Can Guinea fowl live alone on the wild?

[KaJa]

Thanks for your reply. It just makes me sad to see her alone calling out.

 

[CityGuineas]

Guinea fowl are not monogamous, they will mate with any available bird of the opposite sex, and even a brooding hen will sit on eggs that are not her own.

As far as surviving, you mentioned you are near Austin, TX. The main thing that determines survivability are the temperature and predators. They can take temps below freezing but long term they can not survive the low temps if they are in wet or windy conditions with no protection from the elements. They are very good at avoiding predators during the day, at night if it can roost in a safe place and get lucky it will be fine as well. You mentioned an owl in the area, I'm a falconer and owls are legal to hunt with so I know a little about this, while all predators are very opportunistic and would not pass up an easy meal, it is not normal for owls to take other birds as prey. They feed on mammals, it is even hard to train an owl to select birds as prey items so I wouldn't worry too much, unless there is a Hawaiian owl in the area, they evolved on the Hawaiian islands before humans brought rats and other small mammals so they hunt birds during the day!

Also, as R2elk mentioned, these are semi wild birds which gives them a better chance, but they are not truly wild. They have had a lot of the instincts bred out of them. You can not go to Africa and find a domestic guinea fowl in the wild any more then you could find a domestic sheep or goat in the wild. When the Europeans first imported guinea fowl into Europe they didn't realize or didn't care that there are 5 separate subspecies of helmeted guineas, Numida meleagris, so they didn't separate them and what we have as domestic guineas are a mix of at least 3 of the 5. Along with that they were domesticated thousands of generations ago and the wildness has been tempered in that time.

I wish you luck in finding him, it is the end of winter so the weather will hopefully not be too bad, he wants to be in his flock and he has enough instincts to avoid many predators, so hopefully he will show up if he gets lonely.

San Antonio TX, here!
The hawks, Mexican eagles target them during the day, and even though I have huge safe coop my male is trained to return to at night- those big Barn Owls DO try to take them out! Even when secured in coop, I have seen the owl land on top of coop, trying to figure out how he can get poor Lee.

One night, one of my Guinea "teenagers" decided he was going to try a night up in oaks.
Owl came and left only feathers!
Poor Lee, my male , is now only Guinea left. He is still grieving Rosie's loss.
I am still wondering if I got another male for company- best solution for ME- would that work?
As other Guineas here in SA that get "lost", Lee has one bird friend...a Grackle.
First Guinea I ever saw in city was also best buds with a Grackle
I do hope you find your bird, hon!
Here they are enjoying a summer drink of water together!

 

[R2elk]

San Antonio TX, here!
The hawks, Mexican eagles target them during the day, and even though I have huge safe coop my male is trained to return to at night- those big Barn Owls DO try to take them out! Even when secured in coop, I have seen the owl land on top of coop, trying to figure out how he can get poor Lee.

One night, one of my Guinea "teenagers" decided he was going to try a night up in oaks.
Owl came and left only feathers!
Poor Lee, my male , is now only Guinea left. He is still grieving Rosie's loss.
I am still wondering if I got another male for company- best solution for ME- would that work?
As other Guineas here in SA that get "lost", Lee has one bird friend...a Grackle.
First Guinea I ever saw in city was also best buds with a Grackle
I do hope you find your bird, hon!
Here they are enjoying a summer drink of water together!

The poster you replied to has not been on BYC since July 10, 2016.

 

[Gill-b]

Also, as R2elk mentioned, these are semi wild birds which gives them a better chance, but they are not truly wild. They have had a lot of the instincts bred out of them. You can not go to Africa and find a domestic guinea fowl in the wild any more then you could find a domestic sheep or goat in the wild.

Hi there.

I am very interested in this; because I am a mom to a rescued wild, hatched in Africa, Guinea Fowl keet. What instincts do you think are bled out of the domestic Guinea Fowl?

I ask because I am struggling to teach my keet to hide from crows (hmmm... me thinks I will start a fresh thread about this).

It will be great to do a comparison with your domesticated Guinea Fowl and my observations of the wild (African) Guinea Fowl living in my area.