The Guinea Fowl Gallery
Welcome to the Guinea Gallery. Here you can meet the Guinea Fowl in our farm yard.
Meet Charlie, Camilla and Diana.
Meet William and Harriet.
First guinea fowl egg of 2007 laid on Friday 23rd February.
Guinea fowl egg count up to 20/9/07 = 725. Please note that this is the number of eggs I have collected and not the total number of eggs laid by the guinea hens.
The magpies circle the farm everyday and collect any guinea eggs I can not find. Eggs stolen by the magpies = +300 and 2 pot eggs in 2007!
1st guinea fowl egg collected on Saturday 8th March 2008.
Guinea fowl egg count 15/03/08 = 3.
If you would like the opportunity to get to know the guinea fowl better then check out the guinea fowl penpal scheme on offer.
Guinea Fowl My Guinea Fowl
I have a few clients who keep guinea fowl. They are great guards and make a dreadful racket when I roll up. They always hang out in a gang. I ‘ve never seen one on its own. They remind me of doctors - their feathers are like white coats (or frock coats). They seem to be extremely independent rather like geese.
Are they difficult to breed?
Comment by Cottage Smalholder — May 22, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Hi Cottage Smallholder,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Yes you are right that guinea fowl make great guards as they are extremely noisy when they have been spooked. They are fairly independent and like to hang about in a group. I have written a post about Guinea Fowl Behaviour; http://www.farmingfriends.com/guinea-fowl-behaviour/
I personally do not think that guinea fowl are difficult to breed. In a small flock the males do tend to be monogamous and like to have just one partner to pair up with, although it is possible to breed 3/4 guinea fowl with one male and on commercial farms one male can be placed with a larger number of guinea fowl hens.
If you are incubating the eggs for breeding then sometimes the keets find it difficult to hatch out as the egg shells are so hard which means that the temperature and humidity in the incubator must be controlled accurately.
If the guinea hens are free range and sit on their eggs then one thing to remember is that guinea hens like to nest in thick nettle or bramble growth and the nest can sometimes be hard to find and so there is a risk of predators taking the hen and the eggs or chicks.
I have been breeding on a smallscale for the last three years and my hatching rate is improving in my small incubator. I thoroughly enjoy keeping, rearing and breeding my guinea fowl and would recommend it to anyone thinking of keeping guinea fowl who have the right environment to keep them.
I have written a post about reason for keeping guinea fowl. http://www.farmingfriends.com/reasons-for-keeping-guinea-fowl/
Thanks for your question.
Sara @ Farming Friends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — May 23, 2007 @ 6:42 am
hi can u help hatched some keets this year for first time all going well, was going to add some growers in to there diet dut some people saying not to leave on chick crumds ? keets approx 6 weeks old
Comment by richard — July 8, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
Hi Richard,
I feed my keets chick crumbs and then when they get to about 6/7 weeks old I move them onto small layers pellets so that they are getting the nutrients needed for growth and egg production. My keets particularly like Smallholder range of layers pellets. http://www.smallholderfeed.co.uk/
Hope this helps - thanks for your question.
Sara from farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — July 8, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
I have heard that guinea eggs contain no cholestrol.
Do you know if this is true? Thanks.
Comment by Linda Manning — September 10, 2007 @ 11:10 am
Hi Linda,
What a good question. I have written about the nutritional value of guinea fowl meat but not guinea fowl eggs. http://www.farmingfriends.com/the-nutritional-value-of-guinea-fowl-meat/
Having done some research into the cholesterol levels in eggs, it has been reported that guinea fowl egg yolks do contain cholesterol but have lower amounts than other poultry.
Hope this helps.
Sara @ farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — September 10, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
hi i have a question, if in fact you still checking your site:) i have been raising guinea for approx. a little over a year now-so still new at it all. small flock, free range in day and sheltered at night. i am looking to add some more keets to the flock-how well are guinea to adjusting to new flock memebers? r they like chickens? or are they more accepting to new memeber;) the keet is approx. 3 months-my guineas approx. 1.5 yrs. thanks so much
Comment by rana — July 24, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
Im a Zimbabwean Nurse currently working in Botswana and I wish to start a massive guinea fowl production project in zimbabwe.I want to produce large volumes as high as 45000 chicks at the close of each harvest season.Iam looking for assistance from fellow farmers who can assist me in getting good and reliable incubators and solar equipment for this massive project.Your assistance is highly regarded
Comment by gift chizema — August 7, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Hello
Hope you are still responding on this site. I find it very helpful. I am looking at starting a small guinea fowl breeding project. Wanted to know how long it takes for a keet to get to slaughter stage, approximately what weight they are supposed to be, approximately how much feed each bird takes per stage if I am providing feed in a brooder house?
Thank you,
Regards
Comment by Obi Shiri — September 16, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
Hi Obi,
Thanks for visiting the farmingfriends website and leaving this comment.
An excellent book is Guinea Fowl Past & Present by Michael Roberts, he says,
“Intensive indoor birds are kept for 2 months and their weight is approx 1.4 kilos or 3lbs. The free range birds are kept for about 3 months and reach a weight of approximately 1.9 kilos or 4lbs.”
However the Scottish Agricultural College website http://www.sac.ac.uk/consultancy/farmdiversification/database/novellivestock/guineafowl states, “UK birds are killed at 9 weeks, when they have reached 1.75 - 2lb weight.”
I believe that guinea fowl need 18% protein in their feed. The SAC says that adlib feed works out at 4oz per adult guinea fowl.
I hope that this information is useful to you.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — September 16, 2008 @ 3:25 pm