Fowls on patrol

Provided by New Zealand Lifestyle Block, incorporating Growing Today, magazine October 2010 issue.

There aren't many birds that work as hard as the very pretty guinea fowl.

There's no need for a security company to monitor an alarm on the block of Gordon and Fionna Appleton. They already have a never-fail, 2 4 hours a day, free security team in place who keep careful watch over their home, garden and 11ha block, and raise merry hell if an intruder is on the prowl.

"They're a good alarm!" says Fionna Appleton of her family's flock of guinea fowl. "We get stray dogs occasionally, or cats at night. They'll be set off and they'll call and we usually go out and check and there's a dog or cat. They certainly do make brilliant watchdogs."

Guinea fowl fan Sheryn Clothier agrees.

"Do you want me to rave about guinea fowl? They are only noisy when warning of danger: they warn about hawks (I have never lost a duckling), helicopters (they haven't taken any ducklings either), and strangers, but they have now stopped bothering to scream at the dogs. So yes, noisy when they do, but once they settle into what is happening, that's not very often."

Guineas at a glance

Not chickens

The biggest misconception for the person new to guinea fowl is that they are just like chickens. While they can be managed in a similar fashion to chickens, there are some key differences: guineas tend to roam over a much larger territory so don't expect them to just stick to your yard, but on the plus side they're less destructive in your garden says Fionna.

"The great thing is they're mainly protein eaters, but they're grazers too so they will graze your paddocks picking off bugs. They're not like chickens, they don't scratch like chickens because they have quite small toes. But if you've got a tick problem, they're perfect for that."

Another advantage over chickens is that these protein-hungry birds will choose insects and other protein over fruit and vegetables, so they're far less likely to peck at your windfall fruit, or rip up your salad greens. They also tend to scare off other smaller birds, and Sheryn has noticed that in her own orchard.

"I have very minor bird problems in the orchard (no pun intended). Is this because the guinea fowl scare birds away? Or is it because a relatively new orchard (fourth year) is not on the bird schedule yet?

"And (there's) no need to promote the benefits of having five bug-eaters patrolling my orchard full time."

Problem parents

The biggest problem with guinea fowl is their parenting skills, or lack thereof, so to successfully raise guinea fowl keets you'll almost certainly need an incubator or a broody hen to hatch the eggs.

"Guineas do make great incubators but they don't make great mums," says Fionna. "When the keets hatch they are tiny (25g), wet grass gets them, anything out there like pukekos is just going to clean them up. She might start with 18 but after a few days have none left, so we take the eggs, then raise the keets under lights in a brooder. They crave heat more than chicks do."

To keep their birds within a home-range, and a bit more people-friendly, Fionna and Gordon hand-raise their keets and keep them in a covered run until they are at adult-size to protect them from hawks and other predators.

"We've got a flock of about 20 birds now and I think they're a really under-rated bird. They're really low-maintenance, they're just as productive as some hens, they lay really well while in season (September-April), a bantam-sized pointy egg with a very hard shell, but it's a very nutritious egg.

"They're also good eating birds - not that I've eaten mine - but in the USA they farm them for meat."

The shell of a guinea fowl egg is up to four times thick than a chicken's egg so it takes a good crack to open them for cooking, while their large yolk makes them ideal for boiled eggs although you'll probably need two guinea fowl eggs per person.

Egg hunting

The guinea hen does not lay her eggs in a conveniently-located nest box. She likes to hide her quite large nest and as both Fionna and Sheryn can attest, they can be very difficult to find: look first in long grass, weedy clumps, hedges and along fencelines, or if a hen has gone broody, look for her mate leaving her at night to come back to his usual roosting spot.

A hen or hens - nest-sharing is common - can lay up to 40 eggs, one layer on top of another, before going broody and sitting. She will either need to be moved into a protected area if possible, or you'll need to remove her eggs for hatching under a broody (chicken) hen or in an incubator (wait until she has left the nest to do this). While most broody guinea hens will incubate their eggs successfully, they usually leave their newly-hatched keets behind when they wander off, or lose them in wet grass or rain. If a hen does come home with a brood, get her into a pen so you don't lose the babies as keets are tiny and very vulnerable in their first week or two.

Housing

Guinea fowl aren't naturally going to put themselves away at night into a safe, predator-proof hen house, preferring to roost in trees. While that may be perfectly adequate on some blocks, training guineas to come into a coop can be far more practical. Guinea Fowl International (GFI) recommends raising birds by hand to get them to be as friendly as possible, and to train them from a young age to come when you call in the late afternoon using a special grain treat such as white millet. While sometimes slow to catch on say the experts at the GFI, they will learn to come to your call when they figure out how delicious the millet is.

The GFI also recommends using a light source inside the building or shelter you're using so birds don't have to go against their natural inclination not to enter a dark space. A simple battery-operated touch light in the ceiling to provide light is ideal.

If you choose to lock up your guineas at night, be aware they need more room than chickens, at least one square metre each, plus fresh food and water available until you let them out in the morning.

