aggressive guineas??

[me and my marans]

I am thinking of getting some guinea fowl eggs and hatch them out.

the probllem is, can guinea fowl be aggressive like roosters??

since the guinea cant be kept enclosed they would have the freedom of the garden where the children play.....
so can guinea fowl be aggressive??

thanks in advance.

 

[lorad]

My guineas will sometimes bully the hens and my cat (she deserves it- she like to "ambush" chickens) but they stay away from humans. They sometimes will come down the driveway at a vehicle- one of these days one will be road pizza but until then they are free to roam...

Lora

 

[mamaKate]

I have a single male guinea who was raised with an EE pullet. He dearly loves her and totally freaks when he can't find her. He's a monster with the other chickens, though. He can't come out if the others are loose because he bullies the heck out of the hens and beat my BO roo (ornery and twice his size) to a bloody pulp. He isn't aggressive with humans at all. He likes me in his own psychotic way.

 

[R2elk]

I have two 2.5 month old guineas sex unknown still bcz I can't tell their sounds apart. I have them with with same aged bantams chicken and turkey and the only issue I have is my for sure Tom turkey pecking at my baby goose. Everyone gets along great. They are enclosed with a 25x25 house and a 35x20 run full of bugs and grass. I can't free range bcz of my dogs. Just always make sure they have entertainment like treats to forage for.

Your guineas have not reached the problem stage yet. It is quite common for guineas to be raised with chickens and people post about how well they get along and then comes the first breeding season. When the guineas get their hormones raging and their number is too few to take it out on each other they can become little terrors to all of the other poultry. Guineas are by nature feather pullers and they are quick little things. It doesn't take them very long to destroy a roosters tail and wing feathers or a turkey's also. The other poultry do not like their feathers being pulled and the guineas can become bullies.

 

[R2elk]

I’m so glad I found this thread. I have a bunch of 10-11 week old chicks (at least one roo in the bunch) and a single Guinea fowl (showed up out of nowhere in our yard when the chicks were 2-3 wks old and the Guinea was about that age).

Just today he/she was showing slight aggression towards my smaller EE hen (but my two Silver Laced Polish are even smaller than her). The aggressive behavior was pecking on the back and chasing with wings slightly lowered and back feathers slightly fluffed (I’ve never had Guinea fowl so I don’t know their behavior the way I know chicken behavior, but this came off to me like ‘male bird trying to dominate female.’

I posted something here on BYC about it and the one reply I have so far suggests I get rid of my Guinea (which would break my heart). We’re all attached to him/her and she/he’s been raised with chickens, so they’re his flock. Really hoping this ‘aggression’ (if that’s what it really is) Is temporary or at the least, doesn’t grow worse. A little pecking amongst chickens is normal. I want him/her to live happily with her/his flock. He/she hasn’t been aggressive before and will even sit on my legs when I sit in the coop with everyone else.

Some of your posts have given me a little hope, so fingers crossed it all works out.

The guinea is showing normal guinea behavior. Their chasing and attacking from behind while pulling and/or breaking off feathers is normal guinea behavior. Guineas are not chickens and do not have the same behavior patterns as do chickens. To expect a guinea to behave like a chicken is unrealistic.

Guineas are a flock bird and chickens will never satisfy their needs. Other guineas will understand them, the chickens never will understand them. They can cause a lot of stress to the chickens.

You were given excellent advice to rehome the guinea where it can be with others of its own kind.

 

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Quote:
my guineas are not aggressive. i have kept mine penned up but then i got bantams and they are free range 24/7 until i find one laying eggs then i have to lock them up. but i have no problem with mine being aggressive like my roosters

 

[houndit]

Guinea fowl are aggressive to roosters sometimes, but I have never had them attack me. I have been bit when I was catching them, but they usually do not come very close to us.

 

[lovinlife]

I had 7 guineas last fall and they all free ranged 24/7. When I would let the chickens out of their run, the guineas would chase them all over the barnyard. I hated it, made me so mad at them. Over the winter, I lost 5. The two remaining are both males, I haven't heard the buckwheat call for a long time. Just that annoying honking noise (there's one yelling at something right now...). These two guineas hang out with the chicken flock any time they're out and love the chickens. They get along fine with my rooster.

Since I know these are males and they aren't aggressive, could it be that the females are more aggressive than the males?

 

[americana-chick]

Mine have never tried to attack me.. actually they would rather not even be near me!

 

[damselfish]

Ours are not aggressive toward humans at all. We spent time with them when they were young. We actually started to train some of them to fly up to our arm to get treats, but they got too big so we quit that. Now their treats go on the ground...but they will come when called and they like to hang out near us.

The chickens and guineas have a low-level ongoing war for position...nobody gets hurt but there's some chasing, posturing and pecking.

This is all free-range, FYI. Could be different if penned.