I bought guineas last August just to keep the ticks under control. Yes, they have helped DRAMATICALLY. We noticed the ticks were better this year until we locked the guineas up for a while to plant grass seed. I can't wait to let them out again. Guineas can be loud, but not all of the time. I understand they are louder when they are young (just like teenagers), but they calm down a lot when they are older. Ours are 9 months old now and a joy to have around. They are hilarious to watch. We are working on hatching a second generation around here. They make noise when something startles them, and when it's bedtime, but they settle in pretty quick. I wouldn't let the noise scare you, unless you have very close neighbors that may not appreciate them as much as you do.
They're loud, especially if you have a bunch of them all buckwheat-ing at the same time. The most I ever had at once was about 12, and when they were all roosting in the plum tree outside the back door and hollering I could barely hear myself think! But when I had that many of them neither we or the dogs got very many ticks. I just have one now- she's about 10 years old and roosts in the barn with the horses. Usually if I yell at her to shut up she does- at least for a few minutes. She's not tame and she's uglier than sin. I hope she takes the upcoming move to the bigger farm well(I've heard they don't take change well) and I intend to get more once we're settled in. Dawndra- I place them second in the obnoxious bird category. Peafowl comes first with that awful scream and propensity to jump on vehicles!
I have three guineas, just for amusement value, but I try to keep their eggs gathered because three is enough. As it is, they sometimes make it hard to carry on a conversation in the barn. :haha: I am also of the opinion that chickens are better for keeping down the ticks(although I certainly would not be the one to choose roosters. , and not because of the crowing ) mary
Shakeytails ~ I'd have to agree with you... I think they sound like little kids yelling! (peafowl that is) My FIL has guinneas & his dog does not have many ticks. We have muscovy ducks & ours doesn't have many either. Before we both got birds, we had ticks so bad we could hardly stand it!
Dwanda, penn her up for a feww weeks before letting her out at the new place. That'll her her settle in better. We have 4 and the male is the one we call the trouble making guinnea. He starts squawking to wake the dead Then all the females start to join in to beat the band. But I love them. To me they seem dumber than chickens, they just look like there's not much going in in there. And they're so ugly they're cute again I bought them to eat bugs out of the garden. We're in transition now and I hope to be in our own place ot get out a late garden so I'll let you know how that goes.
We've used guineas and chickens both ... the chickens keep the yard relatively tick-free, but the guineas took off "somewhere". No more guineas for us!
Thanks, y'all for your responses. I think we'll stick with chickens at first. I know chickens and if they will do the job then I'm comfortable with them right now. We just moved to our 6 acres three weeks ago, and we're still adjusting, so anything that is familiar is better right now. Maybe we'll try guineas after things settle down a bit.
