Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Because guineas can fly up into the trees.  Heavy breeds don't fly that
well..Some of my birds can get into a low tree, but mostly they hop from
 one height to the next place a bit higher.  When I last free ranged,
they would hop from the ground to the trash burner (3 ft) to the top of
the burner (6 ft) to the roof of the coop (8ft) to the top of the roof
(10ft) and then hop over into the tree (12 ft+).  This same path would
also be an easy route for a possum or a raccoon or a cat. A guinea could
fly straight up from the ground to the tree, not having to hop up in
stages.
One of my neighbors(S) has guineas.  For whatever reason, the flock
maintains itself around 20-25 birds.  Similar sized flocks of ducks,
geese or chickens are wiped out.  Guineas reproduce readily, go broody
quickly(the instinct to set has not been bred out), and are flighty
enough to escape a threat. I would love to have guineas, but they are
hard to keep on the property.  Another neighbor(P) got some and his left
his property and joined the flock at (S)'s house a mile away.  I really
don't want to spend the money on raising out some poults if they are
going to fly away like (P)'s did.

Nevertheless, I did see (from Freecycle of all places) that S now has a
guinea coop, which might mean that she has access to eggs.  I'm being
thinking about asking her for some eggs to hatch...Maybe I could use the
old coop for guineas when this hatching project is complete.


B

bobf wrote:
> Bev, there was a farmer in the community of my youth who kept 
> guineas.  They were in the edges of his property, not caged at 
> all--they are noisy, and I don't know if they taste good--but they 
> did not seem to have this sort of predation problem.  I think he was 
> always trying to lower the numbers.  I wonder why they escaped so 
> many of the predators the chickens wouldn't?

--
"The world is my country, all mankind are my
 brethren, and to do good is my religion."
 Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)