Male guinea biting mate’s feet

[Jannl]

Our three years old male guinea fowl bites at the female’s feet which causes her to bleed. They are a pair and he is very doting. They hunt bugs together and he shares, however recently we noticed her limping and then saw him biting her toe. Any suggestions as to why he is doing this and how to stop him?

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

I moved this thread to our Guinea forum for more help. Good luck with your birds!

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC. I've never had guineas but I had a rooster who was prone to scaly leg mites. My first clue was when his girls started grooming his feet.
Are her scales raised?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hello; glad you joined BYC. Birds are naturally drawn to the color red, and so when they see blood, they naturally peck at it, causing further injury. The injury is a little trickier since it is on your guinea's feet/toe. Normal protocol is to clean a wound with saline solution or Hibicens, then medicate with triple antibiotic withOUT painkiller or vetericyn spray. Blue-Kote can be used mask the wound once the wound scabs over. Since the injury is to her feet, I would forego the Blue-kote and wrap her feet while the wound heals. Here is an excellent article showing how to correctly wrap a chicken's (or other poultry's foot.) You will need to extend the wrap a bit more so it covers her toe.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-correctly-wrap-a-chickens-foot.77028/

 

[Isadora]

Our three years old male guinea fowl bites at the female’s feet which causes her to bleed. They are a pair and he is very doting. They hunt bugs together and he shares, however recently we noticed her limping and then saw him biting her toe. Any suggestions as to why he is doing this and how to stop him?

I don't know why he would be doing this other than there's something of interest on her foot that is causing him to peck at it. Can you take pictures of her feet so we can take a look?

 

[Sydney65]

I had a hen do this to her mate. It's considered a form of cannibalism, a behavior issue brought on by stress or boredom. I learned to try to keep a routine with them, and put up toys and other diversions -mirrors,tunnels, noise makers, multiple height roosts,etc., to provide distractions.