I never cared for guineas when I was a child… never understood their purpose. Out of curiosity, I ordered a set of 26 Hatchery Choice guineas from Ideal Poultry in 2013; they were less than $1.00 each. I raised them to 4-5 weeks old, sold six to cover their cost, and kept the remainder. They are certainly strange creatures. Several left home for no apparent reason – they never once called or e-mailed? I gave three away… and kept the rest. Ended up with six that like to roost in the Live Oak tree in the front yard. Unfortunately, they roosted right over my wife’s car… they were relocated to our farm in the country. The three I gave away decided to join the other at our country estate. Several, who were unhappy with their new home, left. Ultimately, I ended up with three females – not good. A neighbor gave me a pied lavender male who did a goo job mounting my females and keeping them in-line. Unfortunately, he also laid eggs? Later, a lady gave me a pearl male who turned out to be male. But, alas, he thought he was a duck and when I gave my ducks to a cousin, he too left home. In the summer of 2015, I hatched a small clutch on the halves from another person’s flock. We shall see how many of these stick around. They’ll likely end up in a flight pen with the peacocks.
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All guineas originally came from Africa and have always been prized for their all-dark, gamey tasting meat. In many of the world’s top restaurants guinea is still found on the menu and demands a very high price. Guineas are very easy to raise. Once you get them started, they live and grow on bugs, insects and weed seeds. They newly hatched young are called keats and are very active from the start. Once guineas are grown they will range throughout your farmstead foraging for good and serving as you personal watchdogs by calling: Buckwheat! Buckwheat! to all strangers that pull into your yard. Many of our customers report the addition of guineas to their homestead has greatly reduced the number of ticks, particularly the dreaded deer tick. Until 12 weeks of age, different colors of guineas will look similar and be difficult to distinguish. 
