154 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



in their habits. They can be raised exactly as chickens, with one 

 exception : they need food as soon as ever they are hatched. The 

 eggs take 28 days to incubate and the little ones are exceedingly 

 wild and will run away and get lost as soon as they are hatched 

 if not closely watched. They should be confined in a tight pen, 

 with sides at least fifteen inches high until they have learnt to fol- 

 low the mother hen, which will be in a few days. The guineas soon 

 learn to love their mother and will never leave her, in fact they will 

 stay with her and roost with her even after they are laying eggs 

 and are a year old. They are very peculiar in another thing, what 

 one guinea does they will all do. If one flies over the fence, all will 

 follow, a short of follow my leader game is going on all the time. 

 The mother hen is followed by the young even after she begins to 

 lay they will all go on the nest with her, no matter how she may 

 peck them. I have had them effectually break up a sitting hen. 

 They will often, if brought up with or by hens, lay in the same 

 nest with the mother hen, although if at liberty, as on a farm, she 

 will usually hide her nest. Guineas are gradually becoming polyg- 

 amous, and the male will take as many as three or even four wives. 

 The female makes a poor sitter and not a good mother. The wild 

 nature is the cause of this, and if left to hatch her eggs and raise 

 the young, she rarely brings more than four or five to maturity, at 

 least this has been my experience. In the West, guineas begin to 

 lay about April and continue until August. They weigh about 

 three to three and a half pounds, and there is a growing market 

 for them. 



J. Burrows' Model Breeding Room for Canaries, Ocean Pa«k Heights, Cal. 



