[mobyjones]

Hi everyone

I'd just like to say hi to everyone on the forum. I found it today and it looks very interesting. I've been keeping chickens for some time now and have beentoying with the idea of trying guinea fowl for some time as well. So if anyone has actualy kept them in the past or still does and could answer the following questions, i'd be very gratefull :-

If confined in a very large aviary, how many square feet are requied per bird. The aviary may way be 8' tall with plenty of perches etc. I've been given very differing answers to this question by other people and so am keen to canvas other opinions!

What diseases and pests are they susceptible to?

What do you currently feed yours on? And, baring in mind they will be ranging, how much food do you allocate per bird?

Does anyone produce these birds for the table? And if so, please could you provide any information such as at what age are they slaughtered etc.

Kind regards
MJ

[muntjac]

treat as chickens but get ear muffs they are blody noisy . feed as per chickens with mixed seed grerns etc . cull at 6lbs wieght . dress as per chickens .. mind the legs as they can rake ya . taste is great slow roasted on 80c for 3 hours with tinfoil on top ,roast on the breast smear mustard over with miled pepper .... do stuff the bird

[mushroom]

80C ?  :shock:

[mobyjones]

treat as chickens but get ear muffs they are blody noisy . feed as per chickens with mixed seed grerns etc . cull at 6lbs wieght . dress as per chickens .. mind the legs as they can rake ya . taste is great slow roasted on 80c for 3 hours with tinfoil on top ,roast on the breast smear mustard over with miled pepper .... do stuff the bird

Thanks for the reply. I love the taste of guinea fowl and they can be cost effective to raise at home, but you're not the first person to warn me about the noise!!!

The birds I've seen at poultry dealers have been no louder than a cockerel, but I'm told when they start, they don't stop making noise. Is this what you have found?

Regards
MJ

P.S Your recipe made my mouth water! lol  

[muntjac]

absolutly .  noise is unbearable and gauranteed to upset folks within a 1/2 mile... yes 80 c th if you want to crisp the skin  take the foil off for the last half hour n turn to 250cis stops all birds cooked from drying out including turkey.... was taught by  marine cooks    and my mommma

[mobyjones]

absolutly .  noise is unbearable and gauranteed to upset folks within a 1/2 mile...

Now thats a real concern. Maybe I'll consider another "project". Anyone any opinions on what makes the best tasting meat chicken? I'm told Dorking and Sussex cockerals mated to Indian game hens produce great tasting birds. Anyone any opinions?

MJ

[muntjac]

welsummers hung before dressing out for a couple days .. any bird or beast improves with proper hanging .. remember having a venison steak that had hung for 28 days . it was splenificaios    cant do a dribbling smiley .. mind if i could folks would think i was getting senile ............ no comments needed you plonkers  

[sparky]

welsummers hung before dressing out for a couple days .. any bird or beast improves with proper hanging .. remember having a venison steak that had hung for 28 days . it was splenificaios    cant do a dribbling smiley .. mind if i could folks would think i was getting senile ............ no comments needed you plonkers  

   

[mushroom]

yes 80 c th if you want to crisp the skin  take the foil off for the last half hour n turn to 250cis stops all birds cooked from drying out including turkey.... was taught by  marine cooks    and my mommma

wow  :!: this is certainly an education  :idea:   now, the 80C bit i was unaware of. There are several strategies it seems to avoid turkey breast from drying out and yours is one i'm unfamiliar with. I'll try it next time I'm roasting one. Duck and goose i've found don't need the special treatment - there's so much fat in that they're self-basting in my opinion.

I double-layer the top foil and put turkey at the bottom of the oven on say gas mark 4 and leave it there until the juices clear. The bird will steam in its juices but sometimes the top gets hot enough to stick to the foil and this is when drying out occurs. It is obviously over 120C on that bit.

The other way of doing it is to invert the bird this way the fatty bit bastes the breast (say it quickly 3 times) but then you get a pattern on the breast from the dripping tray plus it is a total pain in the backside to flip it over again for serving.

[muntjac]

i cook a 15lb turk over night from midnite till middday on 80c on its breast use metal forks to keep the foil off the back . then lay the foil over close it up around the tin edges , turn it over when ya get up ( 4 hours before lunch )and resume cooking till one hour before serving with foil on and forks . take foil off for last hour before serving and turn to 200c to brown skin to golden colour

[mushroom]

cheers Munty!  

[sparky]

I shot a couple of guinea fowl on a shoot, GAWD!!! I had no idea there was soooo many feathers on them.
Tasted nice though with a red wine gravy  

[muntjac]

you should see em in the wild mate i had 2 in sa the one with blue comb n wattles there was a hundred or more in the flock