Guinea talk.

[fancychick1]

So since I put the new girls in there with the rest of the birds, Charlie, Blue and Echo have ignored Delta, but my only new issue is the new girls are stressing out my brahma cross to the point she is shaking. Makes me feel bad cause she is the sweetest little hen ever. They have not drawn blood on her "yet" as she out squirrels them through the Turkey legs. Penny our sweetgrass protects her from time to time. I want to add more Guineas just need to find some around their age or a month older. I would love to get more Guinea hens so each boy has his own harem. And if anything gets to bad she will end up being the pet Guinea and possibly moved into her own section of the coop once I put up a divider for broody chickens, aka Maple. But here are some pictures of everyone. Left to right Cookie - Wyandotte Echo - the terrorist Delta - Bottom of the pecking order and my Gossip girl Blue - Second in command Male Maple - Brahma cross Charlie - Alpha male Shimmer - Wyandotte Anya - Production red, from what someone else said My sweetgrass hen checking out the chicken and guinea bowl Blue being a creeper Blue Charlie boy Maple, Shimmer and Echo my big boys, and deltas body Main focus, Delta and Shimmer Background, Cookie picking on Maple the orginal flock, my 7 main babies. Narragansetts all eight turkeys and one of the silver laced, Sweetgrass momma on the bottom right

The turkeys are beautiful!

 

[fancychick1]

The guineas act like they want to trust me cause I don't force myself on them. They come around my chair when I sit in the backyard and hang out with all the flock. They seem to be curious to why everyone comes over to see me. They even come up on the porch and watch me interact with the rest of the flock. I have a hen named jasmine that comes in the door as soon as it opens so she can see if the grandkids have any snacks for her and they watch her walk in and come back out by herself. In time they will be my buddies as well.

 

[pattyhen]

The guineas act like they want to trust me cause I don't force myself on them. They come around my chair when I sit in the backyard and hang out with all the flock. They seem to be curious to why everyone comes over to see me. They even come up on the porch and watch me interact with the rest of the flock. I have a hen named jasmine that comes in the door as soon as it opens so she can see if the grandkids have any snacks for her and they watch her walk in and come back out by herself. In time they will be my buddies as well.

I think they will tame down after a while. Good luck with them.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Thanks everyone, I love my turkeys. When they were little they would follow me like a conja line into the house, they stayed in the brooder to long. Bunch of fun birds.
My boys gobble when I coax them, specially Arthas my youngest tom is the most flashy and vocal.

And yup we have ducks too, four Muscovy's. My drake is a mean one bites all the time even bit me this morning giving me a nasty bruise. The duck hens are cuddle bugs.

I'm hoping the chickens learn to get along I hate seeing them stressed out, I think it really has to do with the memory of our previous rooster who would terrorise the guineas and hens to the point of blood.
James and I this coming year are going to be getting 10 Guinea keets and more chickens, turkeys and possibly ducks.

 

[GlennLee]

Originally Posted by MartinsPoultry

So since I put the new girls in there with the rest of the birds, Charlie, Blue and Echo have ignored Delta, but my only new issue is the new girls are stressing out my brahma cross to the point she is shaking. Makes me feel bad cause she is the sweetest little hen ever.

Oh no! It seems like you trade out one act of aggression for another. Sorry to hear that.

I once took an adult male guinea from a friend when my flock were still keets. I got him because he was aggressive with her chickens and even chased two away - they never came back. We thought if he was in with others of his own kind, he might reform. I worked with him for a month and a half, keeping him separate, reintroducing him - in the coop, in the run only, outside free ranging only, isolating him by crating - you name it I did it! In the end he had to be rehomed because he was just too aggressive ALL the time and would try pulling off a harem of females while constantly chasing down the males. I felt bad because he was a beautiful guy. No blood was drawn, but I did make the decision to get rid of him, because I came to the realization I wasn't going to change the behavior and I wasn't going to tolerate what he was doing to the flock.

So.... that leads me to another thought - maybe rather than isolating Delta, isolate Echo and Charlie. Your least dominate male, Blue may end up bonding with Delta without them.

Right now I have three males who have formed this macho amigo pack and they like to strut their stuff and keep everyone down. I have a 4th male who just sort of hangs with the girls and then I have a 5th male who is a part of the new group with 3 females - so a total of 5 males and 7 females. Adding more females may not solve the issue - like mine, the males may not accept the new females either. My males haven't accepted my new girls and they only tolerate the ones in their original flock, but that will change - all bets are off when it's time for mating. If you add more, there will probably still be sub groups. I noticed that back when I had my 16 originals. There were at least 2 sub groups even though the flock traveled as one unit.

Again, no answers, just thoughts...

PS - I love the coloring of Maple and your turkeys are beautiful. Are they a heritage breed? I'm not familiar with turkeys, but my neighbor across the road from us is looking to add a flock this spring and we're trying to brainstorm how that will work with my marauder flock of guineas and her turkeys free ranging between the two properties. Do you regularly deworm? I know she was concerned about the possibility of blackhead being spread by my guineas and I wondered if you have the same concern with a mixed flock.

 

[GlennLee]

Originally Posted by fancychick1

They won't let me pick them up but if I talk to them they they seem to talk back. Maybe in time they will trust me enough to let me pet them.

