Guinea fowl have the sole advantage that they are less destructive then laying hens. They are very good at reducing bugs and grubs, but so are productive chooks. if an income is an issue, go for real chooks. I have used chicken tractors on and off for thirty years. They have lots of advantages.
As for which legume, choose that which suits your situation. Just let enough go to seed to get next years planting. Can be mixed or Xbreed, don't matter. Big thing is that it is best to cut while at peak of sugar. If one has the fancy metres, you can use them, otherwise it is in the few days between flowering and seeds starting to become firm. They should still be milky when crushed. > And Hay is a problem here to, this year late harvest and not enough, they > the old timers informs me. > With the nation wide drought, hay is at an all time high. People are cutting good quality wheat crops for hay!!! By chook food I meant any thing a chook (chicken) will eat in the way of greens. Let lots of lettuce, spinach etc go to seed and plant in amongst the cover crop and let the chooks forage. They will take little other feeding and manure as they go. You need some way of keeping the chooks in one area while another is growing to a point where the chooks will not wipe it all out. You can also plant wind breaks around the area with seed producing trees such as tree Lucerne and some of the right acacias etc. Gil
