May 15th 2008
For the last three days one of my guinea fowl has been demonstrating unusual behaviour. The guinea fowl in question is called Lightening The II. She is a pure white guinea fowl hen and the only white guinea in my flock.
On Monday Lightening The II didn’t look very well. She was reluctant to come out of the poultry hut and spent the day sitting in the same place unless I got abit too close for her and she reluctantly moved to a safe distance. I noticed that her droppings were a little loose so I checked out my guinea fowl books and decided that she had every guinea fowl ailment in the books.
I made sure that she had access to water and I actually saw her drink which was a good sign, although the books did say that drinking too much was a syptom of various illnesses, so this was also a potential worry.
On Tuesday Lightening The II looked a little better and although she wasn’t rushing out the door with some of the other guinea fowl she did make her way outside and ventured further than the previous day, although she did stay relatively close to the poultry hut.
On Wednesday she appeared more spritely and she wandered about alot. I saw her eating grass and she started to call out to the others which she hadn’t done for a few days.
She is still keeping to herself but she no longer looks poorly.
I am not sure if Lightening The II is poorly. Initially I thought that she might have coccidiosis, but now I am not sure if she is broody or being bullied by the other guinea fowl. I don’t know if it is true but sometimes poultry can pick on a bird if they are a different colour so this may be what is happening as she is my only white guinea fowl. I only question this as I have one pearl guinea fowl and she is certainly not bullied.
I will let you know how Lightening The II gets on over the next few days.
Guinea Fowl Illness My Guinea Fowl
May 7th 2008
Guinea Fowl Hatching Eggs For Sale
6 guinea fowl eggs suitable for hatching in an incubator or under a broody hen. Only £2 plus £4 postage and packaging.
Eggs will be collected and posted within 3 days of receipt of order. (Please note that guinea fowl eggs can be stored for up to 7 days.) The eggs will be fresh and no more than 2-4 days old.
The eggs will be sent first class within the UK in a polystyrene egg container specially made for sending eggs in the post. Please note that this product can only be sent to residents of the UK and not overseas.
Eggs from this flock have been successfully hatched under a broody hen and in an incubator, but there is no guarantee of fertility after postage. These eggs are for hatching and not for human consumption.
The eggs come from a flock of 29 mixed gender domesticated guinea fowl of which 27 are lavender or pied lavender coloured, 1 pearl coloured and 1 white. The guinea fowl free range during the day and roost in a poultry hut at night.
It is recommended that you let the eggs stand and settle for 24 hours at room temperature upon receipt before incubation.
6 Guinea Fowl Hatching Eggs £2 plus £4 postage and packaging.
eggs Guinea fowl eggs Hatching Eggs
April 25th 2008
Are guinea fowl eggs a speciality egg or just a small egg? I have been pondering this thought recently as I have decided to sell some guinea fowl eggs for eating at the farm gate. As I made the decision to sell my eggs, the next question to answer was how much to charge?
I did the usual search on the internet and checked all the major supermarkets to see if they were selling guinea fowl eggs but couldn’t find any. After a discussion with my husband I decided to sell 6 fresh, free range guinea fowl eggs for £1. With this price chalked up on the chalk board at the farm gate, I had decided to market my guinea fowl eggs as a speciality, free range egg. I think that guinea fowl are a speciality breed as they are not widely found in the UK. My guinea fowl free range daily and I have noticed that the yolk is a rich yellowy orange colour with a superior taste to other eggs purchased from the supermarket.
A family member however, pointed out that the guinea fowl eggs are small and that they need to use 3 guinea fowl eggs for every two ordinary hen eggs and that the price of hen eggs is cheaper, so buying my guinea fowl eggs would not be cost effective for them.
I can see both sides to this debate. What are your thoughts on guinea fowl eggs? Do you think that they are a speciality egg and therefore worth paying more for or are they just a smaller egg and therefore more are needed for baking and eating and therefore should not cost as much as the free range hen egg? Let me know your thoughts.
Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.
eggs Food Guinea fowl eggs
April 21st 2008
I received an email asking if guinea fowl can mix with peacocks and how they can be separated,
“We have recently received 2 male peacocks. Ever since introducing them into our little farm one of the female guinea’s will only stay with the peacocks. I know this is a dumb question, but can they mate, and how do I get the guinea to return to the others?” Tracey.
From my reading about poultry, I believe that different birds from different breeds can mate, (although they generally stay with their own breed) so your guinea fowl may mate with the peacocks.
The female may feel that she doesn’t have a male guinea fowl mate so has latched onto the peacock males. Guinea fowl tend to pair off and then the male guinea fowl will protect and guard over the female guinea fowl. Your female guinea fowl may not have this. So one solution could be to introduce more male guinea fowl into your flock. If you do this you may also need to separate the guinea fowl and peacocks for a time so that the female can join up with the male guinea fowl. You may need to separate the peacocks and guinea fowl altogether if a short separation does not solve the problem.
If the guinea fowl are shut up at night in a hut they may need to be separated from the peacocks, it the guinea fowl roost in trees at night it might be that you need to keep the guinea fowl in a run or hut for a few days so that they can re-establish a pecking order without the presence of the peacocks, who have obviously won the affection of your female guinea fowl.
I hope this is of some help to you. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me and good luck with your guinea fowl and peacocks.
If anyone else has any experience of guinea fowl mixing with peacocks then I would be interested to hear your comments.
Guinea Fowl Guinea Fowl Management
April 2nd 2008
There are certain signs that show that the guinea fowl hen is about to start laying eggs.
- Visiting the same patch of undergrowth daily.
- Sitting in a patch of undergrowth for periods of time.
- Digging a hole in the ground to form a nest area in the undergrowth.
- Male guinea fowl sitting nearby waiting for the hen.
Once this behaviour is observed, you can watch and wait for the arrival of guinea fowl eggs.
It is important not to disturb the hen when she is on the nest as she may get up without laying. Make sure that the guinea fowl do not see you go near the nest site as this can put them off laying in this area. Collect the eggs when the guinea fowl are not around and try not to disturb the undergrowth as this will indicate to the guinea fowl that a predator has been in the nest area. It is also a good idea to replace the real guinea fowl eggs with a pot or plastic egg so that the guinea fowl will continue to lay in this nest, because if the eggs disappear then the guinea fowl will stop laying in this nest site and will find another area to lay which may take some time to discover.
eggs Guinea fowl eggs Guinea Fowl Facts hen Hens Nests
March 13th 2008
Cynthia asked in a comment, “What is a pipped egg, please?”
A pipped egg is one that has been cracked by the chick at hatching time. When eggs are placed in an incubator for hatching, a sign that the chicks are going to hatch is when the eggs are pipped or cracked. It is important to look out for pipped eggs so that you can check the length of time it takes the chicks to hatch out.
Chicks eggs Hatching Pipped Eggs
