Guinea Fowl

[recom273]

I always fancied keeping some poultry, now I live in the village I made some moves.

 

I started with the idea of Bantams and the locals laughed at me when I said I wanted to eat the eggs. They keep them for good luck? How can a micro chicken bring good luck?

 

I have a really annoying neighbor, so I thought it would be fun to get Guineas, they sound great!

 

I have built an oversized high coop, ordered 4 juveniles; solar lighting, water and feeders installed. Im prepared to keep them in for 8+ weeks.

 

The only thing that's specific to Thailand that i'm unsure of is feed. I gather they eat chicken pellets? is that good enough? I should feed them cereal - like ..? millet, corn, sunflower seeds? where to source.

 

Also, do they sell some kind of grit here to mix in with the feed? does anyone have a Thai name or do I ask for "hin lek lek"

 

Anything else I should know.

Edited September 20, 2022 by recom273

[djayz]

"Back yard chickens" on Facebook has lots of info, sellers, offers, inquiries, etc. about all kinds of fowl. They might have what you need. 

[AsianAtHeart]

Good question on sourcing the grit.  I just provide coarse sand to my chickens.  But I haven't looked very hard for better stuff.  Presumably, concrete makers should use a variety of grades of rock, depending on concrete thickness and strength requirements--so you might try asking at place that sells the sand and gravel for construction purposes.  (Of course, they'll typically sell it by the cubic meter--not expensive, though.)  Per my dictionary, you can try asking for "gruat"/"gruat-sai"/"gon-gruat" (กรวด/กรวดทราย/ก้อนกรวด), but, TIT, and they still might look at you funny when you do.

 

Locals sell whole rice (unmilled), regular rice, broken rice (polished), rice bran, whole corn, crushed corn, pellets and mash for chicken consumption.  Often, it will be sold from a mom-and-pop shop that is focused on just this, perhaps in combination with other pet foods, or, more probably, in combination with other farming/agricultural items.  I've never seen sunflower seeds sold for animal consumption other than the in-shell variety intended for parrots, or  millet--but you might find it somewhere...??

 

[recom273]

On 9/22/2022 at 10:20 PM, AsianAtHeart said:

Good question on sourcing the grit.  I just provide coarse sand to my chickens.  But I haven't looked very hard for better stuff.  Presumably, concrete makers should use a variety of grades of rock, depending on concrete thickness and strength requirements--so you might try asking at place that sells the sand and gravel for construction purposes.  (Of course, they'll typically sell it by the cubic meter--not expensive, though.)  Per my dictionary, you can try asking for "gruat"/"gruat-sai"/"gon-gruat" (กรวด/กรวดทราย/ก้อนกรวด), but, TIT, and they still might look at you funny when you do.

 

Locals sell whole rice (unmilled), regular rice, broken rice (polished), rice bran, whole corn, crushed corn, pellets and mash for chicken consumption.  Often, it will be sold from a mom-and-pop shop that is focused on just this, perhaps in combination with other pet foods, or, more probably, in combination with other farming/agricultural items.  I've never seen sunflower seeds sold for animal consumption other than the in-shell variety intended for parrots, or  millet--but you might find it somewhere...??

 

Cheers for the reply, I didnt see it before.

 

I think, if you free range the birds then they get what they want from the wild. They peck at the ground all day long. We haven't had any issues.

 

Foodwise, we have been experimenting - I was told by FB experts they need at least 20% protein, like game bird food .. the breeder just gives the 17% chicken food, we tried duck feed with higher %, but they were too big and ended up throwing them over the floor in an effort to break them up.

We tried rice, but really its a low protien carb, that just fills them and gives no benefit .. so we are on an even path now of straight chicken feed.

 

After 4 months, the birds, 8 in total, are awesome, looking clean and healthy. They eat about 30kg of feed a month, which is a little bit more than I was expecting to buy. They are funny as anything, they move around in a little herd never far from one another, they are very quiet thankfully, but when there is an issue, they go off! which is what we wanted. I never thought a bird could make a noise so loud.

 

I would thoroughly recommend them as "pets" - we haven't got any eggs yet and would have loved to kill a couple to eat, but she isnt hearing any of it.

[ozimoron]

Guinea Fowl are extremely noisy in the evening. My mother has kept them for 20 years but they have a high attrition rate in suburban environments. They are quite long lived, far longer than chickens.

Edited January 5, 2023 by ozimoron

[jak2002003]

I used to keep them and they free ranged all day in our mango orchard.  I hated them in the end.  The noise is soooooo annoying.  It's not too loud but it was the constant none stop repetitiveness of it.  

 

I had to re home them in the end.  They also learnt to peck on the glass windows of our bedroom to wake us up at sun rise.  That, coupled with the noise is not a good combination when you have a hangover. 

 

They also do not understand fencing or walls.  Chickens know to fly up on top and back ovwe to get home. The guinea fowl never worked this out and got trapped often out on the road where dogs would get them.  Not as smart as my chickens. 

 

If you still want to keep them here are some tips. 

 

Feed.   I fed mine chicken and duck layer pellets.  They also ate chicken chick starter crumbs when young.  

 

They got all the grit themselves.  If you use some course building sand of mixed sizes in the pen as bedding that will do OK. 

 

They like vegetables or all kinds and also catch insects and small animals to eat.  

 

You can feed them mashed up hard boiled eggs complete with shells as extra protein when chicks and adults.  

 

Oh.  They also like to dust bath. 

 

One good thing about them is they eat ticks and will clear your land of them. 

 

If you get young ones you can train them to free range and come back to the coop at night.  If you get adults do not attempt this as they will freak out and fly off never to return.  Wait till they have young and them free range the young. 

 

Good luck.  I likes my pied ones and white ones the best.  If only they had a mute button. 

 

The bantam chicken eggs are good eating BTW.  Look good in salads or as mini poached eggs.  Also half the calories of a regular chicken egg haha. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by jak2002003