Guinea problem

[R2elk]

View attachment 1400838
There’s them with the rooster.

If guineas could be sexed from photographs, I would think that both of those are males with their big cupped wattles.

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

Well theyre not, the one with the white breast is a female. It makes a ‘buck wheat’ noise and the fully speckled one makes a ‘chin chin chin’ noise.

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

@R2elk

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

If guineas could be sexed from photographs, I would think that both of those are males with their big cupped wattles.

The females cupped wattles are a lot smaller than his. I’ll post a pic of them up close

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

@R2elk do you think I would even need a shed for them ? The two I have sleep in the trees and sometimes on top of the chicken shed
I could get 3 more from the breeder that I got them off. (That’s all he has left) would five be okay ?

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

Here’s some pics

Male ^

Female ^ (white breast) he’s also twice the size of her.

This is where I keep all my animals. Dogs/cats/rabbits/ducks/chickens and guineas.

 

[R2elk]

Well theyre not, the one with the white breast is a female. It makes a ‘buck wheat’ noise and the fully speckled one makes a ‘chin chin chin’ noise.

As I said "If'". Some people have even made the claim that they had a male make the buckwheat sound. I personally have had males with identical small flat wattles that I associate with females and have seen photos of known hens (they lay eggs) that had huge cupped wattles. So no, for the most part guineas cannot be sexed by photographs.

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk do you think I would even need a shed for them ? The two I have sleep in the trees and sometimes on top of the chicken shed
I could get 3 more from the breeder that I got them off. (That’s all he has left) would five be okay ?

Having 5 would be better for them than having just 2. I have had as few as one but that was because the owls had not gotten around to collecting him yet. They did get him eventually. I had as few as four (3 males, 1 female) but now I make sure that I always have at least 10.

The only reason I keep mine in a secure coop at night is because if I didn't, I would soon not have any. Once the owls learned how tasty the guineas are, they kept coming back each night until they got every last one of them. I have raccoons, skunks, fox, coyotes and owls that are all great guinea predators. I have not had any issues with hawks although they do fly by on occasion or wait patiently at a bird feeder. There used to be daily fly overs by eagles but a wind farm was put in to my north and the lake they used to fly to got dried up, so no more eagles.

You did mention that there are fox around and there are far more reports of guineas being taken by a fox than there are of a guinea running off a fox.

I have raised guineas with chicks and housed them with the chickens. This is why I strongly recommend against raising keets with chicks and why I now house my guineas separately.

Good luck.

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

Having 5 would be better for them than having just 2. I have had as few as one but that was because the owls had not gotten around to collecting him yet. They did get him eventually. I had as few as four (3 males, 1 female) but now I make sure that I always have at least 10.

The only reason I keep mine in a secure coop at night is because if I didn't, I would soon not have any. Once the owls learned how tasty the guineas are, they kept coming back each night until they got every last one of them. I have raccoons, skunks, fox, coyotes and owls that are all great guinea predators. I have not had any issues with hawks although they do fly by on occasion or wait patiently at a bird feeder. There used to be daily fly overs by eagles but a wind farm was put in to my north and the lake they used to fly to got dried up, so no more eagles.

You did mention that there are fox around and there are far more reports of guineas being taken by a fox than there are of a guinea running off a fox.

I have raised guineas with chicks and housed them with the chickens. This is why I strongly recommend against raising keets with chicks and why I now house my guineas separately.

Good luck.

Thank you for your advice. I’m planning on getting 3 more sometime next week.

 

[amshere]

First time out for Chickens and Guinea