Gabriola Guinea fowl?
Dear heavens. After our misadventure with the wild turkey in our Gabriola yard, I hope that Guinea fowl don’t move onto a nearby property and ruin the neighbourhood.
Are they, by the way, the kind of birds that hang out behind the seniors’ place on North Road, and at the end of Church Street?
Filed in birds 6 Comments so far
6 Responses to “Gabriola Guinea fowl?”
cheryl on 05 Mar 2010 at 6:32 am #
Did you know that there is a organization in the USA that have special conferences every year to celebrate the Guinea. This years is their 5th annual conference in Lexington Texas on March 26-28th. You can read about if you go to http://www.guineafowlinternational.org/ Click on Guinea Fowl international Association. I wonder if Canada has a Guinea Fowl Association? Who knew!
Andrea on 05 Mar 2010 at 7:06 am #
What has turned you against guinea fowl? Is it their beautiful singing voices? This web site has a great selection of guinea fowl sounds.
http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/sounds/
I’ve been trying to convince DH that we should get some guinea fowl but apparently playing him those sounds was not the way to convince him! He’s a light sleeper. Our barn remains guinea fowl free.
Seriously, though, they are useful critters. They are great for insect control in the garden, even ticks in the lawn. Which in these days of lyme disease is quite useful.
I had locally raised guinea fowl at a restaurant in Rimouski a year ago. Tasted like chicken. The free range kind.
Gabriolan on 05 Mar 2010 at 9:09 am #
Cheryl — Americans seem to have an association for pretty much everything, so I’m not surprised. They probably have a national association of toenail obsessives, too. Not that I have anything against Americans, guinea fowl, or toenails – I’m just sayin’.
Andrea — I’d have all manner of barnyard birds if I had the space for it, and a dog-free life. It’s just the idea of feathers, blood, and bird guts all over the yard that puts me off, you know? Thanks for the sound file link!
Andrea on 05 Mar 2010 at 10:12 am #
I suspect guinea fowl are well enough adapted to the wild that you would be reasonably unlikely to end up with bird parts scattered about the yard. One of the problems with trying to “keep” guineas is that they are independent types that instead of wanting to be kept do have a reputation for flying off and going feral. Like the wild or heritage turkeys, the only part of the population vulnerable to predators is the mothers sitting on nests on the ground and the babies before they learn to fly.
pericat on 09 Mar 2010 at 9:03 am #
They are the self and same birds that hang out near the seniors’ home. We’ve run into them several times on foot, with our dog. A woman in the area told us they were all related, all chicks of one bird. Someone used to feed them, I think, but now they are likely making their own living in the woods there.
They can make an amazing amount of noise when all calling together. They surrounded us as we walked past the seniors’ place, just like chickens when it’s feeding time.
Gabriolan on 09 Mar 2010 at 9:17 am #
Thank you, Pericat! I’d hoped that somebody would know.