Guinea Fowl

Guinea Fowl in Backyard 

 

 

Loud, goofy-looking, flocking birds might not sound like the best backyard companion. Perched high in treetops, guinea fowl aren’t the classically handsome of the bird family, appearing more like mutated vultures than a downy chicken. With their featherless head and polka-dotted feathers, these fowl once roamed the central African plains and resent captivity to this day. But if you’re concerned with improving our food system's addiction to pesticides and looking for an alternative ‘jack of all trades’ barnyard animal, consider the often-overlooked guinea fowl.

Just don’t write them off because of their screeching.

Baby guineas, called keets, are about as adorable as they sound and easy to tend. But once they grow older they are worthy watchdogs, fighting off trespassers both human and animal alike.
Bruce King, who sells live guineas at Ebey Farms in Everett, Washington, provides an annotated list of reasons why guinea fowl make such good farm animals: their tastiness, their relatively low-maintenance lifestyles, their vigilance at keeping away predators. Guinea fowl make an interesting and colorful addition to your flock and are very useful on the farm to alert and protect other animals from predators, he says. But recently, he has seen an increase in what he calls “revenge sales.”





King said urbanites buy the noisiest, screechiest birds from him to satisfy vengeance against their complaining neighbors.
In addition to providing home-security help, guinea fowl are valued as one of the best exterminators of pest insects, making them a complement to any backyard garden. Since guineas prefer to mobilize in tight-knit groups, don’t be alarmed when they don’t understand the nuances of property lines and roadways.
They free-range and will naturally roost in trees if left without a shelter to sleep in. They are also tick-eating machines.
Guinea Fowl International President Cindy Gibson notes that using them to control ticks and other bugs is their truest claim to fame. Further evidence of guineas as pest control comes from her Lexington, Texas, farm which was once overrun by grasshoppers. After using “every pesticide known to man,” Gibson added some guinea fowl to her mix of llamas, donkeys and pigs and found the grasshopper problem was miraculously solved. “I’ve been a fan ever since.”

Guinea fowl are valued as one of the best exterminators of pest insects, making them a complement to a backyard garden.

Guinea fowl have long been considered a prized game bird, right up there with pheasants and quail. Understandably, the Egyptians considered the guinea fowl a luxury food for the wealthy. Guineas are gaining in popularity in the U.S., outselling their pheasant and quail friends. You may have seen them at the farmers market: their meat is darker than chicken, leaner than chicken, rich with vitamins and low in cholesterol. Aaron Rocchino of the Oakland, California-based The Local Butcher’s Shop says that their guinea hens come in year-round every few weeks and that they always sell out.
The USDA believes that guinea-fowl farming is on the rise and has recently started compiling inventory statistics. The numbers support that claim: There are more than 14,500 guinea farms in the U.S., fourth in fowl after chicken, turkeys and ducks. The numbers of actual guineas being sold is paltry (paltry poultry!), but still indicates that there is a growing interest in raising guineas on hobby and small farms.

 

SILKIE

Silkie Chicken

The Silkie, sometimes spelled “silky”, is a very small (usually 1.5 - 3.5 pounds) and unusually unique chicken. It is named for its fluffy, or should I say, furry or hairy-like plumage that is sometimes described as feeling like silk. Others have said it "feels just like angora fur". Their feathers do not have barbs holding the feather strands together like other feathers do, so they form many individual silky strands. This gives them their fluffy appearance and their silky softness.
Other names for the Silkie are: Chinese Silkie Chicken, Bearded Silkie, or Bantam Silkie. Silkies are so unusual that they have been described as the "poodles of the chicken world". The scientific name for the Silkie is Gallus domesticus.

 

White Silkie 

 

The silkie chicken is thought to have come originally from Southeast Asia, before the 1200’s. In the 13^th century, Marco Polo made mention of a chicken with fur-like feathers and black skin, obviously referring to these unusual birds.
They gradually made their way to North American and in 1874 were officially accepted into the North American Standard of Perfection. There are 6 standard (acceptable) colors accepted by the American Bantam Association: black, blue, buff, white, partridge, splash, and gray. Other Silkie colors that are also popular although not accepted as standard are: red, lavender, porcelain, and cuckoo. Because of their many unique characteristics, Silkies are considered to be an ornamental breed.

 

Non-bearded and Bearded Silkie 

 

 

 

Typical Wattle and Comb 

 

 

The non-bearded Silkies have larger wattles than the bearded - the cock’s being larger than the hen’s. (The wattle is the fleshy appendage below the beak at the throat.) The bearded Silkie, both cock and hen, have very small wattles. They are called bearded because they have a full and fluffy beard of feathers around the bottom of their beak. A good example of this beard can be seen in the picture to the right. This beard also hides their distinctive blue earlobes.
Bearded and non-bearded Silkies have a feathery crest or topknot on the top of their head. And with this crest, is the Silkie’s comb (fleshy area on top of head). Its comb is different than most other chicken’s in that it resembles a wart-like lump on its forehead, rather than the spiky one that most chickens sport.

