Has the guinea project run its course? This is one of those decisions I mentioned last time.
I've been trying to decide whether to go out of my way to preserve the ones left. There's only 4. The 2 adult males and 2 half grown keets. Out of the 10 color keets I bought in the spring, there's only a royal purple hen and a blue. I'm not sure what sex the blue is. Until recently, there were 2 blues and one was a hen for sure. Then one of those disappeared, and the other hasn't made any noise to ID it. I'm trying to decide whether to start penning them up at night to maintain a breeding pair. The blue will have to ID itself as male for that to be worth the trouble.
Or do I just let the population die out. I've lost so many this year. I'm assuming the fox is still around and responsible for many of the losses. The 2 adult males are...well...not that nice to have around. They're really mean to the little chickens! I released 8 excess roosters to free range and all but 4 of those went gone. I've seen them grab the chickens by tail or wing and race around while the poor little bird tries to escape their grasp. Everyone gathers around when I'm out tending to the rabbits and chickens in the Summer House in case I toss some corn out to them, and they beat the bantams up. I'm sure that's what happened to the one I found dead out there. I quit tossing feed out to them so they don't crowd around so much. They don't really need it right now anyways.
There's pros and cons to having guineas.
Pros:
1. Insect control. I've seen very few ticks since I've had them. It's hilarious to watch them go after the Japanese beetles. They're very good at it, and there's much less damage in the gardens.
2. Income. There's a market for guineas and I'd have no trouble selling them. Especially if I had a variety of colors. Guineas don't cost much to raise, they take care of themselves very well.
3. Watch dog birds. They have very sharp eyes and ears and not much gets by them.
4. Snake control. I haven't seen any snakes in the yard since I've had guineas. I haven't actually seen the birds go after a snake, but there was always a large black Rat snake in residence before guineas.
5. Comedy relief. Guineas are funny looking birds and do amusing things.
Cons:
1. Loud. Really loud. That watch dog thing? Not necessarily. Often they go off for no reason that I can see, and they go on and on and on. They don't go off when they should.
2. Difficult to maintain a working population. They do best free range (that no-cost factor), but it's impossible to keep the population replenished unless penned. I got no eggs to hatch this year because I could never find the hen's nest. She set at least 3 clutches before she went missing during the last one.
3. Annoying. They do annoying things. Like come up on the porch and leave unpleasant packages all over. The poke weed berries are ripening and that means big gobs of purple yuck. Like going up on the roof of the house. I wonder if they are damaging it. They're pretty hefty birds to be constantly bouncing around up there. Like attacking the little chickens.
4. Smelly. Don't notice it much on the free range birds unless you're close to them, but you do if they're penned. They smell way worse than chickens.
5. Dig holes. They make wallows all over the yard for their dust bathing. I don't really mind that, I'm not a "lawn care" person, but you do have to watch your step or where the lawn mower tires go.
5 for 5. So how do the pros and cons balance?
Insect control is the main reason they are here, but maybe I have a handle on the tick problem? I treat the dogs with flea/tick drops, and they don't go out of the fence where they'd come in contact with other dogs and the overgrown areas where ticks hang out. The free-ranging chickens have learned Japanese beetles are tasty, although they aren't as efficient as the guineas at it. They aren't quite as fast. The confined chickens go after any insect that enters the pen. Since chickens are much more pleasant to have around, maybe they can take over that job?
Maintaining a population of guineas has become harder. At first I'd just lose a few here and there, but I got plenty of eggs to hatch. This year, it's pretty much every one that leaves the fence, and eventually, they all leave the fence, and no eggs. It doesn't make sense to buy new keets every year as they continue to disappear. It only works if I get hatching eggs, and that requires confining them. I'm not set up for it, and I'm not sure how or where to do it. I'm set up for the chickens, and have an idea for individual breeding pens. The small bantams will be easier to maintain in that respect.
The noise pollution. When they are content or begging, they make pleasant little whistling sounds. When they go off near me, I want to throw something at them. Bantam roosters can be pretty loud, but it's not a sustained loud. They can only crow once at a time, and the hens don't make that much noise. The guineas (both sexes) can go on for a long long time without taking a breath.
I guess I am leaning towards giving up on guineas. It's really hard to let the last blue and purple go as they wish since it took so long to get my hands on colors. But maybe it's time. I know I don't want to buy anymore to replace them.
tnt
