So you’re thinking about adding guinea fowl to your flock/yard/pasture?

Ahhhh, guineas. Having guinea fowl (I call them guineas) is...a journey. I’ll go through some great things about guineas and some, well, challenging aspects of guinea behavior here. These observations are just from our experience and research so have fun with your own research and take a look at what other people have come across as well!

First let’s talk about size and distinguishing features.

Guinea fowl in your yard is a little like having turkeys, but only a little bigger than your average-sized barnyard chicken. They favor turkeys with their long necks but upon a search on the googles, we found out that they are not closely related - things that make you go hmmm. Also, guineas you find here in the states are usually what are called “helmeted guineas” because of the little (or big -- your choice) bump or “helmet” on their head, a species originating in Africa with females supposedly a little larger than males. This sexual dimorphism is also visible in the size of what I call “Chin Ears” -- those curved, dome-shaped wattles on the sides of their jaws. Females may have somewhat flatter wattles while the males have impressive dual-jaw, curved “dishes” that could rival the radar dish at the Arecibo space observatory in Puerto Rico.

But wait, there’s more...

Several neighbors chipped in with us to get a bundle of these extraordinarily curious creatures. Our “neighborhood guineas”, now mature, have a white head with a red-tipped bump-crown, various spots of blue and red here and there on the head, and black, soulless eyes. Now before anyone pfffts that mention of their eyes, let me say that each of their eyes look like one big pupil with an eyelid or two. Oh and let’s remember those amazing Chin Ears. Those things are impressive. And jiggly. Can I say that?! These particular birds’ feathers are a brownish-gray with random line markings and white spots or dots. They also have this boa-like ring of downy feathers around the base of their necks that make them reminiscent of Phyllis Diller. We were told these particular birds are “Frenchies” -- sounds fancy -- but they are good, old farm birds. Well, not old, but you get the gist.

Behaviors

Imagine eleven Corinthian helmets slowly, methodically gliding along in the grass, munching vegetation and insects, slowing down only to periscope-up a neck-head every now and again to make sure there’s no threat of anything headed to eat them at that moment. THIS insect and other buggy pest-eating is one reason we considered guineas. They help control pests such as ticks. Several families on our street have children or adults that have been diagnosed with Alpha-gal Syndrome from bites from ticks. Read about that at your leisure. It’s a thing. And not a fun thing. My husband is one of those adults that have been diagnosed. We tried everything to help prevent -- long sleeves, long pants, showers after coming in from outside and picking each other like a troop of Howler monkeys grooming each other in the trees. Somehow we missed a tick and now he has to watch the quantity of his consumption of red meat or he’ll break out in hives and feel generally ill. Not so good for a country boy that loves his pork and beef.

“Hold ON!” you say. “Insects are great pollinators!” you say. “Spiders are people too!” you say. No, that’s not true, but...YES! We are BIG believers in garden arachnids of the beneficial kind -- as well as beneficial insects -- BEES!, birds, amphibians, reptiles, those luscious earthworms, the hard-working microbes in the soil, fungi, PLANTS, etc that work with our little ecosystem. The chickens do their part also by pooping, aerating the soil, eating grubs. The guineas will not only eat insects in the grass, they’ll eat maggots in some poop. Less flies?! Yes, please! For this reason, we choose to use no synthetic insecticides or fungicides in or around our gardens, chicken yards, main play yard and pastures. 

But the ticks have got to go. 

The guineas are our solution, at least temporarily, for a much better pest control than adding any synthetic chemicals to our soil and groundwater. 

While we are talking about what guineas consume, the guineas are also QUICK eaters. If you have chickens also, and choose to keep them in the same area, the guineas will pretty much overrun any chicken feed containers. Remember these are essentially wild game birds so their intention is to stay alive, eating as fast as they can while watching for predators. For them, that may mean having to voraciously attack the chicken feed, clearing and cleaning your feeders out in the meantime. The chickens are left with a little dust and an empty stomach.

Three to five guineas would seem to be manageable with a smaller flock of chickens. More than that and they just eat all of your chicken feed. Okay if you want them as pets, but they like to roam and can fly so good luck keeping them in or out of a non-covered chicken run. Even a bigger flock of chickens can be overwhelmed. We have just under 50 chickens. Eleven guineas roam around, outnumbered in bodies by the chickens but not in appetite. We have to feed them physically separately so that they do not associate the chickens’ feed stations for their open smorgasbord. They remember. Believe me.

And they make NOISE.

When I say “noise”, this isn’t that they make a cutesy tweeting or cooing noise, although they do coo a little when they are dust bathing and when they are vying for spots in their roosting tree. No. When they see you and decide they are hungry, which is all the time during the day, the noise they make has been described by folks on our street as rusty or squeaky metal machinery. If they’re anywhere within 100 yards of you and they decide to start conversing with one another, you can hear nothing your spouse is telling you about how to fix the aging lawnmower. 

Wait, that could be a good thing. 

MIscellaneous observations and actions

I’ve heard that guineas may hold grudges like crows and exes so be forewarned. Be kind to your feathered friends. Guineas are fairly quick learners, and in our experience, can associate certain sounds and parts of structures with chow time. Come to think of it, I won’t see my ten-year-old son for a couple of hours and as soon as I start pulling out cutting boards or pots/pans, he appears from the mists of his climbing trees or the sea of the LEGO-laden floor of his room, asking what’s for dinner, supper, snack. Learned behavior but an important one.

Guineas poop. A lot. And it’s good for your gardens! Our guineas roost at night in one of my youngest son’s climbing trees. When the poop piles up under the tree, we scoop it up and toss it in a staging compost pile. Their poop consistency is different than chicken poop by being a bit powdery as it breaks down, usually washing away during the first good rain storm. Chicken poop hangs around for a little while longer. Yes. Yes it does.

If you’re faint-of-heart or not up to nature and the cycle of life, just skip this next paragraph point.. 

The guineas can be louder than your rooster when there is a threat from the sky or land. This has been a successful, occasional event here on the farm when we have multiple juvenile hawks practicing -- sloppily -- their target, descend, and attack skills. Usually the mature hawks will slam into the chickens, stunning one of the poor hens, then work it’s way through the chicken’s head/neck, sometimes chest cavity. The juveniles have to learn by doing. I just wish they’d practice somewhere else. If they happen to be around, the guineas can be heard from inside so we can usually get out in time to interrupt the chicken run siege.

Also…

Guineas are just great entertainment. When they run toward you, it’s a giraffe-necked football on stick legs, moving way faster than you think they should run, talking the whole way. They are actually fun to watch when they are dust bathing too. They make little cooing and light whistling noises and are just as ungraceful as a chicken dust bathing with legs, wings, fluffy butt in the air, wavin’ like they just don’t care. It’s great.

I collect the feathers here and there to experiment with tying a fly to possibly tease a trout out of the Appalachian waters. But that’s another tale to tell at another time. 

My opinion

A little creepy-looking but somehow cute, the guineas grow on you. My husband refers to them as Dr. Seuss experiments -- swears he saw them in a Seuss book somewhere. If you’re afraid of clowns and their make up, these guineas may not be the bird for you, unless you enjoy a good rousing from your slumber from a nightmare of loud, clown-faced birds telling you they need food. Now.

On the other hand, we enjoy these birds and they are wonderful to watch, they’re beneficial in the garden and they help warn of predators. It’s just…well, if YOU have them, you KNOW. 

Give guineas a try if you’re feelin’ it. We can all use a bit of humor and less tick bites.