There was a faint rasp of a chirp as the door on the south end of the house squeaked closed. No it wasn’t an old hinge. I know a baby bird when I hear one.
Four bare feet scurried across the hall to the linen closet then scooted back outside, leaving satisfied giggles and dusty footprints behind. I sat grading pre-algebra with one eye peering down the hallway, waiting for the shuffle of those toes to soon be coming up.
And sure enough here they came, with the gravelly chirp growing louder as they approached. Shoulder to shoulder, they presented me with an old, cloth diaper cradling a wet, matted mass of wings, eyeballs, and tiny claws, punctuated by an egg-toothed beak.
“Mama, we have to save it!” they pled. “It was alone in the nest with red ants crawling all over it. We couldn’t find the Guinea hen and her other babies. We’ll just keep it in our room until it’s strong enough to keep up with its mama. We’ll do everything. Can we, please?”
I could nearly recite their request right along with them, as I’d heard similar versions of it so many times before. Abandoned fledgling black birds, runt-of-the-litter rabbit kits, wounded goslings, bummer lambs - you name it, they’re gonna’ mother it until it either gives up the ghost or gets too big & obnoxious to keep indoors. I love that about them.
So, here we are…
Guinea brains
It’s a bit of deja vu. About 6 weeks ago, AvaLynne threw herself into brooding six Guinea keets whose mother suddenly died for reasons I could not for the life of me ascertain. And now, we’ve another Guinea hen with a huge clutch of eggs, and new keets hatching by the day.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this little guy will be the last of the Guinea refugees this year. His downfall was the hen not staying close enough to her nest to recognize the new hatch and bring him into the fold (I say “him” - I have no idea if the keet is male or female, and won’t until it’s near adulthood. They're difficult to tell apart, but as adults the males will develop slightly larger wattles and will have a more monotone, one-syllable call, while the females’ strain will be two-toned and two-syllabled). And her time away from the nest is only increasing.
Guinea hens, with few exceptions, are notoriously ditsy mothers. They’re forgetful, flighty, and panicky, often moving too quickly for their keets to keep pace. Apart from this little orphan, the rest of this hen’s keets are incredibly fast and challenging to catch. So we can only hope that she’ll be a more successful mama than the last one. But I’m not holding my breath.
This is the first year, actually, that we have had any Guinea fowl keets naturally hatched by Guinea hens. In the past, we’ve had Guineas lay clutches of eggs in insane places like the valley below our house, and they were efficiently picked off by predators long before incubation was complete. We’ve lost many a one of them to ignorant frequenting of predator alley. They’re not on our menu, but coyotes, bobcats, and foxes think they’re delectable.
The poor birds are tools. And not sharp ones.
The adult Guineas that are now broody and reproducing were themselves raised by a chicken four years ago. So it’s no accident that they are also the most resilient group we’ve ever had - being less dumb has its benefits! That hen was a phenomenal mama and teacher, programming the safety of the farmyard into that little flock and, I’d like to think, a little bit of sense. These birds stay closer, perch higher, work better with the dogs, and are exponentially more vigilant than any others we’ve had. I’d have chickens raise Guineas every time if I could swing it.
Pesticide-free pest management and repellence
Despite their goofiness, I really do love having these jester birds around. We moved to this property during an exceptionally wet winter and the tick situation was gag worthy. Indescribable. Knowing their appetites for the nasty, disease vector, blood suckers, Guineas were the first birds we brooded - the only birds we ever raised in the house!
Ticks rank up there with maggots and cuterebra in my book. I hate them. And much to my and the dogs’ relief, we’ve noted a significant improvement in the tick population over the years. The Guineas are aggressive insectivores and will forage a radius of about a quarter of a mile around the farmyard.