Fowl neighbours

The most common complaint about guinea fowl is the noise, an odd sound in the female bird that some people think sounds like the words "come back, come back, come back" but which has also been likened to a hacksaw cutting through steel. Males tend to sound out one note, although some females also do this.

Guinea fowl get a bad rap for their noisiness but Fionna believes it's unfair.

"The only time we've had them be noisy is when we first release them out of the pen they've been (raised) in and they communicate a lot with each other. Guinea fowl seem to work on the "one brain, one body" concept, they live in a flock, they move as a flock. When you release them as juniors they're talking to each other all the time, learning new territory. They're like human teenagers, they're inclined to be noisy, but once they're mature they quieten down."

The guinea fowl is mostly a laid back bird and tends to get on well with other poultry, and it has the advantage that it does not share many diseases with chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys.

"The adults are very quiet, and they'll live together in winter months as a group," says Fionna. "It doesn't matter if you've got more than one cock bird either, it's not like having a rooster with hens, they will happily co-exist with X number of males to females."

Springtime is when the flock will tend to get a bit rambunctious and hormone levels rise, and it's hilarious to watch.

"They're so comical in the spring," says Fionna. "The males put on displays and they'll sort of warn each other off, then one male will choose a pair of hens, or three, or four, or five."

Because the hens work hard to make sure their nests stay unseen, Fionna recommends making sure she has left to roost before you raid it for eggs, otherwise the hen will just start another nest somewhere else.

"We just remove eggs on a daily basis but leave a couple so they don't think we've taken any away. Then one day they work it out and move on to a new nest. Sometimes there'll be a nest we don't find for a while and then you'll find a hen sitting on a nest of 40 eggs, three deep!"

Friendly but not cuddly

Guinea fowl tend to be somewhat more aloof than hens, with even hand-raised birds not wanting to be picked up or petted, although Sheryn says hers have eaten out of her hand (once) and like to talk to her if she's out working in the orchard.

It's best not to try to pick up a guinea fowl, but if you have to, try to do it at night where it will be less of a struggle. They are much more slippery to pick up than a hen due to the way their feathers lie, so hang on tight.

Game bird

While the guinea fowl is more of an ornamental pet and egg layer in New Zealand, the traditional African game bird is farmed around the world for its tender, lean meat.

It's said to taste like pheasant and birds are best processed at around 11 weeks for the best quality meat, with females supposedly producing more tender meat than males.

The guinea fowl has an exceptionally high yield of meat to carcase, around 50:50, and chefs prefer them because unlike pheasants they don't have tendons in their leg and thigh.

Guinea fowl meat can take the place of chicken in any recipe. A whole processed bird weighs in at around 1.0-1.8kg.

Getting guinea fowl on your block

If you're new to guinea fowl it's recommended you start off with fertile eggs so the keets are used to you from day one.

But raising guinea fowl eggs can be a tricky business, requiring some finesse to get the incubator's humidity and heat levels just right. Ask whoever is supplying the eggs for their recommendation.

Keets have a good egg tooth and make a great job of emerging - "sometimes super fast" says Fionna - but if humidity levels in the incubator drop it can cause the inner membrane to dry out, which then shrinks and sticks to the keet, imprisoning it and preventing it from hatching, so keeping up the humidity levels right to the end is vital.

"Sometimes if a keet does pip and start to peck its way out and the inner membrane starts to dry out and imprison the keet, then stepping in to assist can make the difference between that keet surviving or not," says Fionna. "Keets, like chicks, can take some time to emerge from the first pip to the hatch so only step in to assist once most of the keets have hatched."

For the Appleton's this means removing all hatched keets from the incubator 24-36 hours after they have hatched, then assisting any that might be stuck in their shells. While this is not recommended for chicks, which often have leg problems if assisted from the egg, it tends to work well with keets.

"From personal experience we have found that yes, they do better than chicks that are assisted. They seem to get their 'co-ordination' better than chicks. I don't think it has anything to do with the hardness of the shell as most of our keets pop out of their shells effortlessly."

Keet secrets

• Keets have delicate legs and should be in a brooder on a surface with some grip such as cloth, vs cardboard or newspaper.
• If you find your keets appearing to be dead, don't panic! Keets sleep flat as a pancake with head extending out at one end, legs at the other. They're very comical to hand-raise," says Fionna. "When they sleep they look just like they're dead, people think they're dead but that's just the way they are."
• You can't tell the sex of keets until they are old enough to start calling, at around nine weeks of age. Females make two-note sound, while males produce one note, although some females can mimic the males. By the time they are nearing adulthood the males will have larger wattles and bigger 'helmets' on their heads.

For more information:

Appletons Hen Houses & Poultry Supplies
Email info@chooks.co.nz or phone 03 542 3224

Guinea fowl breeders list
Rare Breeds Conservation Society www.rarebreeds.co.nz

Colours of guinea fowl
Not all these colours are available in NZ: www.guineafowlinternational.org/colorchart/

This article was provided by NZ Lifestyle Block, incorporating Growing Today magazine.
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