My Guinea Fowl
So many of you love the updates on the babies at the farm - currently, the youngest are five young Guinea fowl and a peachick incubated and hatched right here. They’re doing very well eating, drinking, and enjoying all the sights and sounds of their surroundings.
If you're not familiar with Guinea fowl, they are members of the Numididae family. These birds originated in Africa, but are now found all over the world. I’ve raised Guinea fowl for years. They are ground-nesting, seed- and-insect-eating birds that love ticks, locusts, flies, maggots, snails, and other pesky bugs. They are also wonderful at patrolling the chicken yard - sounding off loud alarms whenever something unusual enters the enclosure.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- I am so happy I am able to properly incubate and hatch healthy fowl right here at the farm. The eggs are kept in optimal hatching temperatures and are safe from any pecking hens in the coop. Here is my incubator in my kitchen. The incubation period for Guinea eggs is 26 to 28 days, similar to the incubation period for turkeys.
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- Last month, we hatched five beautiful baby Guinea fowl or keets and a peachick. Once hatched, they are kept in a bin, also in my kitchen, for about a week.
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- Then they’re brought down to our bird “nursery” which is located in the feed room of my stable.
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- We house them in one of my large indoor bird cages. As each one is put in, it is introduced to the waterer and feeder, so it knows exactly where to eat and drink. They are all familiar with waterers and feeders, but it is still a good practice to show them. They have a suspended feeder filled with medicated turkey starter or wild game bird starter. At six weeks of age, they are switched to turkey or game bird grower.
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- Here is the peachick. We are not yet sure if it is a male or a female, but it is very healthy and doesn’t mind being the only peachick in the group of Guinea keets.
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- And here is one of the Guinea keets being put in the cage. This youngster is very alert and curious.
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- Keets are Guinea fowl offspring that are younger than 12 weeks old.
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- Guinea fowl are native to Africa, and as such, are very susceptible to dampness during the first two weeks after hatching. After the initial two weeks, Guinea keets are widely considered the hardiest of all domestic fowl.
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- Here is the peachick in front of the keets. Keets are mostly brown with black stripes and markings with tan underbellies. The head has a wide black stripe down the center with two narrow black stripes on each side, with narrow orange stripes between the black. The beak, legs, and feet are a light orange.
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- Mature Guinea fowl colors are mostly shades of blue, brown, and white or combinations thereof. In this group we have three traditional colored Guinea fowl and two lighter ones.
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- These keets have a lot of growing to do – just look how big their feet are.
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- Here is a lighter colored keet with some tan and dark brown markings.
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- Here, the same keets are about five weeks of age. The peachick in the lower left may even think it’s also a keet right now. Guinea fowl enjoy being with their own kind and will always maintain their own social groups even when integrated into the coop with the chickens.
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- And if well cared for, these babies can live up to 15-years.
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- With all this energy, these keets are already starting to perch and spread their wings. The The one in the back is perched on a stuffed toy we placed into the cage.
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- It is very difficult to sex Guinea fowl. The best way to tell males from females is by their cry. When they’re older, the female Guineas will make a two-syllable call that sounds something like “buckwheat, buckwheat”. Males can only make a one-syllable sound similar to “kickkkkk kickkkkk”. The males also have larger gills or wattles. And do you know what a group of Guinea fowl is called? The collective noun for guinea fowl is “confusion” or “rasp.”
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- When they are adults, they look like these Guinea fowl in my chicken yard. One Guinea fowl is the size of a large chicken and weighs about four-pounds fully grown.
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- Notice, the head and neck area of a Guinea is bare, which helps to regulate temperature. These birds are not too fond of the cold weather, but they are very hardy and can live well in nearly every climate.
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- With short, rounded wings and short tails, these birds look oval-shaped. Their beaks are short but curved and very stout.
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- Where one goes, they all go. If one gets lost it will call out until the flock comes to find it. And Guinea fowl are very noisy. I can often hear them all the way from my Winter House.
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- These birds keep my chickens safe – sounding alarms whenever intruders are near. I am so glad they thrive here at Cantitoe Corners.
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