Breeding and maintenance. guineafowl at home

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Exotic bird resembles the appearance of chicken and turkey. The unpretentious guinea fowl is easy to breed and keep at home. The royal bird has special requirements for the habitat, but they are doable. Additional information about the care of beautiful useful birds will help to avoid mistakes to the beginner.

What attract guinea hens

What kind of bird is a guinea fowl in the wild? A large beautiful schooling bird, living in the forests of Africa, in Madagascar. Later the birds were brought to Ancient Greece. The flock obeys the leader, the birds sleep on the trees.

A rare breed of birds for modern Russia has always been the adornment of the possessions of wealthy people in Europe and the fatherland. Beautiful large guinea fowl grazed on green lawns and fringes, invariably returning to the feeding troughs at the hour of the meal. In total, there are 25 species of exotics, but only the domestic gray guinea fowl is suitable for breeding.

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The ability of birds not to harm crops is used by farmers, launching a flock to prick the Colorado beetles, insects and caterpillars into the garden. Feather guinea fowl is used to make false eyelashes.

The bird loves freedom, spacious walking. In a closed loop without harm to health there can be 2 individuals per square meter. Guinea fowls are bad mothers. The incubation period is 29 days. The parent flock can consist of 6 females and one Caesar. Mating takes place only on the ground. The inseminated female for 20 days carries fertilized eggs. The suitability for laying eggs in the incubator with proper storage is 2 weeks.

At home, the breeding and maintenance of guinea fowls is advantageous:

  • The eggs of guinea fowls are hypoallergenic and are valued in the market five times more expensive than chickens;
  • The individual is larger than the chicken and the meat contains more hemoglobin;
  • shelf life of eggs with proper storage - a year;
  • Pens of birds are used for making decorative and artistic objects.
  • An exotic bird is willingly and expensively bought for maintenance in a country estate.
Read also:Features of care and breeding of turkeys at home

How to organize the maintenance of guinea fowl in the farmstead

For the productive cultivation of guinea fowl at home, it is necessary to acquire thoroughbred birds. Popular in domestic breeding are Siberian white and Zagorian white-breasted guinea-fowls. At 3 months, the young are already gaining, kg of weight. Adult individuals gain up to 2 kg of weight, and the female is heavier than the male.

Raising guinea fowl at home for beginners is available for many reasons:

  1. To maintain a flock, there is no need for a heated room. Birds are able to withstand frost to -55 C, but extreme conditions should not be created.
  2. Birds know their flock well, keep themselves in groups. They distinguish the master and do not despise him. When appearing in the field of view, an outsider is shouted, thus guarding the courtyard.
  3. Caesarok can be let out to graze in the garden, they do not rake the ground, do not spit the leaves, look for beetles and worms on the soil surface.
  4. Not expensive feeding, as half the daily rate is green, boiled root vegetables, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin.
  5. Maintenance in unheated rooms with dry bedding with equipped nests.

Based on the conditions of keeping guinea fowl at home, breeding them is available even at the dacha.

Birds can go to free grazing in the nearby copses. If they are not attracted to the pen by a delicious food at night, guinea fowls are arranged for the night on the trees, gradually bawling.

Breeding conditions

Usually they acquire daily chicks and grow in brooder, which replaces mother hen. From the first day the nimble chicks are ready to fly and they are immediately cut off by the wings of their wings.

It is much more interesting to get your own brood of guinea fowls and with tenderness to observe the family when the mother drives the kids. However, among the guinea fowl, good mothers are rare, and at home for the production of guinea fowl it will be necessary to use the incubator.

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The parent herd must consist of several females and a male.

But the difficulty is how to distinguish a female from a male guinea fowl. They are similar, and only by small signs you can find a male. If we consider that in the parent herd, he must be the oldest in age, it should be selected among the chickens of the previous brood.

Read also:Features of breeding mule ducks at home

The search for a male in a herd of adult birds can begin with the determination of the weight of each individual. More often females are noticeably heavier, more in size. This is the first, but not the only, sign:

  1. The structure of the head and beak of birds differs by sex. In females, the beak is small and elegant, it holds the head straight. In the male, the beak is thick, with a well marked growth, the crest is folded, it looks massive. The head on the short neck is always extended forward.
  2. Males of Volga breeds white and Volga cream have lighter plumage.
  3. To determine the sex of chicks, you need to carefully take the chick, gently open the cloaca, where to find a small bump. This is the female.
  4. Earrings under the beak of young guinea fowls are tender, and in males they are fleshy and large. Over the years, guinea fowls grow large earrings.
  5. Cesars, like cocks, stand out in a pack of posture. They walk, it is important to lift their tail and head, while the women modestly peck and look for food. In this case, the males crack for each occasion, and the females utter: "y-a."

So, we found a male, chose 5-6 productive females in the second year of life, and we need to provide them with a paddock. Indoors, these birds do not mate. Having organized the parent flock, it is necessary to store the collected eggs vertically, with a blunt end to the sky. They should be clean, as dirt clogs the pores and the embryo may not develop. It is necessary to collect clutch up to 12 o'clock in the afternoon.

If among the guinea pigs there was a hen, it's good. If not, the eggs are laid in an incubator for 29 days with coups in technology. To remove chicks, it is necessary to provide increased humidity in the incubator.

Development of guinea fowls from hatching to laying hens

To sit and grow tsesareat can chicken or turkey. They are more caring towards the kids than the guinea fowl. That can be with a brood, but in case of rain or danger, it only cares about itself. If a brood was assigned to a bird, then it is necessary to organize a kindergarten. In the middle of the paddock they put a temporary house - shelter from bad weather and at night for the family. There are roosts there, they feed there. The mother and brood guard the first few days until the cesareans acquire a herd reflex and determine the teacher as the leader.

Read also:Sheep shearing machine: features of choice and use

If the babies are kept in the brooder, then it is necessary to organize the correct lighting, feeding, provide heat. The first 3 months of chicks are fed on a special diet. In the water bowl there should always be fresh water, and gravel and shells in a separate feeding trough or in loose form.

The temperature in the brooder should be:

  • the first 3 days - 360 C;
  • from 4 to 10 days - 30 C;
  • from 11 to 20 days - 27 C;
  • later not less than 18 С.

Up to three months, the lighting should be round the clock, Then every week, shorten the day for an hour, up to 5 months. Then again add weekly for an hour, regardless of the time of the year creating an illumination in the poultry house 17 hours.

Eggs of guinea fowls possess unique qualities. The protein has bactericidal properties, it is used as a part of eye-potions for the eyes, against gastrointestinal ailments. Meat contains 95 amino acids and is useful for pregnant women, parturient women, and weakened by diseases people.

Under such conditions, the females become sexually mature at six months of age. The time of active masonry is commensurate with the biological cycle of reproduction of offspring.

Guinea fowls begin to carry eggs actively when there is a favorable weather for breeding offspring.

Begins laying in February, but the males begin mating only in March. The peak of activity occurs at an air temperature of 17-20 C and a duration of natural illumination of 14 hours.

It is not harder to breed a herd of guinea-pigs than other poultry. The meat of guinea fowl is valued, the average cost of a kilogram is 400 rubles. The production is waste-free, even a feather of guinea fowls is used in art workshops, and not for stuffing pillows.

Video about the royal bird

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