Un-domesticating The Guinea
(Page 2 of 3)
It is for these
reasons we feel certain that guineas could be profitably
used to stock wilderness areas and hunting or game
preserves. A brace of two or three-pound guineas make a
satisfying trophy for most hunters and guineas could be
undomesticated and hunted in the wild like quail, pheasant
or grouse. This would certainly be a more humane and
satisfying procedure than raising them in captivity to be
released for shooting like the pigeons and ducks now
offered by many preserves. There are other possibilities
for profit in raising guineas that will occur to TMEN
readers. Growers near large cities have worked up
profitable mar kets for young guineas to be served in
gourmet restaurants, night clubs and flossy hotels in
exotic ways such as "game birds under glass." At twelve to
thirteen weeks a well-grown, tender young guinea will weigh
an average of one and a half to two pounds dressed and will
bring a premium price of two dollars per bird and tip. The
meat is darker than chicken, with a distinct game flavor
much enjoyed by those with educated palates.
RELATED CONTENT
Guinea
production on an extended scale presents some problems
which do not confront the chicken, duck or turkey grower.
Guineas make very poor mothers, hiding their nests with
unusual cleverness and laying a clutch of fifteen or twenty
eggs before beginning to brood. The hen is erratic about
brooding and may desert her nest for little or no reason.
When the first two or three chicks hatch, she may desert
the remaining eggs and take her young off on long ranges
through the dew-wet grass where the little ones sicken or
become lost while the chicks in the unhatched eggs die
a-borning.
vTo circumvent this, the guinea producer must
keep careful watch on the birds during the egg-laying
period to discover the hidden nests. He then removes all
but one or two marked eggs. In many cases this will induce
the hen to continue laying up to thirty and sometimes as
many as a hundred eggs before she becomes broody. The eggs
are then placed in an incubator or given to a setting
bantam or chicken hen who will hatch them and care for the
young guineas—which are properly called
"keets"—can be raised in confinement like chicken
broilers until they are twelve to thirteen weeks old and
ready for market.
