Why raise Guinea Fowl? This is an easy question to answer because it appears that Guinea Fowl love to eat ticks (and other annoying bugs), and ticks (and other annoying bugs) thrive (by the millions?) in northern Minnesota.
Ticks carry Lyme's disease, and we don't want to catch it! The following web site provides some excellent documentation on the effectiveness of Guinea Fowl in controlling tick populations.
http://www.lymediseasepa.com/GuineaHens.htm
Guinea Fowl also have other wonderful uses. They serve as excellent lookouts for predators, produce eggs, and they can even be eaten (in a pinch). They are supposed to lead comical lives in your yard and woodlands, providing all kinds of entertainment for their owners.
Guinea Fowl drawbacks - While serving as lookouts they tend to make loud, annoying warning calls that disturb your neighbors. They tend to attract predators who like to eat them (almost as much as chickens).
The Guinea Fowl are scheduled to arrive in the Spring of 2010 in the form of keets that will need to be kept warm, fed and safe (potentially a problem with the dogs and cats prowling the house).. The Guinea Fowl housing does not yet exist, it is on the to do list......
Thanks for the thorough explanation. You got me curious about guineas, so I'm glad I found it. I'm wondering if if guineas have to be kept inside a coop during warm months. I saw in your article that predators like them, but they could perch up in high branches.
ReplyDeleteThe Guineas do not have to be kept in the coop, in fact they like to hang out in trees - or so I have been told/read.
ReplyDeleteWe keep the Guineas in with the chickens so the associate the coop with their home territory. Guineas are supposed to wander off unless the establish a strong association with their home.
In the near future we will let a few out at a time to wander the property, from what I have read they will return home to the coop to join the rest of their flock.
Next year we will turn them all loose to live in the yard/pasture. The should live in the trees and brush, all the while staying close to home.