Is there a place close to Denton Texas that sales guinea hens?
Where to buy guinea hens
Have you checked the feed store? They usually sell chickens and birds. If they don't have any, they might be able to direct you to the right place. You could also call the county extension agent's office.
We have a really junky flea market that's open on weekends, and they always seem to have some that I can see from the road. At least I think they have guineas, they have some really strange looking chickens, also.
Guineas are very strange looking if you ask me! LOL Great bug control, though!
I just checked the Dallas Craigslist listings under www.dallas.craigslist.org - the farm and garden section - and found 22 listings for guineas in and around your area. You might have some luck there.
I have a coworker who has Guineas. Those are some really stupid birds (be prepared to replace a few or breed them with an incubator), but do help with grasshoppers and other horticultural pests.
As the owner of way too many guineas, why do you want them? Just asking. Mine are my exhusband's when he moved out they wouldn't go with him. You need to get chicks the adult birds won't stick around. Which would be OK with me.
Lisa
Lisa~Maybe you can get rid of them on Craig's List or something like that.
First of all I can't catch them, and I have been told that the adults won't stay at a new place. They may be good for something, I just don't know what. Maybe I would have more bugs and snakes if I didn't have them. They stand in the middle of our road only 5 families live on our road and people actually slow down and wait for them to realize that a large object is bearing down on them and that they should MOVE out of the way. I actually find them amusing and they are part of our family.
Lisa
Thank you for the replies. I will click the craigslist link in a minute. They are suppossed to be good bug control, but my neighbor, which is an Iris farm, has more shade than I do and he leaves water out for them, so he might get some bug control. lol
Someone had told me about an owl with flashing eyes that is suppossed to scare other owls away, anyone know where they sale those or any reccomendations on how to protect free range guineas that don't like to sleep in the hen house in the summer?
If you want bug control, you can always get chickens. They do great at bug control and they'll give you eggs to boot!
Ohh, do you live next to Argyle Acres? I wanted to go up there in April and see the blooms and buy some iris, but I forgot to calendar it.
Chickens eat bugs, but I think they eat just as much of your plants - including the one's in the garden you might want. Guinea's diet consists mostly of insects.
Out of curiosity, anyone have these birds in a suburban area?
I don't think you can. They wander everywhere and they are really loud.
Thanks 1Lisac, darn! I sure think it would be pretty cool. Sure have plenty of insects for a few : )
Sweezel, yes I do. If I had neighbors, I probably would not have guineas. Some cities let you have chickens but not Roosters because of crowing, guineas are louder.
No offence, but if you lived next to me and had guineas, I'd find some way for them to disappear.
This message was edited Jun 3, 2009 5:49 PM
I think this thread should be called "why do you want to buy guinea hens?" Kidding They drive me nuts but I love them. I live across from 800 bare acres so not many neighboors to complain but they make noise day and night.
Lisa
They pretty much find their own way to disappear around here. I originally got them for chemical free grasshopper and pest control. The Iris farm next door puts out water for them and they took care of his pest instead of mine.
I have chickens in the city. Most cities let you do it as long as they are fenced in the yard. The smaller the chicken, the higher they fly so if you want them to stay in the yard, get medium to large. They will dig up your garden if you dont put up a small barrier.
My sister got guineas once but hawks wiped them out in short order.
I actually like them to be able to roam, just to go back to safety at night. I have had problems with hawks in the past. The quineas, as they matured, seemed to take turns watching and make noise and run under something during the day when a hawk or even a buzzard would fly over. This year, there are also alot of birds, and they dive-bomb the hawks when they see them.
I had a couple of adult guineas come roost on my roof outside my office last year! I had to look them up online to figure out what they were. They are the funniest things and yep, I got more of the babies this summer. They're part of the family, they're good at bugs, and there's really not a lot of work to them. We built a pen and coop, they free-range during the day (I live on 8 acres) and come home at dusk. I can't say they'd be for everybody, but if you lived in the country I can't think of not having them!
Mine take turns standing in the middle of the road. Along with Petey the peacock. We have had three batches hatch this summer but the babies didn't even make it through the first night, something got them, probably racoons. Its so dry here that the natural order of things is messed up the wild life is starving to death. Really sad.
Lisa
Hi, Lisa,
I totally understand about the dry weather. We FINALLY got rain earlier in the week - Wed. I believe and it really stormed. Then we got a little more the next day, so we are feeling truly blessed - I've been dragging 400' of hose all over the gardens just trying to keep things alive! So far I 've been able to keep mine out of the road but I did lose 1 of the original 2 in our pasture on the west side of the house. Turned out the neighbors dog got ahold of it. Until then she didn't even know we had guineas or what they were! Do you incubate your eggs or let the hens sit on them until they hatch? Just curious - there's a forum that I belong to and everybody's been hatching tons of keets this year and there's all kinds of information on that site. Yesterday I picked up 8 keets from LaGrange and got them all settled in. They're so cute!! 24 Hr. old.
Deb
dstarr-where is Sealy Tx? This past week everybody around me has gotten rain but it has missed us. (surprise, surprise). No, I don't incubate the eggs. We use to take them from the hen right after they hatched but they were a lot of work and a large # of the keets got spraddle leg. So I just kind of let nature take its course so to speak. When I did hand raise the keets I still lost a lot when I finally let them go because they didn't seem to have any "street smarts". I have so many animals that I just can't keep up with everything like I use to. Last week we went out of town for a long weekend a raccoons got into my chicken coop and killed 7 of my chickens. They actually dug under. The coop has been there 10+ years and I have never had a problem. I guess its just so dry that everything is off kilter.
Lisa