While they will come and feed with chickens, it’s more a matter of being in the neighborhood around dinner time than necessity. The Guineas will source nourishment from grass seed, insects & larvae, hay chaff, and straight up stealing from whomever they wish (pigs included). Fun fact - in Africa, the wild Guineafowl are known to follow beneath troops of monkeys where they sift through the manure and foodstuffs discarded from the canopy above. I love me some symbiosis!
At sunup they descend from the tops of the oak trees and start their constant patrol for bugs and seeds, cycling round and round until dusk. This behavior not only keeps the creepy crawlies in check, but also discourages rattlesnakes from entering our primary work spaces around the farm. The previous owners reported that they would see about 20 rattlesnakes per year near the house. In almost eight years, we’ve only encountered three.
It’s rumored that domestic Guineafowl will actually attack and kill snakes, but I’ve found that to be a rare exception rather than the rule. The real anti-snake virtue is wrought by the vibrations and ground disturbances of their endless patrol cycles. Snakes like peace and quiet, and will avoid high traffic areas. And if there’s one thing Guineas create, it’s noisy ground traffic.
Vertical and horizontal considerations
Elevation and range are both important to the Guinea fowl. Just weeks into life they’ll start flying to surprisingly high perches, and before you know it, they’re in the treetops at night. I get a kick out of hearing them scuttle across the roof of the house, but it’s not for everyone.
Take heed of their expansive territory if you are considering adding Guineas to your farm - if you can see your neighbors from your farmyard, you can bet your Guineas will visit them. Regularly. So make sure your neighbors are game for the complimentary pest control and alarm system, because they’ll have it whether they want it or not.
There are several online resources which encourage confinement of Guineas to a coop environment, effectively eliminating roaming behavior. Given their insatiable instinct to orbit their home base in grazing bliss, permanently penning Guineafowl would be to quench their very essence and design. Plain and simply, they’re not chickens. They need space. That said, while still young they can be trained to go into a coop at night for protection from predators, as well as for insulation from below freezing temperatures.
Interspecies relationships
Guineas live relatively peacefully alongside other species, unless they’re in a high-density or confinement situation. Then they get bossy, the Guinea cocks especially. If not allowed enough space, the cocks can be relentless bullies to chickens and ducks. However, provided there is sufficient latitude without overcrowding, harmony between farm bird species is untroubled.
Guineas naturally want nothing to do with humans and will keep their distance. However, there is a circumstance in which these birds will ferociously attack - and I just had the privilege of being the target for the first time! It was pretty hilarious actually. My kids were dying. I was taking video came too close to her nest. This hen was not having it. In an instant she was all over me, including in my hair. You should’ve seen it.
The Guineas and the livestock guardian dogs make a wonderfully symbiotic security system. The dogs pay no mind to the monotonous “look out, look out, look out” cadence of the females as they pace, but when the birds set off with their blaring alarm calls, the dogs know to come a’runnin’. Thus, the birds are able to alert the dogs to danger they may be unaware of on another part of the property. Oftentimes, that danger is in the form of aerial predators whose presence the Guineas are particularly sensitive to. I love to watch as a Guinea will cock that colorful head to one side to keep one eye on the sky.
Guineafowl are remarkably heat tolerant, which is a huge benefit in our Sacramento Valley neck of the woods. Originating from wild Guineafowl in Africa, our domestics have maintained their thermophilic tendencies. More challenging for Guineas can be wet and cold climates. Adults can deal with wet environments, but keets will almost certainly die if not kept dry. Cold can be especially challenging for Guineas, but with adequate winter housing for roosting at night, they appear to be able to thrive in even subzero conditions.
I know one Guinea that won’t be cold tonight, not with these two tending it. Baskets, towels, blankets, feed, water, heatlamp…they’ve assembled the ultimate keet survival apparatus and have even pledged to sleep next to him. Farm animals in the house - an inevitability with which one must come to terms when teaching tender, little hearts to farm. Now if we can but teach this bird that he’s indeed an ever useful Guinea fowl, it will be a win all around.
How Guineas fit a farmstead
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