Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Guinea Update

We have 12 guinea fowl.  2 are adult males, born last year.  10 were born this May from eggs we collected and hatched.  And so we enter into autumn with a dozen guinea fowl.  I hope they all survive to next spring.  Last year was a tough year, our guinea flock dwindled down to 2 males.  Luckily in the springtime we collected quite a few eggs from nests we found in the woods before all the females were killed.  Every year I guess we will hatch eggs to keep the flock going strong.
 
My guineas.  They are so sweet.  And funny.  And noisy.
They come to me to be hand fed, although they keep about 10 feet away at all times.  They chase each other all around the house.  They entertain everyone who sees them.  They eat bugs around the house.  This young flock doesn't wander too far around the property, they stay pretty close.  The previous flock used to wander far and wide.

Running Guineas!




Today I found 2 guinea eggs in the woods ~ these are the first eggs I've found from the hens hatched in May.  The guinea eggs are the 2 top ones in the below photo.  The others are chicken eggs.

Eggs ~ Chicken and Guinea
 The news eggs are so small, as they are starter eggs.  Guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, anyway, but these are exceptionally small.  The right egg is dirty - I didn't wipe off the dirt from the nest.  The guinea eggs do have little brown spots on them, but that one has brown mud, too!
Guinea Eggs
Thank you, guinea girls!

8 comments:

LindaG said...

Will you be able to hatch the smaller eggs?
Do know know if guineas eat ants? I read somewhere they do.

We want some when we retire. Guineas, not ants. We already have those. ;)

Country Girl said...

Guineas in the jungle!

AJ-OAKS said...

Love your Guinea posts. Ever since getting mine, well, they sure are something else! I was keeping them in with my chickens, but not anymore. They are bullies with my hens so now are free range 24/7. Although they roost in the garage at night.
Since they are roosting in the garage now, well, it really smells where they roost. Their poo does not smell like chicken poo!
There are days I still ask myself why I have them.Then there are days where they just crack me up!

CaliforniaGrammy said...

They are noisy little guineas, I guess I've never heard a guinea before. I sure hope they stay safe for you so you don't have to go through what you went through last year!

JosephAlsarraf said...

Do you really keep them in your house? : )

John Going Gently said...

I love my four but they are terrible bullies towards the hens, especially the slow buffs

Cindy Marlow said...

Love the guinea video! If I was a guinea, I would love to live at your place...even with the hazards that could get me.

Knatolee said...

Your guineas are great! THey look like true jungle fowl in that video. :) I am really looking forward to having some eventually. (Need to get past my current duck fixation!)

Your eggs are beautiful too.