prepperchickens
Chirping
I didn't know guineas had a reputation for being wild when I got my first 2, so I didn't know to work extra hard on taming them. At first they freaked out when held but I basically forced them to get used to riding on my shoulder around the house for half an hour every day or two. My male tamed faster and I learned his secret little spot: the forehead. Now I rub all my guineas on the forehead gently and it calms the down (even the ones at the store) but works better on boys. They don't like being picked up with two hands because they are so awkward and hyper, so I let them perch on my hand and talk softly to then at which point they normally start making the happy sound (that weird two syllable honk, boys make it more than girls I've noticed). Slow hand movements are key, I noticed they stopped running from my hand in the brooder when I moved slowly. As I type my guinea hen is angling to fly onto my shoulder lol. She used to be very timid, her late brother was the one who tamed first and she followed suit to where she began getting jealous. I had a small flock of all babies so I think that made it easier to tame the guineas, but I noticed right away guineas are more focused on treats than chickens. My guineas immediately understood what I was doing digging holes for them and within a day learned my signals for when I had worms or larvae, my chickens learned from the guineas vs from watching me. I could always tell guineas were sweet, curious little souls who WANTED to learn how not to be afraid and nervous. They wanted to trust me before they actually trusted me if that makes sense. Basically, I think people have mixed results from trying to tame them via handling because handling them is not the most direct way to communicate your love. They don't understand handling they just learn to tolerate it or learn to like it, but they naturally love to have fun and eat treats. Work with that. Maybe take them out separate from your chickens and find a nice ant pile to dig up, once you show them what you're doing they will catch on fast and even work as a team with you. Mine did, they understood they needed to let me dig until I signaled for them to jump in the hole and pig out. This totally changed them from timidly tolerating time on my shoulder to eagerly flying from across the yard whenever they saw me. When they saw the shovel in my hand especially. Then I got mealworms and gave them some everytime I came out or left to go back inside. Ducky went from being a standoffish spaz to jealous and possessive, flying onto me and literally chasing me around the garage begging me to chase her back. Now I love guineas so much, even more than chickens honestly, they remind me of all the ferrets I've had. My chickens act more like cats, lol. You can do it, it's so worth it, nothing is sweeter and more hilarious than a real pet guinea. And if yours can only be tamed to a point, consider getting a keet sometime and just handling it daily and giving it treats everyday, finding fun stuff to do with it. You will be so glad you did, my guineas honestly make me cry sometimes because they show so much love and gratitude.
Also, if you're curious about sexing keets PM me and I will tell you how I figured it out, with great accuracy, I've rambled here Long enough about guineas in a thread about Ameracuanas lol
