to catch. If they get out of a shelter, you are not likely to ever catch them again.