Guinea gender identification

[2ndTink]

Good afternoon! Ok, I think I have our keet's genders figured out, just looking for confirmation or redirection. I believe we have one lavender and one pearl female, then the other 4 are males. I've heard these two make the buckwheat call, but never two pearls or two lavender at a time. I noticed three of the lavender have very cupped wattles, the females aren't cupped. On the pearls the one I think is a male doesn't have as cupped of wattles but they are a bit bigger than the one I've seen buckwheating. Neither of the two females have white flight feathers but I think all the others do.

I'm guessing we need to cut back on males if we have only 2 females, any opinions on which to eliminate are welcome.

 

[R2elk]

Good afternoon! Ok, I think I have our keet's genders figured out, just looking for confirmation or redirection. I believe we have one lavender and one pearl female, then the other 4 are males. I've heard these two make the buckwheat call, but never two pearls or two lavender at a time. I noticed three of the lavender have very cupped wattles, the females aren't cupped. On the pearls the one I think is a male doesn't have as cupped of wattles but they are a bit bigger than the one I've seen buckwheating. Neither of the two females have white flight feathers but I think all the others do.

I'm guessing we need to cut back on males if we have only 2 females, any opinions on which to eliminate are welcome.

Keep them all. The dominant males will claim the females and the rest of the boys will help out guarding the hens.

 

[2ndTink]

Thanks again R2elk! Dang, there go my plans for guinea pot pie, guinea and dumplins, and guinea and pastry

 

[R2elk]

Thanks again R2elk! Dang, there go my plans for guinea pot pie, guinea and dumplins, and guinea and pastry

There is nothing wrong with eating one of them. They are delicious. It is just that the more that you have of them, the better they do.

 

[Jabebee13]

Keep them all. The dominant males will claim the females and the rest of the boys will help out guarding the hens.

Will also do.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Good afternoon! Ok, I think I have our keet's genders figured out, just looking for confirmation or redirection. I believe we have one lavender and one pearl female, then the other 4 are males. I've heard these two make the buckwheat call, but never two pearls or two lavender at a time. I noticed three of the lavender have very cupped wattles, the females aren't cupped. On the pearls the one I think is a male doesn't have as cupped of wattles but they are a bit bigger than the one I've seen buckwheating. Neither of the two females have white flight feathers but I think all the others do.

I'm guessing we need to cut back on males if we have only 2 females, any opinions on which to eliminate are welcome.

Cute crew you have there! I’ve had the opposite problem, more girls than boys. I think we hatched more boys than girls this summer, so we will see how the group does with a little more even division. Agree with R2elk that your flock is on the small side to be fully functional...

 

[ColtHandorf]

I always seem to be hen heavy. I keep wondering if I had more males if they'd keep each other busy and not pester the chickens minding their own business. I have a hard time even letting them all out at the same time. The male will charge over to the barn and run all the English Orpingtons around until he gets them all back up in the barn and then he scurries off to rule over the hens.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I always seem to be hen heavy. I keep wondering if I had more males if they'd keep each other busy and not pester the chickens minding their own business. I have a hard time even letting them all out at the same time. The male will charge over to the barn and run all the English Orpingtons around until he gets them all back up in the barn and then he scurries off to rule over the hens.

Sounds like unpleasant behavior, but your words paint quite the funny picture! My oldest guineas cock was brooded with ducklings, and he’s been awful with the ducks since he was 3 months old. He leads the other guineas to harass the ducks too. They did poorly with the chickens when housed together, but are better now that they’re separated...

 

[2ndTink]

Our guineas decided to pick on the youngest barred rocks we have, then decided the big barred rock was also fair game. I keep them separated from the young barred rocks now but was letting them free range with the layers. Yesterday they went from just running the big barred rock to all out attacking her, ramming her and pecking her, so they are no longer allowed to free range together. The guineas are so odd, my husband really likes them so we are going to try and free range at different times for now and see how they all do. They are such little busy bodies.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Sounds like unpleasant behavior, but your words paint quite the funny picture!

It's absolutely ridiculous. lol The barn and the three breeding pens there are probably 200 ft. away from the house, fenced back yard, and the original chicken pen where the guineas, geese, ducks, and some young chickens are growing out. But that doesn't stop him. He makes a beeline for the barn and if one of the gates is open to let the Orps out for a bit he drives them all back into the pen, into the barn, and up on the concrete slab. By then the guinea hens have wandered off so he'll come running out looking for them. The original male was an absolute terror. When they original quad (one male and three females) were in the barn with the BBS Orpingtons and one random Lavender he completely scalped the Lavender hen. I thought he'd killed her. I moved them into the pen with the geese that night and they've gotten along fabulously. I don't have any issues with them. We all know how chicken math is, so as I had to shuffle some birds around as some cockerels came of age an extra Silver-laced Orpington rooster and some generic layers got moved over into the pen with the guineas and geese. They were fine for weeks and then the male started picking on the Orpington rooster. I only kept him for sentimental reasons, and when I was out there and the rooster streaked by with a guinea holding onto him like it was a rodeo I could feel the earth shift when I accessed some unknown mental ability and with my bare hands managed to snatch him up in one try. I'm pretty sure telekinesis was involved. Haha I kind of blacked out for a second I was so annoyed. Needless to say he went to live with a flock of guineas at a friend's. Fast forward to now and out of all the keets I kept back I ended up with Lavender male and three Lavender hens, two Pearls, and one Royal Purple. I added two very young Whites to the mix and I think they are a pair. Now the young male has taken to tormenting all the chickens too. So to spare him from the crazy human snatching him up and threatening to drown him in the geese pools, I'm going to build them their own area.