Anyone own any or have any tips on selection, care, where to buy them etc. After the wife and I move up to Broken Arrow this summer I think we will be looking to take on a couple for the property. Any info at all is welcome, thanks folks!
you may be able to buy them at mary's fleamarket on 23rd. i know you can just about buy any other bird there. i've had a few friends that have them. they make great watch dogs but can make a racket a night for any intruder, possum,skunk, coon,etc. so get used to that. and you won't have a bug problem of any kind including ticks. if you find someone that will let you have some, you have to capture them in darkness so not to freak them out. i have a mexican friend that is pretty good about it. went and watched him one night and i thought "well, this ought to be funny" but it went well cause he knew what he was doing. he hearded them into a pre made pen and just walked up to them, no way in hell that will happen in daylight.
I'll check out the fleamarket after we get up there, they look to be pretty cheap via mail order as well. Just not sure about which variety, there looks to be about 25 from the farm I was looking at online.
Atwoods has them sometimes. You will need to get more than "a couple". They make GREAT guard dogs. Nobody will be sneaking up on you ... LOL
I've got about 30 of them. They are very loud and will alert you anytime anything living comes near. They do keep ticks and snakes away, mine are mostly free roaming. I feed them the same thing I feed the chickens. You can always pick them up at local livestock auctions
Cool i was hoping for something local as opposed to ordering them. Any advice on what variety to look for Chubbs?
A Facebook friend had this same request last week. They are wild in some other countries. They can fly so a chicken pen won't work. They roost in trees. They nest in tall grass. You can eat them but I have heard they are dark meat. Predators will get them but it will be kinda gradual. I had a friend that let his game hens run free and he made a safe zone for them with an electric fence. He used three wires and had one just off the ground and the top one was just high enough to step over, the middle one was about half way from the ground to the top wire. The chickens would run behind it if they saw a varmint. You could put food and water inside the fence. If their roost tree was in it too it would be even better.
X2 on the get more than two. They're very social and do better in larger numbers. We had them for several years, finially between the skunks, coons, dogs, -20 degree cold, we were down to two. One day they saw their reflections in the front glass door, and there they stood, most of day, crapping all the while, trying to mingle with two other phantom birds who'd never move!
They taste pretty good too.
I ate quite a few while living in W. Africa.
I ate quite a few while living in W. Africa.
Ive had guineas in past. Like others said you'll need 10 or more and everything thinks they taste good. They are loud and do a good job on bugs and make good "stranger" alarms. They also roam a long ways, 1/4 mile ish.
Geese do a similar job and dont usually roam as far as guineas, plus you can get by with a couple.
Geese do a similar job and dont usually roam as far as guineas, plus you can get by with a couple.
