Guinea talk.

[yoopergirl1211]

Guineas mate for life. They bond as a flock-- much much more than do chickens-- and they have a flock intelligence that each bird depends on. I don't know what your situation is, or why you only want 3 birds, and I wouldn't want to suggest to anyone they keep more birds than they can manage, but after keeping them for a year I know I would not choose to break up their flock. They mourn their dead.  I'm just glad we got them as partners on our farm for insect control and that I don't have to sweat trying to sell them or planning to eat them-- I've seen what happens when they lose members of the flock.  If you are going to part with some, I would advise doing it when they are young keets and before they've made life bonds. That would also make it easier for the guineas who relocate (adult/older juveniles can be hard to persuade to stay where they are relocated).  It took many months before we could tell the difference between the two sexes and even then the physical characteristics aren't solid, and it's hard to isolate each guinea to listen to their voice to tell.  The last bird who got killed on the road was a female (eggs inside), but we would have pegged her as male just by her looks.

About road safety-- we have lost 4 birds to the road in the 6 months they've been free-ranging. Three were in one accident, and after that they stayed more out of the road, but recently there was another loss.  They are trying to be savvy about the road but they stand there and discuss/argue about where the flock will go next and too often that puts them standing in the road.  And if someone dies in the road they will stand there trying to get that bird to get up and come with them, for quite a long while, all the while being in more danger.  It's not a great thing, the road.

You can't put boundaries on them-- they will go where they want to go.  However, for a long time I would go out and shoo them out of the road, I did it at least once every day, figuring I was at least impressing on them that there might be a boundary. Don't know if it helped at all. We have neighbors across the road and up the road a bit, in both directions, and they all really enjoy the guineas, fortunately, because the guineas make their rounds everyday.

They walk most places because that's where they hunt for food, on the ground, that's where the action is. So yeah, most of the time they are walking or trotting across the road.

We're thinking about putting up a fence along road. Probably won't detour the very persistent but we're hoping it might help a little. We have plenty of room in every direction and even over the road is ours. Just worried about them getting over it. Just lost a Muscovy on it this week. We had too many males and one chased her out on it. So I'm worried about getting too many males and having a problem. What kind of ratio works for them? If it's not as big of a deal like other birds I'd probably keep more but I'm worried it'll be off and I'll have more problems...

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote:
I don't have vast experience but so far, ratio doesn't look to be a problem. Unlike with chickens, guinea males don't fight. They might give chase a little bit, but they don't fight, and it looks to me like everyone chases everyone a little-- not to the point of chasing them into the road. It's not like in chickens and I think some ducks (mallards mate for life, other ducks don't), where an alpha-type male wants a harem and will fight to have it. They just don't do that. The males and females are cooperative on setting their nests and any unmated birds are part of the flock. As it looks to me. Others with more experience may have more to say. I'll be back later tonight for more conversation.

I will say, it's my knowledge of how ducks can be that makes me not want to keep them again (had a pet pair as a teenager). It freaks me out enough how the chickens are.. I love how the guineas all coexist, it's heartening.

 

[guineapeeps]

I don't have vast experience but so far, ratio doesn't look to be a problem. Unlike with chickens, guinea males don't fight.  They might give chase a little bit, but they don't fight, and it looks to me like everyone chases everyone a little-- not to the point of chasing them into the road. It's not like in chickens and I think some ducks (mallards mate for life, other ducks don't), where an alpha-type male wants a harem and will fight to have it.  They just don't do that.  The males and females are cooperative on setting their nests and any unmated birds are part of the flock.  As it looks to me. Others with more experience may have more to say.  I'll be back later tonight for more conversation.

I will say, it's my knowledge of how ducks can be that makes me not want to keep them again (had a pet pair as a teenager). It freaks me out enough how the chickens are..  I love how the guineas all coexist, it's heartening.

I agree on the chasing as opposed to fighting among the males. I have one dominant male that chases the other males around, but they never stand up to him or fight. I also have some more senior/dominant females that chase the others as well, so there is always lots of chasing but never any actual fighting. They all seem to know their place within the flock. I try to keep my flock around 10 or so with a ratio of about 3 females for every male, but it doesn't always work out that way and it hasn't been a huge deal when I get more or less. When my guineas hatch their keets, the hens are actually more aggressive than the males are. A few of my hens will go after some of the other hens whenever they get near their keets, but don't seem to worry about the males at all. One really nice thing that I've noticed about my male guineas is that they do an awesome job in helping to raise the keets. I've seen all of my males actually catch bugs and give them to the keets to eat. I've also see the keets climbing in the males backs and heads and they are very tolerant and almost seem to enjoy it....it's very sweet to watch!

 

[dan26552]

Got some fuzz balls for the guineas to play with. Interestingly it wasn't five minutes later before they didn't even act scared of me.

 

[treedr]

So how do you tell male from female. We have some chasing and some head waving when they roost at night. We've never seen any breeding take place. But everyone hangs together: 4 Pekin ducks, 2 layers with their guy, Clyve (Therooster who has his own FB page) and the 5 guineas.

 

[guineapeeps]

So how do you tell male from female. We have some chasing and some head waving when they roost at night. We've never seen any breeding take place. But everyone hangs together: 4 Pekin ducks, 2 layers with their guy, Clyve (Therooster who has his own FB page) and the 5 guineas.

The easiest way to tell the males from the females is by their "voice". The females have a two syllable call that sounds like "buck wheat" while the males have a one syllable call. The females can make sounds that are similar to the males but the males cannot make the two syllable calls of the females.

Here is the two syllable call of the female:

Here is the sound that the males make:

 

[dan26552]

The easiest way to tell the males from the females is by their "voice". The females have a two syllable call that sounds like "buck wheat" while the males have a one syllable call. The females can make sounds that are similar to the males but the males cannot make the two syllable calls of the females.

Here is the two syllable call of the female:

Here is the sound that the males make:

When do the voices change from keet to adult?

 

[guineapeeps]

When do the voices change from keet to adult?

I can usually tell the females apart by the time they are fully feathered, as it seems like the females are much more vocal than the males, but I have to spend a lot of time sitting and listening to them. I always seem to have a few with each hatch that are more quiet so it takes me much longer to tell what those are. I also noticed that when the keets are raised by the guineas themselves, they seem make their "voices" heard at a younger age. The few times that I've incubated, hatched and kept them in a brooder, I had a harder time telling male from female because they hardly made any noise at all! (I was also much less experienced at that point, so that may have had something to do with it too.)

 

[dan26552]

I can usually tell the females apart by the time they are fully feathered, as it seems like the females are much more vocal than the males, but I have to spend a lot of time sitting and listening to them. I always seem to have a few with each hatch that are more quiet so it takes me much longer to tell what those are. I also noticed that when the keets are raised by the guineas themselves, they seem make their "voices" heard at a younger age. The few times that I've incubated, hatched and kept them in a brooder, I had a harder time telling male from female because they hardly made any noise at all! (I was also much less experienced at that point, so that may have had something to do with it too.)

Ah. I see.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Thanks for all of the info! Been working all weekend and forgot to say that! I still think we want a small flock but I'll find home for the babies right away and just go with what I end up with and not worry to much! Thanks!