Any tips on early sexing...

[ma2babygurl13]

I know with guineas sexing them is very difficult... until you can distinguish between their calls...but I didn't know if it was like with chickens, where the males tend to have thicker legs than the girls, and the females tend to develop feathers faster, etc. Didn't know if there was any way with guineas to attempt to make a guess rather than just grabbing and going and hoping for the best! Let me know if ya'll know of any tricks out there

 

[keatonskeets]

In pearl greys, I have found that the girls have solid heads and the boys have striped. I have no idea if this happens all of the time, but it happened for me. Hope it helps...

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

You can sex them very accurately by the pelvic bones.

1) catch them

That's always the tricky part. lol
2) hold them right side up and run your hand down the keel towards the vent, when you get to the end of the keel, keep going back and you will feel the pelvic bones just before you get to the vent. On the males they will be very close together, on the females much wider. Think about it - the female has to be wider to pass the egg. My DW always tells me "Girls are built different" I still think it's just a ploy so she doesn't have to carry 100 pound sacks of corn but with guineas she may be on to something. If you have any older ones you can really feel it so they make good practice to learn on.

Steve in NC

 

[ma2babygurl13]

Ok I will give it a try, sounds like a better shot at getting what I want rather than just grabbing and going

 

[barefootchef]

Wow, Steve, if I can catch mine and not get scratched and pecked to pieces, I'll give it a whirl! Mine are only about 8 weeks old and just starting to make a pinch of noise. I only have 3 and they are all white.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

I learned how at a poultry auction years ago. There was an older guy selling cage after cage of guineas, he had 5 hens and 2 roo's in each cage. They had no helmuts, no wattles, and were young. Me being the skeptic I am, I had to know the how's and why's. I was very lucky that day and got some good old fashioned hands on, it wasn't long at all he had me going thru his cages and sexing them.

Steve

 

[ma2babygurl13]

If I plan on keeping 10 total, what male to female ratio would you recommend?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We keep 1 male to about 2 females and that gives us the best fertility. If you are planning to free range them keep more than you want - they have a habit of going missing.

Steve

 

[ma2babygurl13]

Well we plan on eventually having close to 30 or more, but are planning on keeping some from this batch, some from another, and some from another, so we have different blood in the mix. They won't be free ranged but have a large enclosure (with a top) We tried free ranging them a while back and since we lived on a busy road every sunday they would be out on the road chasing traffic...one by one they disappeared that way.... others just vanished (I'm guessing predators) for about 2 years the very last one was seen nearly every day playing in traffic about a mile away from the farm at the same time each day.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

we lost hen after hen from sitting on eggs. They would nest in the bushes or around the firewood pile, whatever was geting them was a night time predator. Now we pen up the breeders and only let the surplus males free range, that has worked pretty well this year.

Steve