Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
adults defend their babies at all costs and the males defend the hens with vigor during
the breeding season and if young are present.
Homing Hens
Guineas have an extraordinary homing sense. In fact, the desire of this type of fowl to
return to their home can be extremely frustrating if you purchase adult guineas. On more
than one occasion, I have sold adult guineas to individuals who take them to their homes
four or five miles away, only to have them come back to me several days later. Of course
I always warn the buyer to keep the guineas shut tight inside a building at their new
home, where they cannot escape. I instruct them to keep the birds enclosed for two to
four weeks until they can get used to where they live. Nevertheless, here they come….
Even if you don't sell your birds, but move them to a new, unfamiliar location on
your property, expecting them to stay inside the new shed, don't give them a chance to
get out a door. If you do, you'll probably find them the next morning on their way back
to the home where they were raised. In summer, when I move my guineas out of the
baby brooder into their range brooder house, where during the day they forage in the
orchard and among the garden plants, they become attached to that particular building.
Then in late fall, when I sort out breeders for the next year and take them to their new
location, I must again keep them confined in their new location for a while to keep them
from returning to the very shed where they were raised.
You have to try to train adult birds or trick them into thinking the new shed is the
place to go every night. Do this by locking them up and leaving them confined to this
new home for several weeks.
GUINEAS
Ralph and Sandy Winter
The Guinea Farm, New Vienna, Iowa
R
ALPH WINTER
started his business in 1986 with just a few hundred guineas in six
colors. I first met him in 1989 shortly after I purchased my farm. I had ordered some
guinea keets from a major poultry supply company and got a card saying they would
come from New Vienna, just a couple hours away. I drove over to pick them up. Ral-
ph and Sandy were cordial and friendly and, although I had ordered only 25 keets, he
had an extra hundred or so that day and made me a deal I couldn't pass up. I came
home with a total of 140 keets.
Over the years it has been wonderful to watch Ralph and Sandy's operation grow
into the largest fancy guinea hatchery in the world. A true collector, Ralph will never
