8 Things You Should Know About Raising Guinea Fowl

We’ve only been raising guineas for a few years, starting off with 5, growing to 35, and now currently settled in at a flock of 32 — and always hatching more! While I do not proclaim to be an expert, in fact I learn more about them seemingly every day, there are a few things I believe everyone should know before starting any kind of adventure into raising guineas, at any scale.

1. Guineas are not chickens

   This may seem obvious but you must know before getting into guineas that they are nowhere near the same as chickens. For some people and breeds, chickens can be as close to you as household pets; jumping up on your lap, coming to your calls, and even letting you bend down and pet them. Guineas are wild birds, they are not domesticated. They do not make for good pets. No matter how familiar they get with you, you will very rarely be able to touch them, pick them up, or get close to them. They are incredibly fast.

2. They know no boundaries

   Guineas can fly. Unlike chickens who can hop and gain a little bit of height flapping their wings, guineas can full out fly. This leads them to get into some peculiar situations — on your vehicle, high up in trees, even on top of your house. In addition to flying, they like to roam. Short of clipping their wings, which I do not recommend doing, they will go wherever they want. Regardless of where you live, even in a rural setting, you must have a good relationship with your neighbors and should warn them you are going to start raising guineas. Guineas don’t understand roads or property lines.

3. They are loud

   Try remembering that car alarm that woke you up in the middle of the night, or the sound of a nearby chainsaw, multiply that by 2 and you can start to understand how loud guineas can get. This is a blessing and a curse. They make for a great home security system, warning you of every person or vehicle that comes nearby. They also warn each other and any chickens of overhead dangers. Guineas seem to feed off of each other’s vocalizations — once one starts, they all get into it and don’t stop until they want to. This is a reminder to, once again, make sure you get along with your neighbors.

4. They eat all the bugs

   This might be one of the best benefits of owning guineas. They eat any and all bugs. Chickens will also eat bugs but they’ll tear up your ground scratching to find them or destroy your garden picking a bugs on your vegetables. Guineas don’t scratch and they seem to strike with a greater precision when picking bugs off of plants. Whereas we try to keep chickens out of our garden, we invite guineas in. Perhaps most importantly, they like to eat ticks!

5. They can be super low maintenance

   Once guineas are adults, they can be as low maintenance as you desire. They do a great job finding their own food and water. They also don’t require any kind of coop. We still keep our guineas in a coop but make no mistake, training them to come back nightly is a long and arduous task. Otherwise you could forego a coop and guineas will have no problem finding their own safety by roosting high up in trees.

6. They are bad moms

   For as low maintenance as guineas can be once they reach adulthood, they take a lot of work when they are keets (the name for guinea “chicks”). Guineas are notoriously bad parents. They don’t lay in nesting boxes and tend to hide their nests, not only from predators but also you. They’ll lay quite a few eggs before getting broody. Once their eggs are hatched, if they are lucky enough to get to that point out in the wild against nest predators and the weather, hens typically abandon the keets. For the hens that don’t outright abandon their clutch, they don’t seem to have any concept of the fragility of their keets — walking them through ditches or near puddles filled with water or roosting in trees while the keets are still unable to fly and leaving them to sleep on the ground. If you plan to raise guineas and want to raise keets, plan on having an incubator and brood box. You’ll also want a different starter food for your keets as they require a higher percentage of protein (+20%) than what comes in chick starter food (16%).

7. They can get along with chickens

   Just because they can, doesn’t mean they will. Guineas can be outright bullies to chickens, jumping on them, chasing them, and pulling out their feathers. This is especially true when multiple guineas start grouping up. If you feel compelled to raise guineas with your chickens, I recommend housing them in two separate areas. Otherwise, make sure you raise the chickens and the keets together from day one, and have significantly more chickens so the guineas can’t group up or outnumber the chickens. I haven’t seen chickens bully guineas in the same way. Keets start off significantly smaller than chicks, and never fully catch up to them in size.

8. They are fun to watch

   Simply put, they are a lot of fun to watch and raise. They have distinctly different personalities and vocalizations than all other farm birds. They also come in all sorts of weird and unique coloring (see some examples from our flock below). Like a herd of sheep grazing across a pasture, you can watch your guineas decimate a yard full of bugs. Lastly, they hilariously Naruto run to get around quickly.

9. Bonus! What about their eggs?

   I wanted to briefly mention their eggs. Guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs but have a richer and creamier taste due to having a higher yolk to egg white ratio. They are great for eating or baking. Even though they are smaller, they usually fetch a higher price, sometimes upwards of $1 an egg, due to how rare they are compared to chicken or duck eggs and how difficult they are to collect. Remember, guineas don’t lay in nesting boxes like chickens do, and oftentimes you are lucky to even find their nest. They also only lay during the warmer months. It’s also worth noting that some cultures treat guineas as a delicacy, both the meat and their eggs.

While this is not an exhaustive or conclusive list, I hope this helps you avoid some of the learning and growing pains we had to go through so you can more quickly become successful at raising your own guineas. They are fun to have around!