188 POULTRY BREEDING 
velously small hole. The pen should be close-built so 
that no fear of escape need be entertained. 
Feed guineas as common chicks would be fed and as 
soon as they will follow the mother hen give them liberty. 
As they grow larger they will wander farther and after 
they get full size they will wander afield, hardly waiting 
in the morning for feed. Guineas like to hunt for their 
own feed, eating weed seeds, green vegetation and in- 
sects. They usually begin laying in March or April and 
will lay until August without sitting, if the eggs are 
removed from their nests. The ‘guinea hen if brought 
up with chickens frequently lays in the same nest with 
common hens, but as often she seeks to hide her nest 
and must be watched. The guinea hen lays from 70 to 
more than 100 rather small, sharply-pointed eggs, the 
shell covered with fine dots of brown. The eggs are too 
small for market but are of excellent flavor and good for 
home use. 
There is a growing market demand for young guineas 
and old ones are readily taken when offered. The flesh 
has a gamey flavor and is often substituted for game 
birds of the same size. Indeed guinea fowl is growing 
into such favor that some of the large hotels regularly 
put it on their bills of fare under its own name. As 
guineas hunt their own feed during the larger part of 
the year, and are not heavy eaters at any time, it would 
be found profitable to raise them in considerable num- 
bers. Guineas are almost as good and useful for another 
purpose as a watch dog, as they detect the presence of 
a stranger at once and, day or night, raise an alarm if 
any one with whom they are not acquainted comes about 
the poultry yard. They protect their young from assault 
with great bravery, all the hens in a flock joining to de- 
