560 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



the custom with young chickens, for unHke young chickens, the 

 guinea chicks will not always return to the hen in the coop. 



Furthermore, it is important to keep the chicks off the wet 

 grass and out of the rain for the first month, for like young 

 turkeys, dampness is fatal. Failure to appreciate this fact is 

 responsible for the heavy losses among broods reared by guinea 

 hens. They have been known to start out in the morning with 

 large healthy broods, and return at night without a single chick 

 — the entire flock having perished along the route from exposure 

 and exhaustion. 



Guinea chicks are ravenous little creatures, and for the first 

 week they should be fed five or six times a day. If allowed to 

 become too hungry they will over-eat, and digestive troubles 

 may result. They thrive on bread crumbs and rolled oats, mixed 

 with hard-boiled egg, or on fine ground chick-food. Sour or 

 fresh milk may be substituted for the egg. Owing to its insec- 

 tivorous nature, the guinea requires a large proportion of animal 

 food, also green food, and they must have plenty of water to 

 drink, grit and charcoal. As soon as they are large enough to 

 be given free range, which should be done at the earliest possible 

 moment, for guineas do not thrive well in confinement, they will 

 forage for the greater part of their keep. At such times they 

 may be fed a coarser chick-feed, wheat, and later, corn. 



Maturity. — Broods hatch from May to September, and in 

 three or four months they will reach the marketable weight of 

 one and a half to two and a half pounds. They rarely suffer 

 from any of the countless diseases that poultrydom is heir to, 

 and no houses are essential for their comfort, except during the 

 brooding season. The hens are prolific layers, and as the chicks 

 reach a marketable size at an early age, they yield a quick return 

 for their feed and care. The one serious problem is in raising 

 the chicks for the first month, after which success is assured. 



Guineas should be killed by sticking — severing the blood- 

 vessels on the inside of the throat, so that no cuts are \'isible, 

 and after the birds are dead and have finished bleeding, all 

 blood clots and smears should be carefully washed off, that they 



