Life with Guinea Fowl

A lot of people ask me about my guinea fowl and how hard they are to keep. I started with one female some years ago, who came along with some other birds I took in from a chap with cancer. 

I keep guinea fowl in with my Brahmas as lookouts for foxes. Brahmas are very quiet, docile birds and one particularly bad day a fox was able to kill four hens without us hearing anything. The birds are penned if I'm not here, if I am they're allowed free range in the garden. Guineas have a reputation for being eagle eyed, which they are, however they can also be very noisy about something only known to them causing me to rush out periodically.

After losing the original female I bought a couple more, both males. They were sold to me as females but guinea keets are hard to sex, and it is better to get them as keets so you have at least some chance of training them to stick around. Even if you have them from very young they always retain a wild spirit, they don't become as domesticated as chickens and rarely like being handled.

 They did indeed do their job when a fox paid a visit earlier this year, although sadly I lost one as he flew out of the garden during the kerfuffle and I'm guessing got disorientated in heavy crop cover. Guineas do have a propensity to wander, and note that in the wild they can easily cover 10km in a day!

And wander they do, everywhere given half a chance. They can out sprint an Olympic athlete and they fly and glide rather like a pheasant. One thing they don't do is take an Ordinance  survey map when they set off so they won't always return home unless you go and get them. Watch out for roads as they are rubbish at green cross code also!!

We tried wing clipping to get them to stay put, which curtailed their ability to scale the heights of poplars and pylons, however they were still more than capable of clearing six foot fences and get onto the shed roof, and the kitchen roof.  I'm not a huge fan of wing clipping unless absolutely necessary as it is taking away their natural ability to escape from predators.

The thing with guineas is you need plenty of room and the right set up. They really don't do well permanently confined in an aviary or run, they will literally spend all day running up and down the fence which I don't think is particularly fair on them

I have heard of people having problems with guineas living with chickens but mine have been okay. They have bullied hens introduced after them but Bob the cockerel generally would chase them off. They are not like chickens in terms of roosting, they don't naturally want to go in a house and will prefer anything they can perch up on. I have to get them in the run at teatime to stop them going up trees at dark, and they need encouragement into the house with the hens.

They eat the same feed as I give the chickens and really enjoy foraging for insects. Whilst they don't scrape about like chickens they do eat plants - my cardoon is very popular food, thank goodness it grows like a triffid! I've seen them enjoy pecking about at nettles too.

Another thing to mention is noise, if you have neighbours as well as their straying they may not appreciate the racket the males make. It's not just when they see something, they can be incredibly noisy and excitable just for the sheer hell of it sometimes! You'll either love it or hate it. Males seem noisier, and the female has a two note call whereas the male is generally a single note.

They are also territorial, both in the garden and anywhere else they feel is their patch. I've covered many acres of fields getting them back after they've decided to go off chasing pigeons, their favourite sport, and during spring they seem to be worse in terms of this. It did require me to be constantly vigilant because usually they'd loudly proclaim they weren't still in the garden, although now I have just one it's not so bad.  One thing is for sure life with guineas is rarely dull, they're wonderfully quirky birds to have around, although possibly not for everyone depending on your circumstances.