Caught guinea attacking chicken. and put him in a dog pen. How long...

[Keets n chicks]

I wrote about the guineas terrorizing my chickens. All are about 4 months old. they were raised together in the same brooder. Yesterday we saw the culprit grab onto the chicken's wing and drag her about. She was screaming terribly. It was awful. I was able to corner him, and my husband and I put him in a large dog crate. We had to put him in the coop with everyone last night because we don't have another safe place for him. How long should I keep him crated? Is it OK if he sees the others, and they see him?

We should be finished another coop for the chickens today so we can permanently separate them. The runs will be next to each other for now. Is that OK? This is our first adventure with fowl.

Honestly, this has been so stressful my husband and I are wondering when or if we will ever get to the joy part of this.

Thanks for all of your help so far.

 

[Aapomp831]

An aggressive hen needs to be dealt with. I would keep this guinea in the dog crate for a couple of days; as long as it’s wrapped in chicken wire and maybe covered with a tarp she will be fine - you can even move the crate into the chicken run so she cans still be with the flock. This will give the bullied bird a chance to recover and start to establish herself back into the pecking order. After a few days, the guinea should calm down and recognize that she’s been demoted by her absence. If that doesn’t work, I would seriously consider culling. You don’t want to have to cull an innocent bird bc she injured them beyond repair. Unfortunate, they joy often comes with equal parts hard decisions.

 

[R2elk]

I wrote about the guineas terrorizing my chickens. All are about 4 months old. they were raised together in the same brooder. Yesterday we saw the culprit grab onto the chicken's wing and drag her about. She was screaming terribly. It was awful. I was able to corner him, and my husband and I put him in a large dog crate. We had to put him in the coop with everyone last night because we don't have another safe place for him. How long should I keep him crated? Is it OK if he sees the others, and they see him?

We should be finished another coop for the chickens today so we can permanently separate them. The runs will be next to each other for now. Is that OK? This is our first adventure with fowl.

Honestly, this has been so stressful my husband and I are wondering when or if we will ever get to the joy part of this.

Thanks for all of your help so far.

No amount of time in the dog crate will cure this problem. This is a guinea being a guinea. It is only going to get worse.

When you brood guineas with other fowl, the imprinting removes the guineas ability to understand that the other fowl are not guineas. Guineas have different behaviors than do any other type of fowl. Only other guineas can understand a guinea.

You have three options. House the guineas separately from any of your other poultry permanently, rheome the guineas, or eat the guineas.

There is absolutely no chance that you can cure a guinea of being a guinea.

 

[Keets n chicks]

We are working on separating them. The new coop should be done today or tomorrow. They will be able to see each other in the runs. Is that OK? Do I have to let them free range at different times

 

[R2elk]

We are working on separating them. The new coop should be done today or tomorrow. They will be able to see each other in the runs. Is that OK? Do I have to let them free range at different times

I would give them a year or at least until next fall before trying to free range them together. Because these were raised with chickens, they may never leave the chickens alone. Once you start bringing in new ones or they start hatching their own, the new ones will be better with the chickens as long as they don't get imprinted.

It will be fine for them to be able to see each other through their run fences.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

We are working on separating them. The new coop should be done today or tomorrow. They will be able to see each other in the runs. Is that OK? Do I have to let them free range at different times

Hi Keets n chicks, I really feel for you because I also brooded our first guinea keets with chicks and ducklings. It was all one big happy family until it wasn’t. Glad to hear that you are able to separate the two.

What I ended up doing is rehoming my aggressive Guineas and separating my remaining guineas from the chickens/ducks. The aggressive birds ended up being almost all of my males; I only kept one. So, I suspect your most aggressive guinea is a male.

If you have the heart to completely remove this guinea flock and replace with separately brooded keets next spring, this will be the option most likely to result in harmony. My guineas that were only reared with other guineas doesn’t really care about the other poultry, though they have picked up some bad habits from my lone surviving original cock, Ghost. I had them all out for awhile free ranging yesterday: I had to separate Ghost from the poor duck he attacked. He’s gotten better with the chickens but is fixated on the ducks. He just can’t be left alone with my other poultry. If I wasn’t so attached to him, he would totally go to freezer camp...

So for you, I’d consider rehoming your guinea flock or at least the most aggressive ones. I don’t know if your other guineas will turn aggressive or forget about chickens after separation. Total separation works for us because my chickens can’t really free range due to our predators. Guineas survive (more or less, knock on wood), but the chickens and ducks get eaten if I’m not out with them. The guineas are an excellent alarm system. Whether they like the ducks or not, the guineas are always on the alert for predators and warn me when one is afoot while the ducks are on their pond. I also feel like the chickens are safer free ranging (with my supervision), because the guineas again are curiously watching them/trying to steal their food, and warn of predators are about.

 

[Keets n chicks]

I'm pretty sure the aggressor is a male, I think we will try to re-home him as he has been mean to the guineas too, at 8-10 weeks he was drawing blood on the other guineas. I hope it doesn't come to culling as I don't have the make-up to carry that out.

We are going to put the chickens in their own coop and run. I'm glad to hear that they can see each other through the fence. It is easier to care for them if they are in close proximity to each other. I feel bad for the chickens because their new home isn't as big as the coop we built for all of them. It has just about 3 sq ft of space per bird. the roof isn't as high as in the coop we built it with a full 8 foot ceiling. I'm hoping they wont care as the benefit of being away from the guineas will be much better for them.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm pretty sure the aggressor is a male, I think we will try to re-home him as he has been mean to the guineas too, at 8-10 weeks he was drawing blood on the other guineas. I hope it doesn't come to culling as I don't have the make-up to carry that out.

We are going to put the chickens in their own coop and run. I'm glad to hear that they can see each other through the fence. It is easier to care for them if they are in close proximity to each other. I feel bad for the chickens because their new home isn't as big as the coop we built for all of them. It has just about 3 sq ft of space per bird. the roof isn't as high as in the coop we built it with a full 8 foot ceiling. I'm hoping they wont care as the benefit of being away from the guineas will be much better for them.

I agree, being with aggressive guineas is very hard on your chickens. Removing those guineas will go a long way towards decreasing your chickens’ stress.