Raising Guinea Fowl From 6 To 8 Weeks Old
I have read that there can be 15 birds per square metre for intensively reared guinea fowl and Jeannette ferguson in her book “Gardening With Guineas” recommends as a general guideline “3 to 4 square feet per guinea fowl.” Overcrowding can lead to fighting and featherpicking. http://www.farmingfriends.com/feather-picking-and-cannibalism-in-poultry/
If your guinea fowl are not used to being in a hut or are new to your land then keep the guinea fowl in the hut for a few days and then let one guinea out at a time . This is because guinea fowl are social creatures and if you only let one out they will stay near the hut because they don’t want to go away from the other guinea fowl.
Guinea fowl can also be trained to go into the hut at night. I use long sticks to drive my guinea fowl in the direction I want then to go. If the sticks get too close to the guinea fowl it spooks them and they fly up into the trees. http://www.farmingfriends.com/how-to-stop-guinea-fowl-straying-onto-the-road/
Guinea fowl need fresh clean water daily and can eat a mix of pellets & wheat.
When they free range they also eat;
- apples
- sugar beet
- fodder beet
- seeds
- nettles
- grass
- insects
- berries
- grain
I have recently set up a forum and have a guinea fowl section.
http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=2 It is free to join and members can chat about their guinea fowl and ask questions and other members can answer and chat back.
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.
