guinea spring behavior?

[artsyrobin]

hi- this is my first time with guineas in the spring- lately they have been running around on tippy toes with their wings up- is that normal spring behaviors? courtship or something?

 

[[email protected]]

mine do that to

 

[houndit]

Mine do that all the time. I have only once seen guineas breed. I think the wing thing is more a showing off kind of thing. Sometimes they chase the other cocks that way.

 

[keatonskeets]

I see that all of the time too. That's just the males establishing their pecking-order. Usually they will go for smaller, or injured guineas. They will also chase these guineas into the road. I've even seen the dominate guinea pin another male to the ground. My dominant guinea, CURLY!!!, has been especially mean lately, so I've isolated him from the rest. He hates watching the inferior guineas take his hens.

 

[lcw]

Mine do that too. Mine guineas are starting to pair off right now. I'm thinking ill be starting to see some eggs soon!! YAY

Another thing they do during spring-time if do something called "the chase" i think. One of the males runs after another around and around for a long time without stopping.

It's very comical I think. There so fast there feet look like there not even touching the ground. Very neat to see. I don't know if mine will do that this year or not though because both males have a mate of there own.

Last year I had 4 males and 1 female. All the boys were fighting for the girl. So neat to see.

Goodluck with yours.

 

[artsyrobin]

thanks for all the replies- i am pretty sure i have two pairs- they seem to be pairing off, haven't seen fighting, have noticed some romance...

what are the signs a hen is ready to lay? i have one that is finding places to crawl into and nest down, then after awhile she is back

 

[Friend2Fowl]

She is probably already laying. Hens will hide in brush or briars it seems. The males will usually stand guard until the hen is finished. But don't let them see you near their nest site, they will abandon it. I found a nest the other day, and thought it would be a good idea to swap their eggs with chicken eggs, thinking they wouldn't notice their missing eggs. After I was done swapping, I looked to find them standing 40-50 feet away watching me. No guinea eggs have been laid in that nest since

One thing I've noticed with mine is that I'll find eggs at random around the yard before I find any nests. I would think all free range guineas would do this, it seems they are very picky about where they nest at, but will drop eggs just anywhere if they havent' decided on a nest

 

[artsyrobin]

my father in law said his grandma had them and one day the hens would turn up with a trail of keets.... hopefully she will be ok, a little worried about predators- do the males protect the hen?

 

[Friend2Fowl]

Kind of, they will try to lure you away during the day if you get too close to the nest, but at night they go to roost. Your best bet is to find her (if she goes to setting) and making some kind of small pen or tractor to put over her at night, that is when she is most vulnerable. If she does hatch any keets, you either need to take them away or pen her and that babies up until they are a few weeks old. Guineas are good mothers, but they are stupid, they like to take newly-hatched keets through the tall, wet grasses, which of course causes the babies to get chilled and die. I had a hen hatch 8 or 9 keets last year. They did good until they were about 4 weeks old, then they started disappearing one by one. I was able to catch the last one and take it away. I had it in the brooder with some other keets for 2 months, and it never got any bigger. Apparently it was stunted early on, and it eventually died. If any of mine go broody this year (as I'm sure they will, since I can't find their nests!), I will do my best to pen them up with the mama, or take them away from her.

 

[artsyrobin]

so far i haven't seen any eggs anywhere, although the they are pairing off for part of the day, going in opposite direly tame- ctions from each other, my FIL said his mother had white ones and they would just come trooping in with a line of babies... so for now i am watching where they seem to be ranging- they are fairly trusting, will come in for food etc, not sure if i poke around too much they'd get skittish about their nest