can guineafowl defend themsleves better than chickens? also swans

[animals1981]

my friend breeds black swans for years on a pond and never lost one to a predator??? also guinea fowl free range are they better at self protection? I was told they will gang up and fight off predator unlike game fowl who just depend on the rooster?


ALso someone said that the guineas were so fast a coyote could not catch them

 

[PatrickRoo]

Swans can be very aggressive, this is because they are defensive. They want to protect themselves.

Guinea fowl on the other hand, are better for alerting the flock than defeating the predator. (Though I wouldn't doubt it. I've seen my juvenile Pearl guinea eat a very small snake.) They make a loud, siren-like call if they feel threatened. Guineas are fast, but my dog caught our guinea once, and she's obviously slower than a coyote.

 

[Saint_ Marwenne_Chickens]

Guineas are aggressive to snakes, I've heard.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Guineas can fly, so they can escape better than many barnyard fowl.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Guineas are more athletic than the old barn yard fowl or so called heritage chickens. So guineas are more able to avoid predators.

As far as small snakes are concerned they don't live long once spotted by MY chickens. On the other hand Swans are an invasive species in North America that when not managed to keep their population in check mute and black swans will decimate their environment

 

[Wickedchicken6]

My husband just noticed white feathers in the small pasture beside the house. They ended up belonging to my one year old male guinea. A little surprising since none of the chickens were bothered. I have a hard time believing he could've been killed, but unless he was injured somehow...something got him. My birds free range during the day, but are secure in the coop at night.

The guineas will not fight off a predator in a group. They'll sound an alarm and alert the rest of the birds..but they'll run/fly away.

 

[animals1981]

sounds like a hawk got the guinea and it was too heavy to fly off with, guineafowl have a stronger build than most chickens? My muscovy duck attacked a hawk that caught a chicken.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

sounds like a hawk got the guinea and it was too heavy to fly off with, guineafowl have a stronger build than most chickens? My muscovy duck attacked a hawk that caught a chicken.

Unlikely...there was cover. We haven't had an aerial attack yet. But there was long grass...I imagine it was a fox.

My large fowl girls are more substantial/heavy than any of my guineas...and they're quite meaty guineas.