Guinea Fowl Body Language Question - What Does it Mean?!

[CalBickieMomma]

Hi! You described 2 very different scenarios- One where you've cornered him, & one where he chooses to be near you. If he's panting after being cornered, he's definitely stressed. That's the only time I've seen mine do that. If he's doing it when he chose to come to you & let's you cont petting, then I'd take it as a "warning", just letting you know "this & no further." Guineas accustomed to being touched do enjoy neck massages.
Mine shun all treats except millet, but that they eat in my hand while using me as a perch.If you want to make friends w/him, when he comes up to you, start off w/ a treat at a distance in his comfort zone, gradually moving it closer to you.
Mine do like to be near me..follow me..knock on the door and stare in the window if I've been inside too long . ...

Thanks for the advice! Yes, some days he seems more willing to let me pet him (he'll be nearby and I'll reach out and pet him gently on the back and he just moves away slowly - I don't get ''stressed'' from him in those situations, just more of an "Okay, you know I don't like pets but I'm just going to go stand over there now").

I've also ''caught'' (all my chickens live in a large coop/run because of predators and dogs) him and placed him in my lap and gently pet him and talked to him, trying to calm him down and let him know I'm not going to hurt him. Sometimes he settles down well and will sit in my lap for a while. After petting him, I take my hands away and let him decide when he wants to leave my lap. He usually does so in a calm way.

I tried to hold him as often as possible when he was little - he never really liked it, but I wanted to make sure he was more on the tame side.

He does join the other chickens when they hear me come out to the coop/run in the morning. They all come running to the one side of the fence, hoping I'll have treats for them all, and Vic Vic is usually with them checking to see if I have anything good. So there's always that .

 

[CalBickieMomma]

This was an "ah hah" moment for me, actually. Thankfully,when building the coop, we put it on sleigh runners, bc w/the snow followed by 60°, we now have a swamp. Today we moved the coop up closer to the house on dry ground. The guineas screamed at us as we were doing this, & were still in an uproar tonight.
I remembered later that bc of this I had left the back up light on in the coop for them, went out to check, they were settled, so I opened the door to shut the light off. When I looked in, Nugget, of all guineas, had hopped down from the perch & positioned himself facing the door, head down, wings spread. He cocked his head to look up at me before relaxing, but gave me a look like, "what ARE you doing?". The rest of the goonies were just realizing something was up! I shut the door and left the light on.

Ha ha! They are such cool little critters. I wish I had another Guinea for him, but he literally showed up out of nowhere in our yard (we heard this weird birdish crying sound and my dad spotted him. He was in a shrub near the fence and I managed to catch him then had to research to see what he was). When he was about three months old, he would lie on his side with both feet sticking straight out behind him. If anyone happened upon him like that, they'd think he was dead! But he seemed to be comfy resting like that .

 

[Sydney65]

"when I'm sitting with the hens and my roo (he even used to sit on my legs with them when he was a little younger, and might still do so if I were to sit on the ground (but the coop and run is way too dirty to do that now, so I have a low lawn chair and special chicken coop clothes"

so I'm not the only one!! I don't have chickens, just the goons. But there's a sunny spot in my garden that we go to every day, a stool by the coop, & a jacket I refuse to pitch even though the zipper is broke bc it's the coop jacket. Lol
I haven't heard the hissing, but knew other birds do it & wondered if that's what your juvy might be leading up to. Nugget going into defense mode tonight was hilarious and awesome, bc he's low man on the totem pole out there.

 

[Sydney65]

Guinea shrinks say that is their sign of being secure and content, not needing to be on alert.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

"when I'm sitting with the hens and my roo (he even used to sit on my legs with them when he was a little younger, and might still do so if I were to sit on the ground (but the coop and run is way too dirty to do that now, so I have a low lawn chair and special chicken coop clothes"

so I'm not the only one!! I don't have chickens, just the goons. But there's a sunny spot in my garden that we go to every day, a stool by the coop, & a jacket I refuse to pitch even though the zipper is broke bc it's the coop jacket. Lol
I haven't heard the hissing, but knew other birds do it & wondered if that's what your juvy might be leading up to. Nugget going into defense mode tonight was hilarious and awesome, bc he's low man on the totem pole out there.

And I often wonder if Vic Vic might be a wee bit different because he is the only Guinea who was raised with chickens. I know some things are instinctual, but who knows! I absolutely adore him, though. Guinea fowl have definitely grown on me and I don’t care what other people say - they are ADORABLE (even as adults). If I ever have to separate him due to feisty behavior, I’ll start looking around for a girlfriend for him .

 

[Tooattached]

Oh, no! I hope I’m not stressing him out too much! I saw a video once of a Guinea hen approaching someone and when the person was petting her on the neck, she started panting (so I was hoping it might be equivalent to purring in a cat (since the Guinea in the video was clearly very tame) but wanted to check on this forum in case there’s a Guinea expert out there ).

I have guineas that are as attached as they come especially since we lost the male and I had to nurse her wound they like to cuddle up against me if I’m sitting they will jump in my lap and the other up against me. I believe they like their neck rubbed and yeah she stretches it out and kinda looks like panting but when she’s had enough she tucks her neck back in …
I believe if they didn’t like it they wouldn’t let u do it.. I think sometimes you get to have cool bonds with special animals I feel blessed

 

[Tooattached]

Oh, no! I hope I’m not stressing him out too much! I saw a video once of a Guinea hen approaching someone and when the person was petting her on the neck, she started panting (so I was hoping it might be equivalent to purring in a cat (since the Guinea in the video was clearly very tame) but wanted to check on this forum in case there’s a Guinea expert out there ).

I have guineas that are as attached as they come especially since we lost the male and I had to nurse her wound they like to cuddle up against me if I’m sitting they will jump in my lap and the other up against me. I believe they like their neck rubbed and yeah she stretches it out and kinda looks like panting but when she’s had enough she tucks her neck back in …
I believe if they didn’t like it they wouldn’t let u do it.. I think sometimes you get to have cool bonds with special animals I feel blessed

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have guineas that are as attached as they come especially since we lost the male and I had to nurse her wound they like to cuddle up against me if I’m sitting they will jump in my lap and the other up against me. I believe they like their neck rubbed and yeah she stretches it out and kinda looks like panting but when she’s had enough she tucks her neck back in …
I believe if they didn’t like it they wouldn’t let u do it.. I think sometimes you get to have cool bonds with special animals I feel blessed

Sounds sweet! Yes, rereading this again now, I think the behavior being described is what guineas do to groom each other’s neck. The one being groomed stretches it’s neck and opens it’s mouth. Mine would be terrified if I did this, but I’ve seen video of a very tame guinea doing this as its owner rubbed her neck!