Vor,. XVII. No. ilG. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



103 



THE GUINEA FOWL. 



Farmers' ftul/eliii SjS, of the United States Depart- 

 'inent of Agriculture, comprises an instructive account of 

 the guinea fowl, by Andrew S. Weiant, Scientific Assistant in 

 Poultry Investigations, Animal Husbandry Division, from 

 which the following notes are summarized as being of 

 interest to poultry keepers in the West Indies. 



Several species of wild birds, known as guinea fowl, are 

 found in Africa, and derive their name from Guinea, which 

 is situated on the West Coast of that Continent. From one 

 of these wild species {Numida mt/c'agr/s) the common domes 

 ticated guinea fowls are descended. They have long been 

 domesticated, having been raised as table birds by the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans. In Africa, where there are still many 

 wild flocks, they are highly prized by hunters of game birds, 

 and in England they are sometimes used to stock game 

 preserves. In the United States guinea fowl are also 

 growing in favour as a substitute for game birds, with the 

 result that guinea fowl raising is becoming more profitable. 



Domesticated guinea fowls are of three varieties — Pearl, 

 White, and Lavender. The pearl is by far the most popular. 

 It has a purplish-gray plumage, regularly dotted or 'pearled' 

 with white, and is so handsome that freijuently the feathers 

 are used for ornamental purposes. The white guinea fowl 

 is of pire-white plumage, and the skin is somewhat lighter 

 in colour than in the pearl variety. Lavender guinea fowl 

 resemble those of the pearl variety e.xcept that the vilumage 

 is of a light gray or lavender, regularly dotted with white 

 instead of a dark or purplish gray dotted with white. By 

 crossing the pearl or lavendi r varieties with the white, what 

 is known as the 'Splashed' guinea fowl is produced, the breast 

 and flight feathers being white, and the remainder of the 

 plumage being pearl or lavender. Crosses between guinea 

 birds and other poultry, particularly fowl.=, and less commonly 

 turkeys, are not unknown, but such birds without e.Kception 

 are sterile 



The male and the female guinea fowl difter so little in 

 appearance that many persons have considerable difficulty 

 in making a distinction. Indeed it often happen.s that 

 those who are inexperienced in raising these fowls will 

 unknowingly keep all males or all females as breeding 

 stock. Usually the males can be distinguished by their 

 larger helmet [or 'horn' as it is commonly known in 

 the West Indies] and wattles, and coarser head, but 

 to be positive one should listen to the cry made by each 

 bird. That of the female resembles 'buckwheat, buckwheat', 

 and is decidely different from the one-syllable shriek of the 

 male. When excited, both the male and female emit one- 

 syllable cries, but at no time does the male imitate the cry 

 of 'buckwheat, buckwheat'. [In the West Indies this cry is 

 usually vocalized as 'come back, come back'.] Sex can be 

 distinguished by this difterence in the cry of the male and 

 female when the birds are about two months old. 



As regards breedino, guinea fowls in their wild state 

 mate in pairs like most other wild birds, and this tendency 

 prevails among domesticated guinea fowls also, provided the 

 males and females are equal in number. As the breeding 

 season approaches, one pair after another separates from the 

 remainder of the flock, and ranges oti' in the fields in search 

 of a suitable nesting place. Once mated in this way the 

 male usually remains with his mate throughout the laying 

 season, standing guard somewhere near the nest while the 

 hen is laying, and ready to warn her of any approaching 

 danger. It is not necessa'y, iiowever, to mate them in pairs 



under domestic conditions to secure fertile eggs, and most 

 breeders keep but one male for every three or four females. 

 When mated in this way the hens are more apt to lay near 

 home, and several usually lay in the same nest, thus making 

 it muck easier to find the nests and gather the eggs. 



As profitable egg-producers guinea hens can not compete 

 with the ordinary common fowl, but during the latter part of 

 the spring and throughout the >ummer they are per.?istent 

 layers. They usually begin laying in April or .May. A short 

 time before the opening of the laying period the hens with 

 their mates begin searching for suitable nesting places among 

 the weeds and brush along the fences and in the fields In 

 this search the male takes as active an interest as his mate, 

 and when a suitable location is found both help to dig out 

 the nest and make it into a suitable shape. Each day as the 

 hen goes to the nest to lay, the male accompanies her and 

 remains near by until she comes off. Should anyone 

 approach he shrieks in warning, and thus betrays the where- 

 abouts of the nest, which might otherwise be difficult to 

 locate. From twenty to thirty and often more eggs are laid 

 before the guinea hen becomes broody; if not allowed to sit, 

 she will continue to lay throughout the summer, laying from 

 forty to sixty and in some cases 100 eggs during the season. 

 If the hen becomes frightened by the intrusion of some 

 enemy, or if all her eggs are removed from the nest, mora 

 than likely she will change her nesting place to a safen 

 locality. For this reason she should not be disturbed while she 

 is on the nest, and the eggs should not be removed without; 

 leaving a few nest eggs in their place. If a number of eggs 

 are removed at one time half a dozen left in the nest usually 

 are sufficient to keep the hen from seeking a new nest. If 

 the eggs are gathered every day, two or three are usually 

 enough to leave as nest eggs. It is unnecessary to remove 

 the eggs with a spoon or to scrape them out with a stick, as 

 is sometimes done to prevent the hand from coming in 

 contact with the nest and leaving a scent. After the eggs 

 are gathered they should be handled with as little jarring as 

 possible, and should be set while fresh, never keeping them 

 more than two weeks if it can be avoided. 



Guinea hens usually are too wild to be set anywhere 

 except in the nest where they have become broody, and 

 often such a nest is unsafe. Because of these disadvantages, 

 and the fact that guinea hens do not make the most 

 satisfactory mothers, ordinary hens and turkeys are 

 commonly used to hatch and rear guinea chicks, and it 

 is thus very easy to raise a large percentage of the total 

 number of chicks hatched, care -being taken to keep 

 them off wet grass for the first two or three weeks. 

 Guinea fowls are fed in much the same way as chickens, but 

 they require le.ss feed, as they are natural rangers and can 

 be trusted to find enough seeds of weeds and grasses, buds, 

 insects, and green vegetable in the fields to supply much of 

 thrir food. 



When the guinea chicks are old enough to roost, that is 

 between six and eight weeks, they will leave their coop and 

 start roosting in some near-by tree or other roost that may be 

 provided for them. If they have been raised with a hen they 

 can be induced to follow her inside a poultry house and to 

 roost there. It is advisable to have them become accustomed 

 to go into a house or shed of some .sort, otherwise it is almost- 

 impossible to catch them when they are wanted for the 

 market. Guinea fowls, even after they are grown, become 

 quite attached to the mother hen, and this attachment affords 

 an ea.sy method of controlling the natural wild instinct of 

 guinei fowls, and makes raising them under domestic condi- 

 tions mui-h simpler. 



