We currently have three beautiful guineas (one lavender, one grey, and one white guinea) respectively named Peanut, Cashew, and Avalanche. Here are some benefits of keeping guineas on the homestead. Our Guineas have been a great addition to our homestead and we’re looking forward to adding more one of these days.

This is the first year we have had guineas on the homestead, but there are a lot of reasons why we wanted them. If you’ve considered keeping guineas, here’s what we like most about raising them!

1. They eat ticks. Guineas are great little tick eaters. With ticks going out of control and tick born illnesses on the rise, I figure I should do everything in my power to help their demise around our place! Bring on the guineas for tick annihilation!

• They eat all the bugs. Not only do guineas eat ticks, but they eat lots of other bugs as well. Supposedly, they are good at cleaning up a garden without destroying plants, but I haven’t experienced this yet.

• They are quirky and funny. Some people think guineas are loud and obnoxious, but I think they are funny. They are always chattering about something and it makes me laugh.

You can tell the female guineas from the male guineas based on their call. The female guineas say something that sounds like Come Back Come Back and the male guineas make a chi chi chi chi type of sound.

• They are supposedly good free-rangers. Guineas are supposed to be able to forage up to 90% or so of their own food. My guineas have been hanging pretty close to the chicken coop so I haven’t personally experienced this yet, but I do like animals that have the potential to find their own food. How about you?

• I love their feathers! Guineas drop the prettiest speckled feathers. If you like collecting feathers, I’m sure you will love the guinea feathers your birds leave behind.

There are a couple things you will want to know about guineas before you get them, though. Guineas do best in a flock, but they can be very hard to keep around your homestead. If you decide to raise guineas, you’ll have to train them to stick around. If you just let them all go, they will be gone. We had to let them our guineas one at a time to make sure they knew to come home before letting another one go.

They are loud and some people find their incessant chatter obnoxious, but I already told you I like it. You’ll want to consider if loud bird noises bother you though, before you decide to get guineas.

Are you looking for other species to raise on the farm? Here is a great Review of Heritage Turkey Breeds to consider!