I've heard that guinea hens love to eat ticks and insects....they thrive on eating ticks and can spot quickly. The less you feed them, the more they hunt for ticks/insects.
Does anyone have these? I don't have large property and have neighbors on both sides of me. My property is 1/3 acre...But want to get a guiena Hen!!
i;ve used tick tubes but don't see any activity around those, but are looking for other alternitivs to use on our property!
Posted by TS96 (Member # 14048) on :
Yes this is true. I think Emla may have some. I can't remember the rest of her screen name.
They do like to roam and are very flighty. So 1/3 acre may not be enough room for them. They like to go along the roadside and along fences and hedgerows where the deer pass by and and snatch them right up.
They are the ultimate tick eater, that's for sure.
We just have 8 chickens and Asian beetles, the ones that love eating the beans are my chickens favorite treat to eat.
Posted by lymeinhell (Member # 4622) on :
My neighbor has 1 left out of 6. Most properties are 100 x 100 or less here, but this little guy pretty much pretends he owns at least the surrounding 1/4 mile (and our town is only 1 mile square). There's lots of marsh and grass and he seems to find plenty to eat.
Noisy bugger though - sits on rooftops and screeches his head off. I thought it was a car with a bad starter for a few weeks until I saw him on the roof screeching!
Posted by lyme in Putnam (Member # 11561) on :
My llmd has them on her property
Posted by Digby (Member # 3888) on :
They are excellent tick eaters but noisy and dumb. We couldn't get them to roost in the chicken house so the raccoons were picking them off during the night. Finally gave the last 4 away.
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
I had them. My neighbor has them. I'm happy to answer questions. PM me and ask...
Don't mean to sound rude, just I'm too tired to type much tonight and tomorrow I might not remember this thread...
Posted by supergirl (Member # 26936) on :
But would the hen poop have spirochetes?
Posted by NanaDubo (Member # 14794) on :
My neighbor had 12 of them and they might like ticks but they drove us crazy. Noisy as all get out, I mean NOISY!! He tried to give them away but they fly much more easily than chickens and they kept coming back.
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
My dad told me about these hens a few months back.
He said it's a shame that they wander and can't be contained on a property.
I would love to just have a few on leashes and take them with me wherever I go!
So, if these hens eat ticks and do not get sick, is there something that can be found or studied in them to learn how they are immune to tick illness?
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
I have 8. They are the dumbest birds! They hatched out 20 all at once. Had them in a nursery box to get to full feathers---let them out and I have not seen them since...Arrrg.
I thought they would stay with the other birds-Not.
I should have acclimated them to sight of them first...My bad. They should have gone from Box to cage for a week or so before letting out. They make great watch dogs for varmints.
Posted by supergirl (Member # 26936) on :
jwick25 - so funny... yea, me too! Can I just have a couple on leash since I LOVE camping and anyting outdoors and am too scared to go into the woods now..
Posted by jwick25 (Member # 15190) on :
supergirl - can you imagine the looks we'd get? I wouldn't even care...not if it worked. Posted by emla999/Lyme (Member # 12606) on :
We used to have some guineas. But we had to sale them because the neighbors complained about them roaming in their yard. As far as I could tell they didn't harm anything though.
I sure do miss those little "buckwheats"!!!
We didn't want to fence the guineas in because they can fly pretty good. So, the fence would have to have been really tall or we would have to have put a top on it or clip their wings.
Plus we just really didn't want to coup the guineas up because they love to "travel". Much more so than chickens. Some of our guinea hens used to have nests 1/3 of a mile from our house
So, if any of you decide to get some guineas keep in mind that they love to take long walks!!!
P.S. Here's a bit of trivia for ya'll. For those of you that don't know what a guinea hen sounds like then say this fast "buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat" . Say that over and over again very loudly while using a very high pitch.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)