Guinea Fowl - Great Birds to Keep

Guinea fowl make yards safer and cleaner

By Damien Andrews

Guinea fowl, originally native to Africa, are rapidly growing in popularity around the world. Perhaps nowhere is esteem for Guinea fowl increasing faster than in the United States. Little wonder. The Guinea fowl diet consists predominately of bugs, and one of their favorites is the ubiquitous, and sometimes deadly, tick. Guinea fowl also eat the seeds of weeds, thus thwarting their spread. Guinea fowl are used to keep barns free of mice, and they will warn of, drive off or kill snakes. Guinea fowl also make a superb alarm system. Guinea fowl will make quite the noisy raucous whenever any change occurs in their environment.

There are several varieties of Guinea fowl, but it is the helmeted Guinea fowl that has been domesticated and exported throughout the world. In the United States today, there are numerous commercial hatcheries and countless individuals selling Guinea fowl eggs, keets and adults. "Keets" are Guinea fowl offspring, and the term keet applies until they are about eight weeks of age. Guinea fowl are sometimes referred to as Guinea hens. Naturally, Guinea fowl are both hens (female) and cocks (male). Hence, the term Guinea hen is somewhat misleading.

The helmeted Guinea fowl is available in many colors and color combinations including pearl gray, royal purple, violet, bronze, slate, coral blue, lavender, copper, chocolate, white, buff and pied pearl gray. Photographs of Guinea fowl in all of the above colors and more are available for viewing at http://www.guineafowlinternational.org/colorchart/.

Helmeted Guinea fowl are now also available in two sizes. The originally domesticated variety of Guinea fowl weighs up to about 3½ pounds. Jumbo Guinea fowl weigh from 5-7 pounds. Jumbo Guinea fowl are available in the original pearl gray color pattern: white spots called "pearls" on a very dark gray background.

Guinea fowl, while capable of short flights and excellent gliding, are ground dwelling birds. They eat, breed, nest and lay their eggs on the ground. Except for females sitting on eggs, Guinea fowl prefer to roost in trees during the night. People who raise and keep Guinea fowl usually prefer that their birds roost in a coop. This keeps the birds dry, warmer and safe from predators such as owls, raccoons, skunks, cats and others, depending on the geographical location.

Guinea fowl are flocking birds. This is to say that they are most comfortable when there are others of their species around them. With this in mind, it is not advisable to have single Guinea fowl. Three or four Guinea fowl is an acceptable flock size and will make the birds more comfortable and content. No matter the size of the Guinea fowl flock, a pecking order will be established by the birds themselves. There will be one dominant bird, and one bird at the bottom of the order. All the others will find their status in between.