We tried, but we couldn’t make it work.
This weekend we will be re-homing our male Guinea hen (rooster.) It’s that mechanical-alarm-like nonstop honk, literally having our neighbors up in arms, that is what’s at issue.
Not that I blame them. If you have listened to Guineas hens you know they have the sort of call that when heard makes you sit up, look around, and say “what the heck was that?” Not such a horrible thing to happen during the day but definitely not the best neighbor-bonding event to take place early (*early*) in the mornings on the weekends.
We’re starting to get those sideways “Oh. My. God. Will you shut those things up?” looks when they see us in the grocery store, or on the street, or in our backyard.
When we got our Guineas, we had hoped (prayed) they would be females. We picked the slightly less ugly ones thinking that nature would at least cut those girls a tiny break. And while we got one female, we also got a male. It’s that little guy, who’s the problem.
Each morning, he honks and honks (and honks), riling up the rest of our flock to squawk along with him. Until he entered our flock, I didn’t even know our other girls could call like that.
Apparently I have very fast learners.
I was hoping that the theoretical advantage of the Guineas eating our ticks would make the noise that everyone (and now me) talks about worth it.
But it’s not.
When I teach my chicken classes one of the things I stress is that a responsible backyard chicken owner should not have roosters in their flock if they have close neighbors. It’s time to practice what I preach.
I’ve found a lovely new home for our Guinea, where he can join an existing flock of other Guineas and will be able to eat ticks and honk his honk to his heart’s delight.
For now, I’ll be holding onto the female hoping that with the male gone, she might just settle down, but who knows, in a very short while, she may be going to live with her brother down on the farm.
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I write about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact me at [email protected]
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