This year we found ourselves with only 3 Guineas. We've had Guiana fowl from the beginning of building our homestead. They were actually the first livestock I purchased for the farm!
Why Have Guinea Fowl?
Guinea Fowl yield dark nutritious meat and nice dense good flavored eggs! They are fairly high input needing a lot of grain during the winter months. Their feathers are beautiful and sell well to jewelry makers and other crafters.
They are commonly used as tick control and for 'watchdog' duties in the USA. Though they tend to be so loud all the time I'm not sold in the watchdog part. The Guineas just scream all the time so I never can tell when there is a threat. Geese are really better at warning if there's trouble because they have specific shrill screams they only sound when there's a threat. You can read more about geese for a small farm here The Perfect Homestead Goose if you like.
They are commonly used as tick control and for 'watchdog' duties in the USA. Though they tend to be so loud all the time I'm not sold in the watchdog part. The Guineas just scream all the time so I never can tell when there is a threat. Geese are really better at warning if there's trouble because they have specific shrill screams they only sound when there's a threat. You can read more about geese for a small farm here The Perfect Homestead Goose if you like.
However, for organic tick control, the hype is real!! There is no better option than Guineas! When we have a flock of 20 guineas we have no ticks on our property! Which is amazing for tick infested TN!
The Main Problem with Guineas for us
Guineas are very loud, obnoxious and tend to be pretty stupid. Still, for some reason, I really like these goofy little birds maybe it's their polka dot feathers? They can fly but it takes them a couple of years to be able to fly well! Please don't believe all that you hear about them flying helps protect them from predators. They typically do things like fly over our fencing and can't remember how to fly back over! Carrying on with all that noise like they do, they draw in predators and get eaten. The females also become sitting ducks when they make their nest in the spring. They like making their nest in tall brushy areas, Of course outside the fences! She will not leave her nest and gets killed protecting it. Many years we've started out with well over 20 Guineas to only end up with 3 or 4 to overwinter.
If Guineas would just stay inside the fencing with the donkeys & nite guards they would be fine! Donkeys are excellent poultry guardians and won't eat your eggs like an lgd! You can read more about Donkeys in these posts Donkey uses on our farm and in my ebook if you think they might work out for you Donkey Primer Ebook
Last year we only had 4 Guineas so I bought in more and I think we had 17 mid-summer... By winter we had 4 males☹️ by tick season we had 3...
I was determined to be done with Guineas and never buy more. They are expensive to buy and expensive to raise up. Then I had several tick bites this year. Including a bad tick bite early summer which looked to be this.....
http://www.cdc.gov/stari/disease/
Ok... I'll get more Guineas! But I didn't want to mess with them this year. I've got too many geese and Muscovies to deal with! I'll get some next year!
Then last week I pulled a tick off my little Jack colt...
And then I read this...
So here I am with 30 assorted Guineas on the way. Since Guinea Keets typically aren't available until May or June and it takes a couple of months of brooding and raising they aren't ready to patrol for ticks until late summer usually. So I'm better off ordering them now at the tail end of the season so next spring they are ready to work!
Since I'm Not looking to pay over hundred dollars for birds and more in feed raising them to be predator food, this time I'll try having them pinioned so they can not fly out over fencing!
For those who may say pinioning is cruel..flying over the fence and Getting ripped apart by a fox or coyote or played with to death by neighbors stupid running loose dog is far worse IMO!
I will also mention that if you have any neighbors they might not appreciate your organic tick control efforts!
We have 38 acres and no close neighbors. But our Guineas fly out of fencing and end up across a pasture and through a wood lot on our neighbor's lawn fairly often. That neighbor took us to court because we could not control our Guinea fowl. Under the TN law ' livestock at large,' they pressed charges.
It was a huge waste of our precious time to deal with this! And thankfully It was thrown out of court because our personal use for Guineas, organic tick control, didn't fall into the definition of livestock according to TN law.
Our neighbor still has the right to shoot them if they are in his land though.
As you can see, for us, keeping Guineas just will not work out if they can't stay in our fencing and it's my responsibility to keep my animals on my property.
I certainly expect my neighbors to keep their animals on their property too.
So here's to jumping in with pinioned Guineas and hoping my organic tick control will stay in our fences to do their jobs! I really hope it works!
Conclusion
UPDATE:: Unfortunately even the pinioned guineas can fly over our goat fencing. They were all killed by predators. Heartbreaking because we like them and loved their ability to eat all the ticks.
We may try pinioned jumbo guineas at some point. Being heavier may help prevent them from flying.
We may try pinioned jumbo guineas at some point. Being heavier may help prevent them from flying.
It will be a while before I try though.
Until then I'll use homemade herbals for us and the livestock to help prevent being appetizing to the ticks.
I wish this story had a happy ending but many times with homesteading there is lots of sadness along with the rewards. Some things fit and work beautifully but many times things don't.
It is still a blessing to live the homestead life. There is joy all around. Some days we may just have to look a little harder!
I truly hope this post helps you avoid the issues we had trying to keep these neat little birds. They work wonderfully for many farms. They just don't seem to fit our personal farm situation.
Be blessed and happy homesteading!
Are you a gardener? Gardening is our homestead specialty! Grab a free Seed Starting workbook!
Until then I'll use homemade herbals for us and the livestock to help prevent being appetizing to the ticks.
I wish this story had a happy ending but many times with homesteading there is lots of sadness along with the rewards. Some things fit and work beautifully but many times things don't.
It is still a blessing to live the homestead life. There is joy all around. Some days we may just have to look a little harder!
I truly hope this post helps you avoid the issues we had trying to keep these neat little birds. They work wonderfully for many farms. They just don't seem to fit our personal farm situation.
Be blessed and happy homesteading!
🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡
Are you a gardener? Gardening is our homestead specialty! Grab a free Seed Starting workbook!