Okay... you now have inspired me to work with my guineas to see if I can get them to let me pet them. As I mentioned, my birds are not happy with hands or petting, even though I have handled them at night, while on their roost. Some tolerate it better than others. So, I'm working on getting them to come closer and will see if eventually I can get to the point where I can pet them. Not sure if it's possible, but I have time to play this winter. Day 3 was today of putting bird seed on their roost. They walk to the end of it and are about 5 inches away - no hands yet though.... I'm going to keep this going for a while and then hold up a hand with birdseed in it for them to eat.

We're going to have to start a new guinea fowl thread to post our Qualitative Research. Ha! I'm sure there's big bucks in that - an even bigger Ha!

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Originally Posted by MartinsPoultry 


So since I put the new girls in there with the rest of the birds, Charlie, Blue and Echo have ignored Delta, but my only new issue is the new girls are stressing out my brahma cross to the point she is shaking. Makes me feel bad cause she is the sweetest little hen ever.

[COLOR=800080]Oh no!  It seems like you trade out one act of aggression for another.  Sorry to hear that. [/COLOR]   [COLOR=800080]I once took an adult male guinea from a friend when my flock were still keets.  I got him because he was aggressive with her chickens and even chased two away - they never came back.  We thought if he was in with others of his own kind, he might reform.  I worked with him for a month and a half, keeping him separate, reintroducing him - in the coop, in the run only, outside free ranging only, isolating him by crating - you name it I did it!  In the end he had to be rehomed because he was just too aggressive ALL the time and would try pulling off a harem of females while constantly chasing down the males.  I felt bad because he was a beautiful guy.  No blood was drawn, but I did make the decision to get rid of him, because I came to the realization I wasn't going to change the behavior and I wasn't going to tolerate what he was doing to the flock. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]So.... that leads me to another thought - maybe rather than isolating Delta, isolate Echo and Charlie.  Your least dominate male, Blue may end up bonding with Delta without them. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]Right now I have three males who have formed this macho amigo pack and they like to strut their stuff and keep everyone down.  I have a 4th male who just sort of hangs with the girls and then I have a 5th male who is a part of the new group with 3 females - so a total of 5 males and 7 females.  Adding more females may not solve the issue - like mine, the males may not accept the new females either.  My males haven't accepted my new girls and they only tolerate the ones in their original flock, but that will change - all bets are off when it's time for mating.  If you add more, there will probably still be sub groups.  I noticed that back when I had my 16 originals.  There were at least 2 sub groups even though the flock traveled as one unit. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]Again, no answers, just thoughts...[/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]PS - I love the coloring of Maple and your turkeys are beautiful.  Are they a heritage breed?  I'm not familiar with turkeys, but my neighbor across the road from us is looking to add a flock this spring and we're trying to brainstorm how that will work with my marauder flock of guineas and her turkeys free ranging between the two properties.  Do you regularly deworm?  I know she was concerned about the possibility of blackhead being spread by my guineas and I wondered if you have the same concern with a mixed flock.[/COLOR]

They are a heritage except for Penny. We originally bought 7 Narragansett's. With deworming we feed them squash seeds which is a natural dewormed which we found out from Justin Rhodes on YouTube. It took a while for the Turkeys to get used to the guineas but do not normally pick at them as Echo has more than once screamed in their ears.

We at one time did separate Charlie and Echo and it didn't help, it just made Blue go banana's. I would hate to get ride of her but if I have to I will through here locally. I can try again by putting Blue and Delta in the A-frame but there's no cap on the tin, which we are going to remove the tin and take the subfloor to the ground instead of near the middle for the ducks. My Muscovy's are going into it until we can finish their building.

 

[GlennLee]

Well, it sounds as though you've given everything a good try. Not easy keeping everyone in line! You have a nice variety of beautiful birds. Thanks for the info on the turkeys and deworming. I'll have to check into the squash seeds. I haven't heard that one before.

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Meant rid not ride. Lol darn auto correct.

And you are most welcome GlennLee

James and I just finished up tearing off the shelvesrom the shelfing frame in their coop it was holding in the ammonia making me sick and not good for their feet. Now they have about 15 perch options to roost on until I can cut more. As well as when we cleaned out the barn a nice large truck tire for a nest box, recycled desk turned into two nesting box plots with two nests each.

 

[GlennLee]

Looking at your pictures again and noticing that they boys let Delta eat with and/or before them. I wonder if she is really the lowest on the totem pole? My boys won't let the others eat with them. Three males eat and one is the lookout and keeps the others away. When the males are done, the females get to eat and finally at the end - the newbies get to eat. It doesn't matter that I have three feeding stations - they all want to eat at the same one!

Maybe they all are in love with Delta and chase her like a bunch of middle schoolers at a dance - no one dances, they just run around and chase each other.

Interesting dynamics....

Good to get the ammonia smell out of the coop for you and them. Always work to do.

Wow! 15 perch options is great and I love the idea of using the recycled desk and tire for nesting boxes. I have straw bale caves in my coop and they seem to like the privacy it provides. Fingers crossed that they will be used for nesting this spring. A tire would work well for a dusting area too.... giving me some ideas here. I now have an under the bed box, but would like something with higher sides to keep the straw out and provide some hopping spots for them.