1905.] 



The Guinea Fowl. 



533 



THE GUINEA FOWL. 



The Guinea Fowl Is more generally kept for ornament 

 than as a utility fowl, and its merits for the latter purpose are 

 apt to be lost sight of. It is, however, one of the most active 

 foragers of all birds that can be kept on a farm, and the cost of 

 keeping it, compared with other kinds of poultry, is small. The 

 gross profits which it yields may not be as large as those from 

 fowls, ducks, or turkeys, but the net profits are not unsatisfac- 

 tory, as it is largely self-supporting. 



It is particularly hardy, and generally sleeps in the trees 

 about a farmyard rather than in a house. In this way it is free 

 from restraint, and is able to spend the early hours of the 

 morning in foraging for food. There is no better gleaner than 

 the guinea fowl, and it will wander as much as a mile from 

 home, but as it is chiefly insectivorous it does scarcely any 

 damage to crops, and the benefits which it confers by ridding 

 the fields of insect pests undoubtedly outweigh any slight injury 

 caused in this way. It is well able to take care of itself, and 

 there is little danger of its being killed by a fox, while its homing 

 instinct is well developed, and it may be relied upon to come 

 home to roost at night. The guinea fowl, therefore, requires 

 little of the care and special management that must necessarily 

 be given to other domestic poultry, as, if given free range, it will 

 during the summer find almost all the food it requires. 



Egg Laying. — Guinea fowls do not lay in the winter, but 

 during spring, summer, and autumn they lay a number of eggs. 

 Starting, as a general rule, in April, they lay without inter- 

 mission daily for perhaps a month, and if the eggs are removed 

 from the nest as they are laid the hens will continue for per- 

 haps three months without becoming broody. If they remain 

 in the nest and want to sit, it is only necessary to take away 

 the nest-eggs and break up the nest, and within a week the 

 hen will start to lay again in another place. Even the tamest 

 birds seen to dislike laying indoors, and it is almost impossible 

 to induce them to lay in hand-made nests. They prefer to 

 make their own nests in secluded places, where they are well 

 screened from view by bushes or weeds. So cleverly is the nest 

 concealed that it is sometimes difficult to find, but when leaving 

 the nest the hen utters a long and peculiar cry, which is not 



