Guinea question

[Uncle_Alvah]

If you were going to get a few guinea hens to help with bug control, how many would you recommend for an area a bit less than a acre roughly? Say, enough to help with the bugs, but not too much in the way of being a big demand on time to care for?
What do they sell for roughly?

[bee_pipes]

Cackle Hatchery -
http://www.cacklehatchery.com/guinea.html
has them for about $2 apiece, minimum order of 15. They are about the most reasonable mail order. I got mine for about $3 apiece as month olds. If you want pets, you have to start with chicks. Mine weren't used to being handled, but that has not been a problem. I kept them in the chicken house for a week, then let them out to an enclosed yard (with a wire ceiling) for a week or two, then let them out during the day. After a few weeks they were put on a side of the house with an open top yard - they came and went as they pleased.

Until this spring, they slept in the chicken house. It took a bit of training. I can get them back into the yard with scratch in the evening, shoo them into the house and close the door. They have been sleeping outdoors this spring, and so far no losses from predators. They are noisy, but quite entertaining. They fertilize while they control insects.

They were a month old around the end of May of last year. This year they started laying. Out of the nine original birds, all are still present. I think there are five males and one female - hard to keep track, they move so fast and continuously.

Care is not too bad - just food and water. If you have a creek, then just food. They eat less in the summer, supplementing their diet with game (bugs).

Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Pat

[crazymomma]

I got 11 to put in my garden and don't you know those little buggers are 'supposed' to be carnivorous and they munched all the leaves off my broccoli plants. Hopefully, when they are full grown they will concentrate on the grasshoppers- the purpose for which I bought the things!

PS I bought mine at the feed store for $3.00 each.