Purple Guinea Fowl Keats

Purple Guinea Fowl

The Purple Guinea is dark and beautifully colored variety of Guinea Fowl and can be found on farms throughout North America. The domesticated Guinea originated from the wild Guinea in Western Africa. Guinea Fowl are extremely useful and hardy domesticated land fowl, and their wide range of utility and low to zero maintenance once mature have helped them become increasingly popular throughout countrysides across North America in recent years.

As Lyme Disease, a tick born illness, has become more and more prevalent in the Eastern United States, many farm owners with livestock and family have turned to Guinea Fowl to help eradicate the danger. Guineas are especially known to immensely enjoy snapping up ticks out of tall grass where they tend to thrive and pose threats to dogs, children, and livestock nearby.

Guinea Fowl are also known for their alert behavior and vocal nature. Guineas are said to be effective at warding off hawks, rats, foxes and snakes with their cry; helping to protect not only themselves, but other chickens, ducks, or geese, on the farm that are prone to attack by predators. The Purple Guinea Fowl are darkly colored with a subtle purple sheen to their plumage. Purple Guinea Fowl do not have the regular pearl shaped dots on their feathers, but will show some of these staple markings along with some barring along the flanks of the bird.

Once raised from young, Guineas will pretty much live wild and roam free once mature, but since they are territorial, they will stay in close proximity to where they have been raised. Guinea Fowl also are an excellent bird to harvest for its meat, tasting almost identical to pheasant.

Purple Guinea Fowl

Guinea Fowl have been domesticated breed of land fowl for thousands of years and were raised by Romans and Greeks in gardens and served as a table delicacy.

Raising Guinea Fowl can be tricky and there are many approaches. They are one of the best "leave alone" farm birds and can be left to roam and roost in trees around the property, but many Guinea keepers will build covered sheds for the birds to roost in during inclement weather. Because they were a breed that originated in Africa, when the young are less than two weeks old they can be quite susceptible to wetness and it is best to keep them from following around their mother, or a chicken hen assuming mothering rolls, to keep them out of wet grass. After a few weeks of age, Guineas are one of the hardiest land fowl around.

It may be best to slowly acclimate them to their free roaming lifestyle by slowly releasing them from a penned area one at a time to ensure they continually return. Once a few are comfortable roaming the territory it should be safe to let all the remaining fowl roam free.

It is also important to note that Guinea Fowl hate to be alone. They enjoy the company of other Guineas and other land fowl. They are also usually monogamous and extremely sensitive and intelligent birds. If their mate is killed, they will mourn and become distraught so it is important to consider this when harvesting guineas for meat. Once raised and set to roam the farm, it can be a rewarding experience to watch these birds interact as a flock as they snap up harmful ticks and forage for unwanted weed seeds around the property.