 

Silkie Feet 

 

Silkies have quite a few feathers growing down their legs and over their middle toe. This is shown in the photo to the right.
Silkies produce fewer eggs than most other breeds – averaging 90-120 per year. Their eggs range in color from white to light brown. Because they are so broody, they make excellent setters, and are often used to hatch other breeds’ eggs.
Silkies are calm, trusting, friendly and docile. Because of their temperament, and because they’re flightless, they are often kept as family pets. Silkies can become quite affectionate, but do require frequent, gentle handling at first to socialize them to their “humans”.

 

This White Show Me Silkie displays the blue/black skin typical of Silkies. 

 

 

 

 

5 Toes? That's right! Count them!

Silkies are different from other breeds of chickens in several ways. As mentioned earlier, Silkies have fluffy, almost silk-like plumage, beards, crests or topknots, and feathers on their legs and middle toe. A Silkies’ plumage can easily become water logged because the water doesn’t run off their feathers; therefore, they cannot swim.
Silkies also have dark blue/black skin, meat, and bones. (See the picture of the Show Me Silkie in the picture to the right which readily displays the blue/black skin.) This particular Silkie reminds me of the Turken.
They have blue earlobes, and 5 toes (most chickens only have 4) on each foot. The fifth toe can be seen in the picture of the chick to the right.
Despite their fragile appearance, Silkies are a very hardy breed of chicken and generally have a lifespan of about 9 years.
Silkie meat is considered a delicacy in China. It has also been coveted for its medicinal value since the seventh or eighth century. Chinese women who have just given birth believe that eating it will give them energy. The Chinese also believe that ground up Silkie bones have special healing powers.

 

Golden Pheasant

The Golden Pheasant, (Chrysolophus pictus), also known as the ‘Chinese Pheasant’ is one of the more popular species of pheasant which is native to the mountainous forests of Western and Central China.
The Golden Pheasant was introduced to the United Kingdom around 100 years ago and there are around 101 – 118 mating pairs in the summer. This hardy, gamebird belongs to the order: Galliformes and is a smaller species of pheasant.
The Golden Pheasant along with Lady Amherst Pheasant (Chrysolophus amherstiae), make up the group of ‘Ruffed Pheasants’ named for their ruff which is spread across their face and neck during courtship.

Use the information below to find out more about the Golden Pheasant’s characteristics, habitat, diet, behaviour and reproduction.

Golden Pheasant Characteristics

Male and female Golden Pheasants look different in appearance. Males measure 90 – 105 centimetres in length with the tail making up two thirds of the total length. Females are slightly smaller measuring 60 – 80 centimetres in length with the tail making up half of the total length. Their wingspan is around 70 centimetres and they weigh around 630 grams.
Male Golden Pheasants can be easily identified by their bright colouring. They have a golden crest tipped with red which extends from the top of their heads, down their necks. They have bright red underparts, dark coloured wings and a pale brown, long, barred tail. Their rumps are also golden, upper backs are green and they have bright yellow eyes with a small black pupil. Their face, throat and chin are a rust colour and their wattles and orbital skin are yellow. Beak, legs and feet are also yellow.
Female Golden Pheasants are less colourful and more duller than males. They have a mottled brown plumage, pale brown face, throat, breast and sides, pale yellow feet and are more slender in appearance.

Golden Pheasant Habitat

The Golden Pheasant’s preferred habitats are dense forests and woodlands and sparse undergrowth.

Golden Pheasant Diet

Golden Pheasants mainly feed on the ground on grain, invertebrates, berries, grubs and seeds as well as other kinds of vegetation.

Golden Pheasant Behaviour

Golden Pheasants are very timid birds and will hide in dark, dense forests and woodlands during the day and roost in very high trees during the night. Golden Pheasants often forage on the ground despite their ability to fly, this may be because they are quite clumsy in flight. However, if they are startled, they are capable of taking off in a sudden fast upward motion with a distinctive wing sound.
Little is known about their behaviour in the wild as although the males are very colourful birds, they are difficult to spot. The best time to possibly observe a Golden Pheasant is very early in the morning when they may be seen in clearings.
Vocalisations include a ‘chack chack’ sound. Males have a distinctive metallic call during the breeding season. Also, during the males elaborate courtship display, he will spread his neck feathers over his head and beak, like a cape.

Golden Pheasant Reproduction

Female Golden Pheasants lay around 8 – 12 eggs in April. Incubation time is around 22 – 23 days. The chicks fledge after 12 – 14 days. Males acquire their bright colours during their second year of life but are sexually mature in their first year. The life span of a Golden Pheasant is 5 – 6 years.