guinea fowl?

Question

Does anyone know where guinea fowl came from?.
A familing member is thinking about raising them and would like to know some information and history on them.

Answer 1

Guineafowl have a long history of domestication, mainly involving the Helmeted Guineafowl. They lay 25-30 eggs in a deep, tapering nest. Their eggs are small, and dark. The hens have a habit of hiding their nests, and sharing it with other hens until large numbers of eggs have accumulated. The incubation period is 26-28 days, and the babies are called "keets." They are highly susceptible to dampness (after all, they come from drier areas of Africa) and can die from following the mother through dewy grass. Though, after their first two weeks, they can be some of the hardiest domestic land fowl.

Sexing the birds is not as simple as telling a rooster from a hen chicken. When they are adults, the helmet and wattles of the male are larger than the female, and the female is the only one to make the two-note cry "Buck-wheat!" Aside from that, however, the two sexes are mostly identical in appearance.

As domestics, guineas are valuable pest controllers, delighting in ridding your yard and garden of insects. They are especially beneficial in controlling the lyme disease carrying deer tick, as well as annoying wasp nests. While they are rarely kept in large numbers, a few are sometimes kept with other fowl to be used as a security system against hawks. No intruder nor stranger will get past the eye of a guinea, and they will call, loudly, with their high shrieking voices. They are highly social birds, and hate to be alone.

Within the domesticated species, many color variations have been created aside from the "pearl" or natural color of the Helmeted Guinea. These include White, purple, slate, chocolate, lavander, and coral blue.

If you live in the USA you can get Guineas from www.stromgbergschickens.com


Sapphyre
Certified Avian Specialist
http://www.borrowed-rainbow.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BorrowedRainbowAviary/

Answer 2

All guineas originally came from Africa and have always been prized for their all-dark, gamey tasting meat. In many of the world’s top restaurants guinea is still found on the menu and demands a very high price. Guineas are very easy to raise. Once you get them started, they live and grow on bugs, insects and weed seeds. They newly hatched young are called keats and are very active from the start. Once guineas are grown they will range throughout your farm foraging for food and serving as you personal watchdogs by calling out when strangers pull into your yard. Guineas greatly reduced the number of ticks, flies and mosquitos particularly the dreaded deer tick. Until 12 weeks of age, different colors of guineas will look similar and be difficult to distinguish

Answer 3

i'd recommend a similar component I did even as an corporation insisted on giving me a frozen turkey! bypass into your backyard and dig a hollow about 4 ft deep by using 2ft by using 3ft. position the dearly departed interior and fill the hollow. position a tombstone on the grave lamenting this undesirable murdered chook.

Answer 4

Go to www.mcmurrayhatchery.com.

Answer 5

try this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_fowl