Known by a few names, such as African Pheasant and Guinea Hens, one could also call this African native the “Tick Assassin.”

In their homeland, these loud and prehistoric-looking fowl follow around the grazing herds and reportedly eat up to 4000 ticks a day.

Guinea fowl are relatively low maintenance. In the summertime, guinea will forage all of their food. They eat ticks, fleas, crickets, mosquitos, slugs, grasshoppers and small rodents (basically anything they can get their beaks on) without destroying the yard or garden as chickens do. Flocks of guineas have been known to eat snakes. They also love to eat weeds. A bit of feed in the coop will encourage them to come home at night. Coops can be provided, although flocks will find homes high in treetops, away from the threat of raccoons.

They are also free from most diseases that plague other poultry. They will give warning calls when unknown guests arrive, which helps to protect other farm animals. Their call will also keep unwanted rodents away.

Guinea fowl manure can be added to your compost and is a wonderful addition to nurturing the soil where your food is grown. Your plants will thrive.

Guineas are known for their hardiness, being able to withstand both hot and cold.

While not laying as often as chickens, guinea eggs may still be collected and eaten. Guineas tend to make their nests in hidden areas, so finding their eggs may be an adventure.


When starting your guinea flock, it’s best to buy them from keets (babies) so they will know where home is. Imported adult guineas will wander off.

If you have nearby neighbors, it’s best to check in with them, as their squawking can be unbearable for some. However, given their reputation as tick assassins, having them in the neighborhood can be a helpful, healthy alternative to pesticides if you are living in a tick-ridden area.

Bear in mind that guinea meat is also a known delicacy, so if you start your flock and someone complains, you can also have guinea stew.

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Minnesota is asking homeowners to turn their lawns into prairie to help bring back the bees


Minnesota just allocated nearly a million dollars in incentives for people to transform their lawns into bee-friendly wildflowers, clover and native grasses.

The state is asking citizens to stop spraying herbicide, stop mowing so often, and let their lawns re-wild into a more natural state.

The goal is to provide “food sources for pollinators of all kinds, but will specifically aim at saving the rusty patched bumblebee, a fat and fuzzy species on the brink of extinction that seems to be making its final stand in the cities of the Upper Midwest,” the Star Tribune reports.

Research has shown bumblebees are particularly important to the region, as they vibrate at frequency that unlocks pollen other insects can’t reach.

The loss of native prairies and forests across the country has made pollinators more dependent on urban and suburban lawn flowers, says James Wolfin, a bee habitat researcher at University of Minnesota.

His research has focused on “bee lawns” – grassy yards interspersed with small flowers such as Dutch white clover, creeping thyme, self heal, ground plum and dandelions.


The flowers make excellent food source for bees, while being cheap to plant and easy maintain.

“A pound of Dutch white clover is about $7 and it grows low enough that people wouldn’t even have to change the way they mow their lawn,” Wolfin
told the Star Tribune.

Around 55 of Minnesota’s 350 bee species depend on white clover alone, he notes.



“So just by not treating white clover like a weed and letting it grow in a yard provides a really powerful resource for nearly 20% of the bee species in the state,” Wolfin said.


The program is set to begin in spring of 2020.

Citizens living in rusty patch bumblebee zones are eligible for grants up to $500, while people living in zones of secondary and tertiary importance to bees are eligible for $350 and $150 respectively.

Considering a 1-pound bag of clover seeds costs as little as $10, and spreads “like a weed,” that should be plenty to cover it.

In fact, letting your lawn go to the bees is so easy, those of us living outside Minnesota might want to consider joining in the effort!

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She was found all alone on a suburban driveway. She was burning from the heat of the sun beating down on her small body, desperate for shade. She was just a baby.

Luckily, help arrived. Lucy, as she was named, was taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland, Australia (founded by the late Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin).

Lucy also suffered from a case of pinkeye, but is now well on her way to making a full recovery. She will then be released back into the wild. Her most recent update shows the koala is not dependent on milk and is well enough to nibble on solids.

It is unknown how Lucy ended up orphaned on a driveway, but according to the Australian Koala Foundation, approximately 80 percent of original koala habitat has already been destroyed through methods such as deforestation, forcing more and more of them to live alongside humans in urban and suburban areas.


Thankfully, this cutie was found just in time and is on a road toward healing filled with love.



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Mexican entrepreneurs Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez recently debuted Desserto, the first organic leather made entirely from the nopal (or prickly-pear) cactus.