Guinea male is attacking male humans but not me (female)

[Kalimani]

Hi, my tame male guinea (about a year old, in coop with sister and 3 chickens)has become Godzilla when men (that he has known all his life with no problems before) enter his space. He attacks from any angle. He tried it with me once, (I'm female) but mostly we get along very well. When he does get the evil eye, I talk to him or sometimes resort to chasing him a bit with the rake.
I'm guessing hormones and things are kicking in. He bullies the chickens every now and then, especially when the 'mood' strikes, but when I let them all out, he stays with them, does not want to go on his own or with the wild guineas (one wild one did give a good dose of his own medicine!). When the chickens have a good cackle, he joins in with a very cute attempt at cackling too! (He does the normal guinea squawk at other times)

But it is so odd that he has this problem with human males (although I'm the primary caretaker at the moment, and the one who raised him,, and no other Women around, so perhaps that has something to do with it?.

Is he protecting his 'girls' (the one time he did go for me was when I picked up his sister, although she has no interest in him), just being a young male, or all coincidence?
I love the bird, but can't have this behavior. Unfortunately he shows no interest in leaving the chickens and joining any other guineas.

Apologies for the essay!

 

[Kalimani]

Update: Frikkie (the guinea in question) has been completely impossible today, wanting to attack everyone, including myself. Not sure how to deal with this as it is very unpleasant for everybody.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Update: Frikkie (the guinea in question) has been completely impossible today, wanting to attack everyone, including myself. Not sure how to deal with this as it is very unpleasant for everybody.

Culling may be the best option here. Guineas are too big to allow them to be aggressive. Please make the right choice for your family. But perhaps there is another way. Nothing I know of, so other than my advice, I'm pretty useless.

Regards,
Leaf

 

[Kalimani]

Thanks for your input Leaf. I decided to take your advice, as Frikkie was even more beside himself today. I was starting to fear for the chickens' wellbeing, but mostly for us humans, he was bezerk. To put it mildly. So sad as he was my 'baby', but the cuteness wore off rapidly.
So i am having a bittersweet celebration.
Thankfully i had someone willing to dispatch (and eat) him, as i am too much of a coward to do it myself. Sore heart tonight. X

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Thanks for your input Leaf. I decided to take your advice, as Frikkie was even more beside himself today. I was starting to fear for the chickens' wellbeing, but mostly for us humans, he was bezerk. To put it mildly. So sad as he was my 'baby', but the cuteness wore off rapidly.
So i am having a bittersweet celebration.
Thankfully i had someone willing to dispatch (and eat) him, as i am too much of a coward to do it myself. Sore heart tonight. X

So, so sorry for your loss. But you did the right thing. If a child was attacked by your guinea, you would feel a lot worse. It's so hard to lose one, even if he turns aggressive. I'm sorry you had to cull, but you were strong and made the right decision. Don't feel bad, you are not a coward. If you raised this bird, not for meat, I can see why you wouldn't want to cull. I'm so sorry you had to make such a tough choice. Sometimes these things happen. :

Warm wishes,
Leaf

 

[Kalimani]

Dear Leaf, thanks so much for your kind words, it really helped me. My previous reply to you disappeared, so apologies for this late response. This whole thing has been very traumatic, but I am hoping to learn from it, and toughen up. Now that the 'alpha male' is gone, the chickens are a bit unsettled when i let them free range. The remaining tame guinea hen appears to want to assert her rank more than before, but today she suddenly looked as if she was going to die. She then appeared to recover fully. My nerves are not doing so well! I'll post something separate on that.

 

[Kalimani]

Oh, meant to say, the person who 'dispatched' Frikkie ended up not eating him, as he just felt wrong about it, as he has also interacted with the bird over the last year (although it is not usual for people from his culture to be sentimental about food animals), he saw him more like a crazy bird than a food bird. I now feel terrible for asking him to kill it.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Dear Leaf, thanks so much for your kind words, it really helped me. My previous reply to you disappeared, so apologies for this late response. This whole thing has been very traumatic, but I am hoping to learn from it, and toughen up. Now that the 'alpha male' is gone, the chickens are a bit unsettled when i let them free range. The remaining tame guinea hen appears to want to assert her rank more than before, but today she suddenly looked as if she was going to die. She then appeared to recover fully. My nerves are not doing so well! I'll post something separate on that.

You're very welcome, it is a sad situation. You were very courageous though, and I commend you. I'm not sure I'd even have been able to make the choice, even if I new it was the right thing. :

Warm wishes,
Leaf

 

[Dianacatz]

Yes, that was the right choice. Don't be too stressed around the animals they can scene your feelings and get stressed too. I myself would probably not have had the courage to do it, even if I did know that was what i should do. It's very hard to say goodbye to an animal but you did the right thing here.

Regards,
Diana

 

[PinkyLee]

I always name my animals that might end up on the table food names. For some reason it makes it easy... Pigs were named Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and Hibachi ... Rooster... Kernnel Sanders...