Guineafowl Past & Present By Michael Roberts
Guineafowl Past & Present by Michael Roberts £9.00
This book includes new historical references, methods of keeping Crested and Vulturine guinea fowl, experiences of wild guinea fowl in Africa and keeping and rearing guinea fowl on a small scale. The book contains chapters on housing, breeding, sexing and large scale commercial rearing together with preparation and marketing. There are numerous colour photographs and illustrations including photographs of 18 different colour variations of domestic guinea fowl.
The book has chapters on:
- History of Guinea Fowl.
- Names of Guinea Fowl.
- Origins and Types of Guinea fowl.
- Letter from Zimbabwe.
- Keeping Crested and Vulturine Guinea Fowl.
- Keeping Guinea Fowl on a Small Scale.
- Housing, Breeding and Artificial Insemination.
- Eggs, Incubation, Hatching, Colour Breeding and Pinioning.
- Sexing.
- Commercial Rearing, Intensive and Free range, Capons.
- Catching, Killing, Plucking, Evisceration, Trussing.
- Packing and Labelling.
- Marketing
- Health, Diseases and Ailments.
Click on this link to read a review of the book, Guineafowl Past & Present.
Price £9.00 +P&P.
Stock Available: 2
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Hi,
We have a guinea fowl in our garden who has been sitting on her eggs for a long time now and some of them hatched this morning. We built a shelter around her from wire and she hasn’t moved from her nest. Do you think this will be ok for the keets to survive? Does she need to be able to get on and off the nest and wonder around; or do we need to leave food in the enclosure for her and her keets?
Thanks
Hi Bob,
Thanks for contacting farmingfriends and telling me about your guinea fowl. Congratulations on the hatch. Your guinea may not have moved because not all the eggs may have hatched yet and she will be waiting for the others to hatch.
Make sure that the shelter is predator proof and has an area where the keets can shelter from the elements (wind, rain or snow!) Also make sure that the wire is small enough so that the keets can’t get through the wire or rats can’t get in as rats, mink, stoats would get in and kill the keets. I would make sure that their is food and water in the enlosure. The keets will need chick crumbs and make sure that they cannot drown in the drinker, I usually add marbles or pebbles to the drinker so that the keets can still drink the water but can’t immerse their head in it.
Sitting birds may come off the nest once or twice a day to drink, eat and stretch their legs but if she is in the final stages of sitting then she may not.
Once all the eggs have hatched or the guinea fowl leaves the nest and the remaining eggs are not going to hatch the the guinea fowl should show the keets how to drink and feed although they will do this instinctively if the food and water is placed close enough to them.
I hope all the hatchlings are doing well and that the rest hatch soon. Keep me posted. Where in the world are you? I am based in Yorkshire in the UK.
Just to let you know I have a free forum with a section on guinea fowl http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=6
I have also written an eBook about incubating, hatching and raising guinea fowl keets which costs £3.50, it mainly discusses incubating the eggs in an incubator as opposed to a guinea fowl hen sitting but also discusses raising the keets to 6/8 weeks.
http://farmingfriends.com/incubating-hatching-and-raising-guinea-fowl-keets-ebook-for-sale/
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriends
Hi, it’s me again!
Thanks for your advice. I thought I’d let you know that our guinea fowl ended up hatching about 21 chicks. We felt bad leaving them enclosed, especially since the mother was growing impatient, walking up and down the fence. So we decided to let them out during the day and then round them up at night. Unfortunatley, due to birds, other predators and just plain weakness, many of the chicks died. We ended up with about 5 or so for a while and we moved them into a large cage (about 3m by 2m and 2m high) and let them out each day, enclosing them at night time. It was quite an effort rounding them all up! Over the next couple of weeks, one died, I am assuming from sickness, as it happened while it was in the cage one night and the others weren’t harmed. Unfortunately, I fear a snake got into the cage about a week ago and killed off 2 more and now we only have one left! But we have decided to just let it and its mother stay with the other guinea fowl now, as it is able to fly. So far, so good. It seems quite content just tagging along with the other guinea fowl. I hope he manages to survive until adulthood. So, it appears that I’m not a very good mother! But we all tried our best to keep the chicks safe, happy and well fed. Obviously, nature took its course.
I have an adopted guinea hen that was raised with chickens and given to me. She is sitting on a clutch of eggs in a box nest I placed inside the enclosure. Do I need to protect the hatchlings from the other guinea hens? I have heard that some males will kill young birds.
Will the hen that is sitting on the eggs feed the young?
Thanks
Hi Joann,
Welcome to the farmingfriends website. You are lucky that the guinea hen is sitting on the eggs inside a nest box as I have kept guineas for 5-6 years and they generally lay in nests around the farmyard and in nettle patches!
Yes you will need to partition the sitting guinea and the keets when they hatch from the other guinea fowl, yes the male guinea fowl can react to the keets and kill them so I would partition off the nest with the guinea hen. It is a good idea to just partition so that everyone can still see each other so that when you want tomix them all they will be used to see each other. I would make sure that the keets can’t get through the partition!
If you put feed and water in the area where the guinea hen is, then when she hatches the guinea fowl keets she will show them where the food and drink is.
Hope this helps.
Just to let you know that I have a free forum with a section on guinea fowl http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=6
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriends
I have a similar situation, my guinea lost her mate about 3 or 4 weeks ago and she has been sitting on about 25 eggs for about 19 or 20 days, she had disappeared and I thought she was dead, but I found her a couple days ago. She is sitting on her eggs, I do know that, so I’m wondering the same thing, does she know if they are fertile and should I just move her and get rid of the eggs or just leave her be for another 10 days or so. I’ve had guinea’s before and they have never sat on their eggs so I always figured I had all males or all females. This is the first time I’ve ever had guinea eggs. My guinea’s lay more eggs than my chickens. If anyone could answer this I would appreciate it. Thanks
kckat@yahoo.com
My guinea hen hs been laying eggs that had a smooth brown texture. She has now made a nest in our garden which has about a dozen eggs. However the eggs in her nest have very small dark specks all over them. Does this mean the eggs are probably fertile?
Hi Tommy, thanks for visiting farmingfriends and leaving your comment.
I don’t think that the dark specks indicate fertility. Only way to ensure fertility is to have a male guinea fowl running with your guinea fowl hens and to candle the eggs to check that the embryo is developing once the eggs are being incubated under a guinea fowl, broody hen or in incubator.
I have read that dots on eggs can mean that there are red mites present but not sure if that is just for hens.
I have posted your comment on my forum and you may get a reply there too. http://farmingfriends.com/forums/topic.php?id=911
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends
My hen has hatched 11 out 42 eggs. She got off the nest after I took her last keet 2 days ago. I left the eggs and now I have found 4 more eggs that have hatched on their own. How long do I leave the eggs after she has left? This is my second hatch and this did not happen before. Oh, I do not use an incubator… Thank you!!!
I have 1 male and 1 female guinea. The female laid 22 eggs. They were in an unsafe location. I have incubated the eggs. This is all a first for me. I do not know how long she laid on them. How will I know when to stop turning the eggs? How will I know when to expect them to hatch?