Advice on depopulating guinea flock

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi All, I had previously posted on problems with a flock of 15, 4 month old guineas that were brooded with chickens and ducks. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guineas-attacking-young-chickens.1271859/
I’ve kept the guineas and chickens separated since then, but the guineas just started attacking the ducks when they return to the coop from their pond. I think that r2Elk called it, and I’ve screwed the guineas up by raising them with these other poultry. The guineas have become very territorial of the coop (shared but split off from the rest of the poultry) and surrounding area. They’ve been free ranging for three weeks now, but rarely leave the immediate area around the outside of the run. I’ve invested a tremendous amount of time in these guineas and am attached, but the writing is on the wall that this isn’t going to work. So, my question: I am thinking of getting rid of 1/2 of the guineas, trying for the leaders in hopes the remaining guineas will be less quarrelsome. Right now, we have 15, seems about 1/2 male:female. Three (2 female and one male) are subordinate and only tolerated on the fringes of the flock. I’m not sure which members are initiating the attack as it’s a flock thing, but it’s not the three fringe members. I’m thinking of keeping the three fringe members plus 3-5 more. Who else should I keep? Select for females plus the one fringe male?

 

[R2elk]

Hi All, I had previously posted on problems with a flock of 15, 4 month old guineas that were brooded with chickens and ducks. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guineas-attacking-young-chickens.1271859/
I’ve kept the guineas and chickens separated since then, but the guineas just started attacking the ducks when they return to the coop from their pond. I think that r2Elk called it, and I’ve screwed the guineas up by raising them with these other poultry. The guineas have become very territorial of the coop (shared but split off from the rest of the poultry) and surrounding area. They’ve been free ranging for three weeks now, but rarely leave the immediate area around the outside of the run. I’ve invested a tremendous amount of time in these guineas and am attached, but the writing is on the wall that this isn’t going to work. So, my question: I am thinking of getting rid of 1/2 of the guineas, trying for the leaders in hopes the remaining guineas will be less quarrelsome. Right now, we have 15, seems about 1/2 male:female. Three (2 female and one male) are subordinate and only tolerated on the fringes of the flock. I’m not sure which members are initiating the attack as it’s a flock thing, but it’s not the three fringe members. I’m thinking of keeping the three fringe members plus 3-5 more. Who else should I keep? Select for females plus the one fringe male?

Try to pick out the most aggressive ones while still maintaining approximately a 50/50 male to female ratio with perhaps one or two extra hens. It has been shown in the past that removing the most aggressive guineas does tend to change the whole flock behavior.

Unfortunately sometimes removing the most aggressive one does allow a subordinate to become a terror. Fortunately this doesn't always happen.

The older your guineas get, the farther they will range from their base.

As part of your depopulation effort, remember that guineas are delicious.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Try to pick out the most aggressive ones while still maintaining approximately a 50/50 male to female ratio with perhaps one or two extra hens. It has been shown in the past that removing the most aggressive guineas does tend to change the whole flock behavior.

Unfortunately sometimes removing the most aggressive one does allow a subordinate to become a terror. Fortunately this doesn't always happen.

The older your guineas get, the farther they will range from their base.

As part of your depopulation effort, remember that guineas are delicious.

Thanks R2Elk, we do intend to butcher them. We have 9 pearl and 6 fancy colored guineas. When they attacked the ducks, I was close enough to beat them off the duck with my herding stick, but I could only tell that the instigators were pearl. So, I was thinking of keeping the six fancies (4 female and 2 presumed male as no buckwheat call), then picking two smaller pearl males? I plan to observe the new group for aggressive guineas and continue to cull, then build the flock back up in the spring if needed with separately brooded guinea babies.

 

[red horse ranch]

When I started keeping guineas I had 12 of them. 10 males and 2 females. Several of the males were real terrors. I sold the alpha male and I think 3 of his male partners in crime. It totally changed the flock dynamics and I had no problems keeping the chickens and guineas together afterwards. I think you will find that taking out the aggressive ones will solve a lot of the problems you are having.
I don't know if it's true in most mixed flocks but in mine it seems like the pearl grey guineas are more likely to be aggressive than my colored ones. I won't keep a pearl grey male any more but I do have a female pearl. My alpha male now is a 4 year old Brown and he has been a very good leader for the flock.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thanks Red Horse. I’m still planning things out, will try to cull next Saturday and won’t let the ducks out in the meantime. I sat and watched them today, and I think I have a lot of girls, most made the buckwheat call if I watched them long enough. How many guineas are in your flock? I was looking through posts and saw that R2Elk recommends no less than 10 in a flock. Do you have a minimum? A preferred ratio of males to females?

 

[red horse ranch]

I like keeping an equal number of males and females if I can. Right now I have 4 of each. I think. One of the young ones I kept this summer may end up being a female instead of the male that I thought it was. So I just have 8 guineas right now. Every year is different depending on how many young guineas I keep. I've had as many as 17 but 10 or less works better for me since all my chickens, guineas and peafowl live in the same building. They all free range thru the day.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

So, in observing the guinea flock, I think that the pearls are mostly male and the fancies are mostly female. I’ve found someone who would take six male pearl guineas. That would leave me with 9 guineas, of which only 1-2 would be male. Does anyone know what the effect of a primarily female flock would be?

 

[R2elk]

So, in observing the guinea flock, I think that the pearls are mostly male and the fancies are mostly female. I’ve found someone who would take six male pearl guineas. That would leave me with 9 guineas, of which only 1-2 would be male. Does anyone know what the effect of a primarily female flock would be?

A primarily female flock will be very loud as the hens constantly call (buckwheat) for a mate. Another aspect is that the egg fertility may be a very low percentage. Not all males are willing to breed hens that are not their mates. Some guinea cocks will breed with any and all females while others are satisfied with having just their own mate.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

A primarily female flock will be very loud as the hens constantly call (buckwheat) for a mate. Another aspect is that the egg fertility may be a very low percentage. Not all males are willing to breed hens that are not their mates. Some guinea cocks will breed with any and all females while others are satisfied with having just their own mate.

That’s probably an acceptable situation for us right now, since I think that the alternative is to lose the whole flock. I’d really like them to be here in the spring, when tick season starts back up. If things work out (the down-sized flock doesn’t attack chickens and ducks, they survive our predators over winter) then I can obtain and incubate more eggs to build them back up next spring/summer. It sounds to me like I might need to plan on some level of continuous culling, to remove those that are aggressive to our other poultry.

 

[red horse ranch]

That’s probably an acceptable situation for us right now, since I think that the alternative is to lose the whole flock. I’d really like them to be here in the spring, when tick season starts back up. If things work out (the down-sized flock doesn’t attack chickens and ducks, they survive our predators over winter) then I can obtain and incubate more eggs to build them back up next spring/summer. It sounds to me like I might need to plan on some level of continuous culling, to remove those that are aggressive to our other poultry.

Every year I sell a few of my adult guineas so that I can keep little ones. I easily get $25 to $30 a pair. I sell Newborn babies for $5 each.
Guinea hens are prolific layers in the summer so if you let them they will keep your freezer full of guinea meat. Or you can sell enough babies to help pay for their feed. It is best to have a plan for the extras since you are very likely to have them.