Guinea questions?

[duluthralphie]

One of my Guineas attacked a CX today. He/she had the poor meatball by the back of the head and was relentless. Is this normal for them?

I may have to eliminate this bird if I can figure t which one it is, once the get into the flock I cannot tell them apart.



Second question, Why do Guineas find the road so fascinating. I have lots of open field with tons of grasshoppers ad bugs behind my buildings , instead they go to the road and try to get run over.

 

[chooks4life]

My animals also loved the road, no idea why. Chooks, guineas, turkeys, geese... You know what, now I'm thinking about it, I have to include the horses, cattle, sheep and goats in that, and my cats and dogs as well... Something just plain alluring about the roads.

My guineas I got rid of long before adulthood, because they consistently tried to kill other birds. Even as tiny chicks they were attacking tiny birds, at a few weeks older they were attacking my baby turkeys... They'd grab them by a wing and expertly flip them onto their backs and go in for the guts. I had to get rid of them. My best bet is that these were a bad strain (well duh, after all I got them from the feedstore) because other guineas don't do that. Kinda like comparing cannibalistic chooks with those that aren't, or killer roosters with those that don't. It's not the species, it's the individual or the line it comes from, plenty of exceptions to the example given.

Best wishes.

 

[Sfraker]

My five guineas recently turned 4 months old and started attacking my ducks. The ducks were full grown when I got the keets and the keets were raised with the ducks in the hopes of preventing the aggresion. It didn't work.

Luckily I have a small second coop that I can use for the guineas. I am putting avian netting over the top of my duck pen to keep the guineas out. The guineas are getting treats and water in their new coop to help them adjust to their new digs. They are making such a huge dent in the bug population that I want to make it work.

 

[Hotcookie]

It could be that you just need more guineas in your flock. To make them happy, you should have a minimum of 10 guineas. By doing this, it will help distract them from your other birds and leave them alone. I have 35 guineas, 25 chickens, and 8 ducks, and they all live pretty much alone in their own little worlds.

And yes.....my guineas love my road out front, too!! It doesn't matter they have 20 acres to roam - they prefer to see the action on the highway instead!!!

 

[duluthralphie]

I have 15 guinea. There are just a couple, I think, that are bad actors.

They may end up in the oven if they keep it up. I am moving the guineas to another coop soon. I will lock them up for 6 weeks, hopefully when they get out they will be good. I do not want to get rid of the guineas either, they have decimated the box elder bugs!