The Guinea Fowl Blog

Guinea Fowl Calendar 2012

Jack — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:03:38 +0000

We have a new Guinea fowl calendar available for 2012!

Just a few weeks after we opened our Guinea fowl website, people who viewed the photographs section started asking us to print a calendar using some of the photographs. We looked into it, and printing a Guinea fowl calendar is a very costly adventure.

If we were to print a small number of Guinea fowl calendars, each calendar would be very costly. If we print a large number of Guinea fowl calendars, they would cost less per calendar, but we would have far too many Guinea fowl calendars leftover at the end of the season. We just couldn’t imagine that 10,000 people wanted Guinea fowl calendars.

We found a solution to the Guinea fowl calendar dilemma with a company called Zazzle. With Zazzle, we merely had to properly prepare the photographs to be used for each month of the calendar and then upload them to their website. We have completed that and the new Guinea fowl calendar is available for purchase now.

To order one of the new, 2012 Guinea fowl calendars, just click on one of the Guinea fowl calendar links in this blog and place your order. It’s that simple.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the 2012 Guinea fowl calendar, please do write and let us know what they are. We plan to make a 2013 Guinea fowl calendar available also, and your comments will help us decide what photographs to use and what size calendar to make available.

To download a FREE copy of our Guinea fowl book, click here. We invite you to please take a moment and register for the blog. Just click on ‘Register’ on the right hand side of this page, then type in your username and password – that’s all it takes! Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to add comments and ask questions. We won’t be emailing you or anything like that – we just like knowing how many folks are following the blog. Thanks!

Talk with other Guinea fowl keepers or ask questions about Guinea fowl in our new forum at: http://guineafowlbirds.com/Guinea-Fowl-Forum/index.php.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Last of This Season’s Guinea Fowl Eggs

Jack — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:23:57 +0000

In the spring, the early season, our flock of pearl gray Guinea fowl was giving us at least 20-30 eggs per day. At the height of laying season, we would sometimes find almost 40 eggs in a day. Now that fall has arrived and the Guinea fowl egg laying season is drawing to an end, we are only getting 2-3 Guinea fowl eggs per day.

All of the many nests that the Guinea fowl built this year have also been abandoned. Even the nest where the last hatch of keets was born into the world this season has been abandoned.

There is now only one, relatively new Guinea fowl nest around here. It’s the nest where we collect our meager daily egg rations. Fortunately, the nest was built in the coop. This makes egg collection a real breeze – something one comes to appreciate after collecting a few thousands eggs from nests scattered around several acres. Some of the nests are built in the likes of yucca plants or tumbleweeds – neither of which feel good to touch. Some of the nests are on steep inclines or deep inside of deadfalls – very hard for humans to access. In any event, like I said, we really appreciate the Guinea fowl hens building their final nest of the season inside the coop.

This was the first year that we did not track and document the exact number of Guinea fowl eggs our flock produced. We quit that process this year so that our hens could go broody without us moving them every day to check for new eggs. After one of our Guinea fowl hens has been broody for about a week, it gets increasingly more difficult (and more hazardous), to get her to move off of her nest of eggs for an accurate egg count. We’re not sure how we’ll be dealing with egg counts next year.

Talk with other Guinea fowl keepers or ask questions about Guinea fowl in our new forum at: http://guineafowlbirds.com/Guinea-Fowl-Forum/index.php.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Our Guinea Fowl Prefer the Night Cold

Jack — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:10:02 +0000

The last few nights it’s been pretty chilly: mid-high 30°s. Not cold – at least not by our standards – but definitely chilly. One night it was also quite windy, which produced wind chills of well below freezing. Despite these cooler conditions, we’ve noticed that lots of our Guinea fowl still prefer to roost outdoors in the stands of pines just outside the fenced acreage.

Our Guinea fowl do have the year-around option of going inside the coop. The coop is totally safe and much warmer inside – especially on windy nights. There is never a night of the year that we don’t have a good number of Guinea fowl that decide to spend the night inside the coop.

