I 1 



ecember, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



KEEPING GUINEA HENS 



By E. I. FARRINGTON 



GUINEA chickens are the best substi- 

 tute for quail ai:d other game which 

 has yet been found. This accounts for the 

 fact that they are being raised in largely 

 increasing numbers. There is a constant de- 

 mand and prices are high. Many clubs and 

 restaurants are frankly listing guineas on 

 their menu cards, while nobody knows how 

 often they appear masquerading under a 

 gamier name. Private families are also 

 beginning to call for them and many peo- 

 ple who have a little land raise a few birds 

 each year to serve on their own tables. 



There are two common varieties of 

 guinea fowl, the white and the pearl, the 

 letter being the more often seen. They 

 are easy to raise and cost almost nothing to 

 keep for much of the year, if they can have 

 free range. It is not necessary to keep them 

 closely confined, even after the garden has 

 been planted, for they do very little dam- 

 age by scratching or eating forbidden deli- 

 cacies. They prefer bugs and worms above 

 all other articles of diet, and will spend 

 much time walking along the rows of gar- 

 den produce looking for insects, becoming 

 in this way of real value to the garden 

 maker in keeping his garden free of injuri- 

 ous pests. 



If the young birds are hatched under 

 common hens and kept around the house at 

 first they will become much tamer than 

 when allowed to run with guinea hens, and 

 may be confined all the time if given un- 

 usually large yards and kept in open- 

 front houses. They are exceptionally hardy, 

 and if left to themselves will roost in the 

 trees. When they are to be confined, the 

 flight feathers should be cut from one 

 wing, for guineas are able to fly much 

 higher and farther than most poultry. This 

 operation should be performed when the 

 young birds are about four weeks old. 



Guineas are mated with from two to 

 four hens to one male. The novice finds it 

 almost impossible to tell the sexes apart, for 

 there is only the slightest difference in 

 physical appearances. The female, how- 

 ever, has a cry of two syllables which has 

 been often described as sounding like "buck- 

 wheat" or "good luck." The male bird, 

 on the other hand, has a call of only one 

 syllable, which resembles a click. The 

 female, with a characteristic often ascribed 

 to her sex, is exceedingly garrulous, while 

 the male gives his call infrequently. The 

 raucous cry of the guinea hen is the one 

 unpleasant feature which comes from hav- 

 ing these birds around the place. 



Guinea hens lay from forty to one hun- 

 dred and forty eggs, beginning the first 

 of April and laying until August. Those 

 hens which have free range usually lay a 

 — number of eggs than those which are 

 confined. They always seek deep seclusion, 

 and when at liberty make their nests in 

 places often hard to find. It is greatly to 

 the advantage of the owner to locate the 

 however, for the eggs may then be 

 removed and given to common hens. The 



male guinea is exceedingly gallant and usu- 

 ally posts himself near the female when she 

 is on her nest, so that by watching him, one 

 can get a clue as to the location of the nest. 

 If the eggs are not removed, the hen may 

 lay several dozen and then try to cover all 

 of them. A good plan is to remove the 

 newly-laid egg each day, but half a dozen 

 eggs from common hens should be put into 

 the nest at the beginning, or the guinea will 

 go elsewhere. Some people find it wise to 

 remove the egg with a spoon, so that the 

 hen will not detect the odor of a human 

 hand in the nest. The eggs laid late in the 

 season may be hatched by guineas, for after 

 the weather has become warm and dry the 

 chicks will not be so likely to suffer from 

 the long journeys through the grass which 

 the mother hen will be certain to lead them 

 on from the first. 



Ordinary hens make much better mothers 

 early in the season and the chicks soon 

 learn her call. Often the hen finds it a dif- 

 ficult matter to get rid of the guinea chicks 

 when she thinks they are old enough to 

 shift for themselves, and they will follow 

 her about until almost full grown, to her 

 ill-concealed disgust. Little guineas do not 

 work their way out of their shells in the 

 slow and laborious fashion of common 

 chickens, but come out almost with a pop, 

 the shell breaking apart in the middle. As 

 soon as they are dry they evince a desire to 

 see the world and unless confined in some 

 way will wander far from the nest. For that 

 reason, it is always well to make a little 

 fence of boards or closely woven chicken 

 wire to keep them with the hen. 



When guinea hens are confined to an en- 

 closure, several piles of brush scattered 

 about will usually be accepted as nesting 

 places, but care should be taken not to dis- 

 turb the hen. 



Guinea eggs require from twenty-six to 

 twenty-eight days to hatch. They may be 

 hatched in an incubator as well as with hens, 

 but this plan is not generally followed. 

 Perhaps incubators will be used more often, 

 when these birds are bred more extensively. 



If more than three or four guineas are 

 kept, they ought not to be yarded with the 

 other poultry, for they will make life mis- 

 erable for the other hens, chasing them from 

 one end of the yard to the other and con- 

 tinually annoying them. At the same time, 

 even one guinea is of no little value where 

 a considerable number of chickens are be- 

 ing raised, as no hawk or other marauder 

 can approach without being detected and 

 causing the guinea to screech an insistent 

 warning. 



When young guineas are raised for mar- 

 ket, they usually are sold at from one and 

 a quarter to two pounds or a little more. 

 Then the meat can hardly be surpassed. 

 It is customary to sell them in pairs, and 

 they are not dressed for the city trade. 

 When sold in the small towns, they are 

 dressed in the regular way, as a rule. Heav- 

 ier guineas are in demand in the smaller 

 places and often are sold by the pound. 

 The broiler size is the more profitable and 

 the size desired by the high-class clubs and 

 hotels, where they are served to lovers of 

 game. 



The meat of old guineas is tough, and old 

 hens are often kept until they die. They 

 are better for breeding purposes after they 

 are two years old than when younger, but 

 most breeders prefer to use young cocks, 

 and it is well to occasionally buy a bird from 

 another breeder in order to avoid in- 

 breeding. Hens and chicks are given the 

 same food as those of other breeds, al- 

 though the chicks seem to require bugs and 

 insects, and some people obtain maggots for 

 their first feeding. Small grains like 



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