12 Eggs Mistake Made Me Certified Guinea Fowl Farmer - Kariuki Stanslaus

PHOTO: A mature guinea fowl at Mr Stanslaus Kariuki's farm [Source/AgriRush]

In the last 7 years, Stanslaus Kimani has been in poultry farming. He started off in 2013 running a hatchery where he'd hatch pure kienyeji chicks and selling them to farmers.

Mr Kimani in an ordinary purchase of fertilized kienyeji chicken eggs, ended up hatching 12 guinea fowl among his kienyeji chicks.

He says it is the accidental purchase of guinea fowl eggs that he stumbled upon his venture as a fully ratified guinea fowl farmer having realized the ornamental birds were less costly to rare compared to chicken.

"I bought chicken eggs for incubation. Someone sold me eggs mixed with guniea fowl eggs. I hatched about 12 guinea fowl chicks. I did not want to keep them so I shifted to the isolation area where I keep sick chicken for them to die naturally. they never died," he disclosed in an interview with AgriRush.

Mr Stanslaus Kariuki during an interview at his farm [PHOTO/AgriRush-YouTube]

He was amazed by the fact that the young guinea fowls could not die despite not getting any proper care without any antibiotics or vaccines.

At maturity, he ate one of the guinea fowls. "It was quite tasty...it is just like chicken but maybe a little more tastier. That is when I started doing my research on google and by speaking to persons who keep them," revealed Kimani.

"Guinea Fowls have no issues with diseases. That is how I started. They are not as demanding as chicken farming," adds the farmer.

He sought to be ratified as required by law in Kenya. He was licensed by the Kenya Wildlife Service to keep the ornamental birds and hopes to grow his stock further.

"Given that I have kept both chicken and guinea fowls, i have realized they are much cheaper to raise than chicken. They don't get sick easily and once one has their own parent birds, they will make more money because they also eat less," advises Kariuki.

Currently, guinea fowl eggs are not readily available, and a few who have them sell at exorbitant prices. A month-old guinea fowl goes for about Sh800 and their price doubles after another two moths.

Kariuki hopes that more Kenyans would consider raring guinea fouls for better returns in poultry business. At his farm, he only vaccinates the birds for Newcastle disease, which can affect any bird.

Watch the full interview below: [COURTESY-AngriRush]