The pine trees that the Guinea fowl like to roost in during the cold weather do provide a decent barrier against the wind – even in the winter. Still, it’s interesting that so many of the Guinea fowl prefer the colder temperatures outside to the warm, wind-free safety of the inside of the coop.

We have Guinea fowl that spend the night outside all winter long, too. When it really gets cold, the Guinea fowl change their posture to protect themselves from the bone-chilling temperatures. It frequently gets down to -20°F in the winter here, and -40°F is not that uncommon. Add wind chills to those temperatures and you’ve got some seriously cold weather.

Guinea fowl are much better at protecting themselves against winter cold than one might think. When it is really cold, the Guinea fowl fluff themselves up over their feet and tuck their heads deep inside their bodies.

Talk with other Guinea fowl keepers or ask questions about Guinea fowl in our new forum at: http://guineafowlbirds.com/Guinea-Fowl-Forum/index.php

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Our Guinea Fowl Prefer The Night Cold

Jack — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:46:14 +0000

Talk with other Guinea fowl keepers or ask questions about Guinea fowl in our new forum at: http://guineafowlbirds.com/Guinea-Fowl-Forum/index.php

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Guinea Fowl Predator: The Hawk

Jack — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:04:11 +0000

While we cannot be absolutely positive, we believe the hawk shown in the photographs below is a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). The Red-tailed Hawk is relatively common in our area, especially at our altitude: about 3,000′ above sea level.

The Red-tailed Hawk is a large, formidable predator. The body is 19″-25″ in length and it can reach wingspans of up to 58″. A Guinea fowl, especially a keet – even an older keet – is no match for this hawk.

Mother Nature equipped the Red-tailed Hawk exceptionally well to be a flying predator. Of course they have incredible eyesight, which allows them to scan the ground for Guinea fowl from high altitudes. They also have very strong feet with long, sharp talons and a long, very sharp, hooked beak. These tools of the predator are the reason that even a large Guinea fowl would have no chance of defeating a Red-tailed Hawk in a confrontation.

Ordinarily, the Red-tailed Hawk will fly in large circles about 200-300′ above the ground. When it sees something, such as a field mouse, adult Guinea fowl or Guinea fowl keet, it comes in for a closer look – or to attack. In the photographs below, the hawk is merely taking a closer look. We’ve seen attacks by Red-tailed Hawks and they are devastating to their targets. The hawk dives down on its prey until the final moments, at which time it extends its wings outward to slow and control its dive, and extends its deadly legs and talons forward to grab the prey. The impact on the prey must be quite devastating.

We have also watched Red-tailed Hawks hunt by sitting high in treetops and watching. Until recently, these hawks were always on the edge of fields – watching the fields for food. Now we have discovered one of these deadly predators that has figured out a new, more effective way to hunt Guinea fowl – especially our Guinea fowl keets.

This new hunting technique we’ve witnessed is simple and effective. The Red-tailed Hawk sits on a lower branch in one of the hundreds of large pine trees we have. These stands of pine trees are out of the fenced area, so the dogs are of no help to the Guinea fowl, or the keets. Also, the Guinea fowl and their keets are far away from their best cover and protection. The predator sits quietly waiting and then jumps off the branch and onto the Guinea fowl keet as it is foraging near the tree. We have only seen this behavior twice, but our recent depletion in keet numbers indicates that it has happened often over the past two weeks.

We’re not sure how we will discourage the predator. He has a taste of Guinea fowl keet now, and knows how to hunt them without interference from us. The dogs will scare them away from the fenced acreage, and we will scare them away if we see them circling outside the fenced acreage. But it is all but impossible to spot one in the pines – until it strikes. When it strikes, it kills quickly and departs with the keet in its talons.

