Farming Friends

I was sorry to hear that one of my reader’s guinea fowl, which they keep as a pet, has suddenly turned violent.

Hello

I have a question about my guinea fowl. I don’t know if it is a male or female. I have had it for a year now and it has been a fun family pet. Yesterday it started to violently attack me and it stabbed my leg with its claw and now we can’t go outside without protection. What is wrong with my guinnea? I was told to put it to sleep but we don’t want to do that if we don’t have to. Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thankyou for your time. charity

Hi Charity,
I am sorry to hear that your guinea fowl has suddenly become violent.

There are a number of ways to tell if a guinea fowl is male or female.

If you have experience of guinea fowl showing violent behaviour and can offer advice to Charity, then please leave a comment, thanks.

Sallyanne bought some hatching eggs and day old guinea fowl keets from farmingfriends and I am delighted that Sallyanne is keeping me informed of the keets progress. 

Dear Sara,

Thought you might like to see the photos of the Keets first day out and about in the garden (on Friday).  They are having such a lovely time and I think when the older keets are allowed to get near them! (Mumsie silkie is a bit protective and keeps chasing them off) they will all get on famously. Best wishes Sallyanne

I have received an email from Ruth who has a sick guinea fowl.

We are raising guineas for the first time. Every condition seems to be by the book. However, one of our guineas seems to be dizzy - unable to walk without falling over. It is just laying there. We can’t get it to drink. We don’t know what to do - can anyone tell us what we can do? We did separate the sick one from the rest. Thanks for any help. Ruth

I sent this reply.

Hi Ruth,
I am so sorry to hear about your guinea. You didn’t say what age your guinea fowl is as different illnesses can affect birds at different ages.
I too have found it very difficult when I have a sick guinea fowl because many of the symptoms are described in a number of illnesses.
What you are describing could be coccidiosis but I am not a vet and it is difficult to tell. I recently had some poorly quail and I phoned the vet who was sure it would be coccidiosis but when we sent in a quail that had died it turned out to be trichomonasis. if you are prepared to spend money on a vet bill then you could get your vet to look at the bird or if the bird does die then you could have a post mortem done s that you know what the disease was and can treat the others.
I am sorry that my advice is not very positive.
I hope that your guinea fowl does pull through. You could try giving the sick guinea fowl some yoghurt mixed with chick crumbs or you could try to use a syringe to get water into the guinea fowl.
I would also thoroughly clean out the guinea fowl accomodation so that if the illness is in the environment then the chances of the others getting it are minimised. I would also thoroughly disinfect the water and feed containers and provide the others with fresh water and feed as regularly as possible. It is also important to try to prevent the feed from going on the floor and the guinea fowl from eating it off the floor as this can lead to illness as the birds can also eat faeces as well as the food. I am sure that you know all this.
I will keep my fingers crossed for your guinea fowl. Let me know how you get on.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

If anyone has any advice for Ruth about sick guinea fowl, then please leave a comment, thanks.

I am often asked advice about guinea fowl sitting and hatching guinea fowl eggs,

“I have a guinea sitting on eggs. How many days does it take to hatch and should i let her set instead of trying to incubate as i don’t know for sure how long she has been on nest.Do they throw babies out of nest at hatching? some one said you have to be there when they hatch. She has 25 eggs. Is this a lot of eggs for one guinea? Thank you for any info as i am new at this. Thelma”

Hi Thelma,
Guinea fowl eggs take 28 days to hatch. In the wild they will usually sit on about 12 eggs per clutch. You may decide, if you can get any of the eggs that you leave half under your guinea hen and put half in the incubator or under a broody hen. I have read that in the wild guinea fowl make great parents. They don’t like to sit on eggs in an aviary or a hut and I know from experience that if I try to put a run over my sitting guinea hen to protect her from predators she normally gets off the eggs. Guinea fowl should sit if they feel secure and hidden away. My advice if you want your guinea hen to continue to sit is to try not to disturb her but make sure that she is well hidden and protected from predators.
A couple of farmingfriends have hatched my guinea fowl eggs under broody hens who looked after the keets very well but I am not sure if the guinea hen throws the keets out of the nest. I imagine that if a guinea hen goes to the trouble of sitting on the eggs until they have hatched then she will look after the keets as well.I have only ever managed to hatch guinea fowl out using an incubator. When my guinea hens start to sit outside and I place a run over them it usually disturbs them and they get off the nest. This has happened 3 times this Summer already.
I hope this information is useful for you. Let me know how you get on.
Sara @ farmingfriends

If anyone has any advice for Thelma regarding guinea fowl sitting and hatching guinea fowl eggs then please leave a comment.

Since Sunday 15 guinea fowl keets have successfully hatched out. I generally leave the keets in the incubator for 24 hours so that their feathers can dry out and they can fluff up. It is ok to leave them in the incubator for this length of time as they get their food from the sac. After about 24 hours I transfer the keets to a brooder where they have heat, chick crumbs and water. I usually put marbles in the drinker so that the keets don’t drown in the water. The floor of the brooder has corrugated cardboard and straw on it. This helps the keets to move about the brooder safely and the non-slip flooring stops the keets from getting splayed legs.

Hello,
I am currently waiting for my first clutch of 6 guinae fowl eggs to hatch. I have my brooder ready but have been given conflicting advice as to the shelter requirements for these birds. We have a tree/hedge lined acre plot surrounded by fields and originally believed that the adult birds preferred to roost in the trees. I am, however concerned as to how they cope with the British winters and wondered what the best form of shelter to offer them would be? Many Thanks,
Nadine

Hi Nadine,

Thank you for your enquiry.

You are right in thinking that guinea fowl like to roost in trees and this is what they would do in the wild in South Africa.

I was given 3 adult guinea fowl that had been put in a hut at night so all of my other guineas that I have reared have done the same.

Guinea fowl can be trained to go into a hut at night especially if you are rearing them from birth.

I tend to put mine in a brooder when they first hatch out and then move them to a covered run until 8 weeks onwards before I transfer them to their outdoor hut.

When I transfer them to their outdoor hut I don’t let them out striaght away so that they get used to the hut and know that this is where they shelter. I have read that if you let one guinea fowl out it won’t go far as it likes to stay close to the others.

I like to put mine in a hut at night so that the guinea fowl are protected from predators. It also keeps their food and water away from wild birds. The hut also shelters them from harsh weather and is large enough when the rain is very bad or it is snowing (guinea fowl hate snow) for them to stay inside all day as the shelter has a roof, a roosting area indoors and a run area so that they can see outside.

I have found that my guinea fowl learn very quickly where there hut is and will at times gather outside it if I haven’t opened the doors for them. They seem to prefer to go into the hut rather than roost in the trees.

I would not recommend keeping guinea fowl inside all the time but I certainly think a shelter for them at night means that losses to predators is kept to a minimum and shelter from bad weather is a good idea.

Hope this information is useful.

Kind regards

Sara @ farmingfriends

I want to hatch some eggs, are automatic egg turners better. also if you do get an automatic egg turner, can you not be in the house for a few day, like go on holiday? Bethan

Hi Bethan,
An automatic egg turner is useful if you don’t have time to turn the eggs yourself everyday. Eggs need to be turned at least 4 times a day so this can be very time consuming. An automatic egg turner saves you this time.
The egg turner is powered by electricity so as long as there isn’t a powercut, you can leave the egg turner running while you are away on holiday.
I have the Automatic Electric Egg Turner by GQF Manufacturing. This holds 42 eggs from quail to duck eggs and moves the eggs from side to side at regular intervals throughout the day.
Hope this information is useful.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends