it's an absolute neccesary evil.

Guineas are ~
loud
annoying
can be viscious to other animals they've not been raised around
loud
annoying
ugly
loud
annoying

:lol:

However, nothing compares to them in keeping ticks and bugs away. The ticks are SO bad here right now. We've literally been picking them off kids and dogs every day of the week. As much as I dislike the guineas, it's better than the alternative.

I'm getting 10 that are a month old and he's charging $3.50 each. Which means I won't have to brood them and they'll be cheaper than most hatcheries I can order on-line from as day olds. Hatcheries charge $3.10+ for them each plus shipping and that's for day olds.

So. That's that. I got some last year and swore I'd never do it again, but I think it'll help a ton so I'm going to give it another go and hope my neighbors don't hate me for the noise. hehe I could always bribe them with a few, I suppose! ;)

Now to quickly make a guinea tractor for them before tomorrow. They have to be caged up for a while in order to keep them knowing this is home plus they're still a bit too young to protect themselves from predators.

So...wish me luck. hehe

I love animals. I do. I just never get animals unless I particularly want them. I've never "needed" an animal that I didn't care for. So this is new for me. I'll treat them just as well as the others. Just hope they do what I'm getting them for! hehe

I have heard wonderful things about guinea being GREAT tick-getters, so that'll be nice! They are loud, though, huh? I had toyed with the idea of getting some, but my neighbors wouldn't appreciate that, I don't think (especially since they already have to listen to my goats ;) )
Good luck getting the guinea tractor built! Post some pics when the new critters come home :)

I love the polish crested guineas. They have style. ;) (I think they're guineas anyway lol)

I thought about guineas to include with my hens but I nixed them just because they can be so loud. I get that they sound the alarm but uh, no thanks. lol.

Have fun. :)

one of my neighbors has a dozen or so guineas. my kids love them. love to chase them when they come down our drive & in our field. i dont mind them. except on mornings i am supposed to get to sleep in! they are indeed loud! now learning that they eat ticks.....well, i dont mind so much i guess:p

I love the polish crested guineas. They have style. ;) (I think they're guineas anyway lol)
I've never seen those! Hmm...

I am just hoping he has some different colors again and lets me choose. I like things that aren't quite the "norm" that everyone else has. hehe Last year he had some light silvery purplish looking ones in addition to the regular color.

I wish my husband would let me get some. After dealing with Maya having Lyme, Lily being sick for the last week and everyone in out family in CT having had Lyme I'm a bit paranoid to be honest. Add that to the fact we actually live in a town it was named for, well, you get the picture :)

When you say you had them last year, where are they now?

Well, I just found a tick on Christian's head this morning. :-( So glad I gave the boys short buzz cuts this past week (and for this exact reason). He was talking to me while I was making pancakes, I looked over and saw it on his head immediately. It had not attached, yet, thankfully so it was a matter of taking it off with tweezers and killing it. *sigh*

That definitely renewed my resolve that I am doing the right thing.

The guineas that I had last year, I had actually bought as day olds because a bunch of people on my local poultry group wanted some. Of course, that "want" died out and by the time I was ready to sell them (once they were done in the brooder), no one wanted to buy any. My aunt wanted some badly so I gave them to her. She loved them, but had issues b/c they were incredibly loud and she had them in with her chickens and they were not nice to them. Her neighbor worked 3rd shift and couldn't sleep b/c of the noise so ended up sending a warning shot over her house. Wugh. SO she ended up selling them to someone with 40 acres of land.

My neighbors are great about my animals, but not sure how this will work. hehe I actually have someone nearby that may want some so I'm kind of hoping to only keep 5. hehe We'll see.

I bet if you told your neighbors you were doing your part to control ticks they'd be much more tolerant of any noise. That's not something I'd know unless someone told me (that they eat ticks) and it would definitely soften my opinion if noise were bothering me.

When we went blueberry picking, there were guineas all over the rows, eating happily (and fertilizing, I was told) :p

They were super cute and I don't remember them making a peep. The kids would have likely been freaked out if they were loud. :)

They were a silvery grey, fwiw.

We try to be very nice to our neighbors. We have a lady across the road with many animals and a loud male peacock. So, we try to keep our animals quiet because the neighbor righ beside us (well, across the stream) can't stand her barnyard of noise.

We went to a greenhouse where they had guineas and they were like an alarm when we pulled in. I wouldn't mind a few in the lower pasture but I'm nit sure I'd want any more than 5.

I wonder how ducks do with ticks? I want my Indian Runners so I'll sell them to DH any way I can!

I bet if you told your neighbors you were doing your part to control ticks they'd be much more tolerant of any noise. That's not something I'd know unless someone told me (that they eat ticks) and it would definitely soften my opinion if noise were bothering me.
They help with snakes as well (which is good b/c there have been quite a few copperheads seen in our county lately) as well as other bugs and such.

My neighbor will likely call when she hears them b/c generally she wants some of what I have! :lol: I'll gift her a few if she's interested. That always helps, too! ;-) I just gave her some ducks the other day and given her more chickens than I can count.

Guineas do roam, though so I don't know how far they'll go.

Sandi ~ here's some links so you can hear how lovely guineas sound. ;-) The first is pretty tame, but starts getting a little louder in the end and then they stopped it. hehe
YouTube - Free Range Guinea Fowl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFsu9Cc8O8)

This is better. heh
YouTube - the guineas of sparkes road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YfPAh6C7cY&feature=related)

YouTube - Guinea Hens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMUQckEa_ME&feature=related)

See, I've heard they'll just trot right down the driveway headed "home" if they're moved from their original coop. So, they're characters for sure. lol.

I read a looong time ago about Christy brinkley getting guineas for tick control. High fashion livestock there.

Yeah, older ones you have to coop for weeks before they'll stay around. I'm hoping I won't have to do that near as long for these since they're younger.


I was lazy and didn't do a thing with the chicken tractor today so they'll have to go in one of the empty cages for now that is not a tractor. hehe

I'd love to hear (no pun intended ;) ) how it goes with them. We've considered them for a while, but haven't been able to make the leap. But after the Lyme disease incident last year...well...it looks more and more appealing.