Guinea Fowl Keets Don’t Fight With Smaller Keets

Jack — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:42:15 +0000

We currently have about 70 Guinea fowl keets from five different hatches this season. The keets range in ages from 10 days to 9 weeks old. With that said, I should clarify the title of this blog. Guinea fowl keets will fight with keets smaller than themselves, but ONLY if the smaller keets are from the same hatch. Hatches can occur over several days, so some keets in a hatch can be as much as a week older than other keets from the same hatch.

With so many Guinea fowl and so many Guinea fowl keets running around, there is some competition for certain things. The two most obvious to us are 1) the highest roosts and 2) the millet, when it is served for the birds each day.

We have noticed that the keets will not fight with keets from other hatches – with very rare exceptions. We initially thought this was some sort of sense of fair play, but as it turns out there is another reason. Of course, the fair play concept may also be at work, but we will never know for sure.

When a keet from one hatch confronts a smaller keet from another hatch, the guardians of the smaller keet’s hatch will quickly intervene. This quickly drives away the older, attacking keet. The guardians could be a single male or hen, or they could be 2 or 3 hens with a male. The point is, the keet is no match for the much older and more experienced Guinea fowl, so the larger keet ceases the attack and departs the area rapidly.

It’s also interesting to note that the adult Guinea fowl will continue to have brief ‘fighting’ encounters – which are usually just glorified chasing events that start and end in a few seconds – when the millet is served or when it comes time for night roosting. However, the 70 keets can forage through the millet undisturbed by the activities of the adult Guinea fowl. It’s very interesting to watch all this.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Riding a Guinea Fowl Hen

Jack — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:31:33 +0000

Just when I think I’ve seen every different Guinea fowl behavior, our large flock of pearl gray Guinea fowl shows me something new. If you look at the three photographs at the end of this blog, you’ll see the new behavior I am referring to.

The adult Guinea fowl hen in the photographs below hatched 16 keets this year, many of which are visible in the photographs. She was a dutiful broody Guinea fowl hen and is an excellent mother.

The keets in the photographs below are about 3½ weeks old, so they are pretty good size Guinea fowl. These photographs were taken at late dusk with the flash, which is why the backgrounds are so dark.

Note the keet sitting atop the roosting hen. This Guinea fowl keet sits on his adult Guinea fowl hen mother many times during the day, and invariably at night. The keet does not just jump up on top of the hen and quietly sit down, either. As you can tell from these photographs, which were taken about 2 minutes apart, the keet moves around and shifts positions frequently.

We’ve never seen a Guinea fowl keet get on top of its mother hen and stay on top of her. We have seen keets jump up on the hen momentarily, but the hen quickly shakes them off, unless the keet quickly jumps off on its own.

We have seen, on a couple of occasions, this keet actually riding the adult Guinea fowl hen as she walks around foraging. We have noticed that the hen will only allow this for short periods of time, which is why we have not been able to get a video of it. But it is noteworthy that the hen will allow this keet to stay on her back at all as she walks.

No other keets in this hatch get on top of the hen – at least not that we’ve ever seen. It makes us wonder what has inspired this keet to behave like this. Of course we also wonder why the hen allows this behavior.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Large Guinea Fowl Flock Dynamics

Jack — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:56:30 +0000

We now have around 70 pearl gray Guinea fowl keets running around our place, as well as 30 adults. The keets ages span from 3 days old to almost 8 weeks old. We actually refer to the older keets as “sub-adults” now. It helps us keep them straight when we are discussing them.

Having so many Guinea fowl and so many keets of varying ages has provided us with new insights into Guinea fowl behaviors. Of course, since we only have this one very large flock, we can’t know if these behaviors are specific to our Guinea fowl only or if they are common to all Guinea fowl. With that said…

It’s interesting that the keets of different ages do not fight (at this age, it’s mostly play fighting) with other keets of different ages. The 8 week old keets will fight with each other, but they will not fight with the younger keets – even the 5½ week old keets.

