Guinea fowl bullying chickens

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thanks for all of the great information. I really wish that there was more complete information online about all of the behaviors. The information I found when entertaining the idea was basically raise the keets with the chicks if you want them to go into the coop at night. We initially wanted the Guinea to take care of a tick problem. Got the chicks too since that is what we read about. Now we love the chicks and are at the end of the rope with the Guineas. (Well one Guinea in particular)

I had to rehome half of my first guinea Flock at 3 mo when they started going after the chicks and ducks... They were amazing. The guinea flock would separate out a victim like a wolf pack separating a single deer. Then the flock would pile on top of the victim, ripping out feathers while it screamed and the other birds scattered. I don’t know how they picked their victims: it was like payback for any that had bullied them in the brooder, so ducks and cockerels. They would act ok with the rest, but became terrified of the guineas. The attack was impressive, coordinated, scary, and fast. I rehomed the aggressive ones, which turned out to be almost all of the males.

 

[Keets n chicks]

I had to rehome half of my first guinea Flock at 3 mo when they started going after the chicks and ducks... They were amazing. The guinea flock would separate out a victim like a wolf pack separating a single deer. Then the flock would pile on top of the victim, ripping out feathers while it screamed and the other birds scattered. I don’t know how they picked their victims: it was like payback for any that had bullied them in the brooder, so ducks and cockerels. They would act ok with the rest, but became terrified of the guineas. The attack was impressive, coordinated, scary, and fast. I rehomed the aggressive ones, which turned out to be almost all of the males.

That is terrible!! was it hard to rehome them?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That is terrible!! was it hard to rehome them?

No, I just placed a Craigslist ad. I don’t have much confidence though that their new home was good... It was that or butcher them so I figured that they at least had a shot this way.

edited to add: I’ve not seen them behave this way since then. The lone cock, Ghost, that I kept will still go after the ducks and rooster, but he does it alone, pulling a few tail feathers etc.; it seems like a more “normal” attack. The hens from that first group that I kept don’t much care about the other poultry and just ignore them, even when Ghost is threatening a duck etc. All the newer guineas that were brooded as guineas only also ignore the other poultry. I’ve never seen the “wolf pack attack” since.

 

[Playfulroost]

My guineas free range and sleep in the trees. I began with 22 guineas and was down to eleven when I tried to catch them all to sell one night. These guineas were wilder than ones I had raised before, and once I had four guineas in the cage, in complete darkness they all flew as hard as they could in opposite directions against all 4 corners of the cage. My guineas had been free ranging in a group of five and a group of six. I was so frustrated with them because they lost most of their feathers and actually bruised themselves badly, that I butchered three of them. Two males, one female. I thought I had too many males. I released the female back to the flock. Eight guineas greeted me at the side door the next afternoon. They knew I had taken their flock mates inside the house. Later the next spring I saw that 30% of my guinea eggs were not fertilized. I didn't realize that guineas mate for life. I have one guinea that wanders around alone, the set of six are together. I am growing chickens and guineas for eggs and meat. I am hoping to move the guineas into a pen soon so I can incubate eggs to raise more keets. Out of 25 guineas I bought, I have 5 adults and one keet left. Occasionally my guineas go after a rooster and pluck a feather, usually at mealtime. What's bad is they teach their feather plucking bullying ways to my chickens, who were getting along great before. I currently have 18 hens and 8 roosters. Some of the roosters will be butchered for meat this fall.

 

[R2elk]

I didn't realize that guineas mate for life.

Guineas can give the appearance that they mate for life but that is not necessarily true. I have at least two of my males that are currently with different hens than they originally were with.

I had a hen that had lost her mate choose a specific male as her mate. From fall through the start of spring spriing, she would spend all of her time with him. Once breeding season got going good, the dominant male would take her away from her chosen mate. Then in the fall she would go back to her chosen mate. Now that he has passed on she stays with the dominant male.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Guineas can give the appearance that they mate for life but that is not necessarily true. I have at least two of my males that are currently with different hens than they originally were with.

I had a hen that had lost her mate choose a specific male as her mate. From fall through the start of spring spriing, she would spend all of her time with him. Once breeding season got going good, the dominant male would take her away from her chosen mate. Then in the fall she would go back to her chosen mate. Now that he has passed on she stays with the dominant male.

Maybe because I have so many hens, the mating thing does not really seem to be up to the cock. I started with 1 male (Ghost) and 7 females in a harem. The new guineas that I added paired with some of the fringe females from Ghost’s harem as well as some of the new girls. I had one very tightly bonded pair of new guineas where the cock, Kingpin, lost his mate to a bobcat. I was surprised at how quickly he took a new mate, Viceroy. Now Viceroy is broody and Kingpin hangs out with the bros from his brooder group. Another younger cock, Victor, started the spring with one mate, Viceroy, who is now Kingpins mate. When Viceroy went broody, Victor ditched her and took up with Ghost’s former fringe girl, Scout Black, who had paired up with younger cock Kaiser, who was killed by a car. So Scout Black has had three different mates during the past year. Scout Black has been broody so Victor, Kingpin, and Bruiser are all hanging out together, along with Bruiser’s two hens. As a final note to our mate swapping soap opera, Ghost’s core mate Pearl flirts with Victor and acted for awhile like she might leave Ghost for Victor (who is probably her and Ghost’s son)!

What I find most interesting is that the dominance hierarchy for the cocks seems almost entirely separate from the hens. Bruiser is the most dominant cock and Ghost is the most subordinate. But Ghost has 6 hens, including the two most dominant hens, Cherry (#1) and Lemon (#2) Pie. Also, Scout Black was the most subordinate, picked on hen of Ghost’s harem last year. When SB left him for Kaiser last winter, her status rose considerably with all guineas. When Kaiser was killed, her status dropped very low again. When she paired with Victor, her status rose considerably, and she started hanging out with her old harem girls again, dragging Victor with her. So the free ranging group was Ghost, Victor, and 6 Ghost girls plus Victor’s girl who used to be Ghost’s girl. The hens got along fine, but Victor quarreled often with his subordinate father, Ghost, who seemed quite put out that Victor was now following them around Everywhere!

 

[MysmallBiglife]

Thanks for all of the great information. I really wish that there was more complete information online about all of the behaviors. The information I found when entertaining the idea was basically raise the keets with the chicks if you want them to go into the coop at night. We initially wanted the Guinea to take care of a tick problem. Got the chicks too since that is what we read about. Now we love the chicks and are at the end of the rope with the Guineas. (Well one Guinea in particular)

I could have written that post. Same....Guineas for ticks. Read that hens would tame the guineas some if raised together. Now I want more hens and less guineas. Bullys! Particularly one.