EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Does anyone keep em and what are the draw backs to having em?  Thinking about getting some to keep the bugs and snakes away from the kennel and yard area but I don't want a herd of just 2-3.  What do y'all know about em?

I know that it's impossible to hit one with a riding mower, 4 wheeler or slow car. Believe me, I've tried it all. ;D

my dogs think they're tastey..... neighbor used to have some but they ain't around anymore.  i know they'd get out in the road quite a bit but if you're back from the road a ways it probably wouldn't cause a problem like it did around here.

yeah you have to be pretty fast. But one morning when i got off of work, i was driving home and a whole flock of them just walked out in the road in front of me. The little nissan pickup i had then was just low enough to knock the heads off of a couple of em!!  ;D you should have seen all the feathers flying out from under my truck!!  :D

they are noisy & make good watchdogs.

 Matt
  We have 7 adults and about 20 keets  they are cool to have around and are great alarms  for varments hawks owls ect  other than getting under  the window and start squalking i see no down sides of haveing them plus they are good layers also
 i do know this they will put a hurtin on the bugs grass hoppers ticks  and are fun to watch chasing grasshoppers down
        Dexter

I have about 25 that run loose in and around my kennels! Other than the noise I have not had any drawbacks with them.

Dexter you ever eat a Guinea egg??  i mean are they like duck eggs or are they bareable??

Matt,

     We could hear Mandi's guinea all the way down at the Garcia's house. Damn things are annoying. We sent Mandi's guinea to live at Krystal's house, but the stupid guinea went to play with one of her dogs without adult supervision and he became a snack!

 they are kinda like a chicken egg  and heck when they are fried over easy  the only way i can tell is the yolk is a
little darker
  i eat lots of rooster bullets we are getting 13-16 one day and the next we  get 24- 28 havent hit the 30 mark yet!
 i take some warm water and bust a dozen or so in a bucket then add the eggs and a cup of diatomaceous earth then the dog food mix it up good witha drill and mud paddle   
 

Had them for years and about to get some more being that we are back at the farm....Love to hear them....my bro has some and we regularly eat the eggs....

Alright folks, Jo has mentioned getting some as well.
Ya'll talking about the eggs, where do they lay?
Ya'll treat them just like chickens with nesting boxes and all that or what?
If the eggs are truly good enough, I'd really consider some.

Thaks for the input fellas, here is another question I have, how do you keep them around and do they require housing?  How do you keep up with them?  I have some room now but I don't want them going down the road to the neighbors and causing problems etc.  Been reading alot about how they eat ticks which I have a ton of it seems.  Might try to get one or two and see how they do just don't know if they need a coop etc.

We always jut let ours roam....They lay on the ground.....I'd lay some old plywood next to the barn and always had at least one nest under there.....My bro keep them pen'd and I think they lay on the ground in the pens if I'm not mistaken.  Eggs are smaller than chickens, but I cant taste any difference.  I know when we had ours roaming the yokes would almost be burnt orange in color.  My grandmother always said it was because of all the bugs they ate and it made the eggs healthier....don't know about all that, but grandma said it so it must be true!  ;D

Matt
     keep them in a like a dox box or a wire pen  for around a week where you want them to to tree barn  ect  and get ya some 3 or 5 gallon
 buckets  hang them about eye ball high  and they should lay in there ours roost in the mesquite tree and   lay in the hen house
      Dexter
 thats right granmomma's are always right in my eyes 

Do they roam all over or do they stay pertty close by?  Will they stay on few acres or do they go on walk about pretty often?  I have a creek behind my house will they get water back there or do they need water like a chicken, do you have to supplemental feed them?  I need to do some reading on these things I suppose....

heck they  pretty much forage  ya might  keep a bag of scratch  just to keepm  around close  and sling a handful or two
out just to keepm honest i brought my  feeders in and filled them up with  feed and they go off 3 times day for 1 second on one and 2 on the other ........ i know i  know  thats lazy now if i can get the dogs on auto feed ;)

Matt
heres a short clip of guineas sounding off down the road
 Dexter :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


(http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt51/skiparope/th_3210gueanies010.jpg) (http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/tt51/skiparope/?action=view&current=3210gueanies010.flv)

Heck, if they don't work out...they taste great in gumbo! >:D

they never shut up!

x2

Matt, we started off with one cause it was a "Free Keet" . Everybody said they are noisy, and my Grandpa has some good storys about using them for target practice (he says you are good if you can shoot a guinea in the head) He also thinks that they are good to eat. I also did some reading cause we had one solo keet baby he was a pet, and was not much trouble except he folowed us around like a puppy. Sat on our shoulder, a pretty good bird. Then my brother-in-law from Tilden, started making Guinea calls, thats when the nearly grown bird started making more noise. then I bought two more, then I found out how loud and noisy Guineas can be!
I have not gotten the first egg yet, and I think they get dumbr the older they get, since the two I have left can't seem to find their way back into the yard the past two evenings, and I had to help them, Grrrr >:D

everything said is true ,   ....  id alot rather have ticks and snakes than guineas . banties will do almost as good with almost no racket .

banties meaning roosters? 

get chickens  much better   there not near as noisy  and dont  go to squakin at 3 in the morning wen the wind blows a leaf acoss the yard and get the dogs rowled up and barkin  that noise a def man could hear yep had same idea as you lesson learned dont get guineas oh and they do make good dumplings and gumbo

We had them when i was younger. Like already mentioned, they are excellent watch dogs, and keep the bugs out of your yard. They will go to a fire ant mound and scratch at it and eat all the ants. The only down side to them is that they are NOISY. I like the sound though! Oh and also when they have babies, WATCH OUT! I had a momma attack me one time when i was trying to catch one of the babies. All i could see was wings flapping at me. :o

they are pretty good eatin..

I have about 25 gunieas running loose on my place. yeh they can be a little noisey at times but all in all they are worth having. They will lay mostly on fence lines or in a thorn patch. But if I was going to have some I would get them when they are keets that way they wont leave. Adults are bad about leaving. they will roost in trees mainly. they are real easy to take care of.

    yeah , i guess , here we have a breed of chicken they call banties . they eat bugs , ticks ,mosquitos and are good to eat themselves . AND THEY DONT MAKE RACKET ALL THE TIME !