Each group of keets has its protectors. There is almost always at least one hen with each group of keets. Sometimes a lone male Guinea fowl will oversee the keets, but this is rare. The most common adult group with the keets is one or two hens and one male. One of our groups of keets has the dominant male and three hens with it – almost all the time. The adults will chase away other adults that get too close to the keets, but they will not chase away other keets from different age groups.

When several groups of keets are at the coop yard enjoying their daily ration of millet with the entire flock, all of the adults seem to protect all of the keets as they mingle while pecking at the millet. This is very interesting because at other times, the adult protectors will chase off the other adults when they get too close to their keets. During millet time, the adults accept each other out of deference to allowing the keets to enjoy their millet.

There are more interesting behaviors going on around ere right now, but this is enough for this blog. Maybe more later this week.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

Dogs and Guinea Fowl

Jack — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:41:13 +0000

I frequently get email asking me if Guinea fowl get along with dogs, and if dogs get along with Guinea fowl. The two photographs at the end of this entry should show everyone that Guinea fowl and dogs can indeed get along. However, some dogs are much more inclined to accept Guinea fowl than other dogs are.

When you’re thinking about allowing your dogs near your Guinea fowl, or if you’re thinking of getting some Guinea fowl and you’re worried about how your dogs will handle it – then you’re being a prudent and responsible pet owner. Not all dogs are eager to accept even a small flock of Guinea fowl. Some dogs accept Guinea fowl rapidly, while other dogs may need some training to accept your Guinea fowl. And finally, some dogs require extensive training to accept Guinea fowl.

Let’s use the two dogs in the photographs below as examples. Both dogs are aggressive ranch dogs that have battled everything from skunks to packs of coyotes. The German shepherd is a 115 pound male named Buddy and the white dog is a 95 pound female Akita named Bella. Buddy is a highly skilled herding dog and quickly adapted to the Guinea fowl. Bella is one of the most aggressive dogs I’ve ever seen, and she took several weeks of training to accept the Guinea fowl.

Training your dogs to accept Guinea fowl starts with allowing the dogs to see, hear and smell and get very close to the Guinea fowl, but the dogs MUST not be allowed to touch the Guinea fowl. This is most easily accomplished with fencing. We kept our Guinea fowl fenced fort several weeks while Bella got used to them.

The second step in training your dogs to accept Guinea fowl happens when your dogs seem calm around the Guinea fowl. Let them get near each other, without fencing, but make sure you are there are prepared to make on-the-spot corrections with your dogs. The instant your dogs do something unacceptable, make a fuss! Do this until the dogs and Guinea fowl get along, basically. That can take several sessions.

The Guinea fowl will accept the dogs as long as the dogs don’t harm them. Our Guinea fowl know that the dogs protect them, and will run to them in times of danger, such as when a bird of prey flies over.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.

A Dust Bath In Coal

Jack — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:06:50 +0000

The photograph below is of one of the two dominant males in our large flock of pearl gray Guinea fowl. He has dug himself a deep dish and is dust bathing. The soil that he has selected to dig his dust bath in is very rough, sandy soil with lots of coal in it. Note the black chunks around him – that’s raw coal.

We’ve always known that Guinea fowl preferred soil with ‘character’ for their dust bath adventures, but we’d never seen a Guinea fowl use the coal areas of the property for the construction of a dust bath. This robust male, however, is using the area and seems quite happy with his choice.

Though it is not shown in the photograph, directly in front of the Guinea fowl is a cliff that’s about 20′ tall and runs for about 80′. The base of the cliff is a coal deposit that’s about 3′ thick. Since we saw this dominant male Guinea fowl enjoying a dust bath here, we’ve seen several other Guinea fowl build their dust baths in the same general area below the cliff.

If you’ve never felt raw coal, ours breaks down into a grainy, hard substance that feels like large pieces of sand with sharp edges. Apparently, that texture and feel is what Guinea fowl like for a dust bath.

If you haven’t watched any of our Guinea fowl videos, tune in to Guinea Fowl TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuineaFowlTV.