Guineas killing chickens?

[wburns]

I recently had a terrible experience with my guinnea and chickens. For a year they have been free ranging on 10 acres without a lot of problems, just guinnea chasing and usual "pecking order" stuff. The free range girls started visiting my neighbors yard, and she was not pleased so I had to contain them. We put them all together in my 1/8 acre fenced garden (not growing season). Last week I found a dead one at the back fence line during the day. It didn't look like a fox or other creature because she still looked in tact. We couldn't figure out what happened. The next week, I found my favorite little bantam against the same fence. Her body was again untouched, but her head and neck were pecked clean. The guinnea fowl trapped them against the fence and killed them. Please do not put your guinnea with your chickens. I now have the guinnea running in the yard and the chickens separated in the garden. Looks like I will need poultry fencing to keep them apart.

 

[lizardlady]

Just found 5 dead chickens in my open pen after having 30+ guineas from neighbors 1/2 mile away roosting on pen fence in morning. Heads pecked flat:{. Remaining flock moved to covered pen until I can modify larger pen to keep visiting guineas out. I didn't mind the visiting guineas, but that flock greatly out numbered my own. And even though my hens could fly in and out of pen I think they were just out numbered by a faster , better flying and more aggressive group of birds.

 

[lalady59]

My guinnea fowl killed two of my chickens in 2 weeks. Recently, my neighbor complained about my free ranging birds. We are on 10 acres, but they kept wandering onto her property (also large). With all birds free ranging openly it was fine for a year. Anyway, I was forced to contain their ranging to my fenced in 1/8 acre garden. I put both guinnea and chickens together. I found a chicken dead at the back fence line, but no signs of trauma. I couldn't figure out what happened. Then a week later, I found my small bantam also dead in same spot. I knew it wasn't killed by a predator for food, because the carcass remained. It had been pecked at head and neck area. I had no idea the guinnea fowl would do that, but now I've read up on it. They chase them to exhaustion then kill them. Don't combine them, especially in a confined area.

That HAS to be what happened in my situation. I did have all 11 keets in a separate pen. I had some older juvenile chickens that were picking on some younger juves so I put the older, meanish ones with the keets. Everybody did fine. For several weeks. They grew and I started letting them out during the day to free range together. I was enthused that THIS group of guinea DIDN'T CONSTANTLY make all the noise ALL THE TIME the last ones did. Also it was amusing watching my chickens act like guinea. They looked around foraging for food like the guinea. Even when I sat outside with them feeding bread treats, the chickens behaved like guinea.
Then the big coop opened up bc I'd sold a bunch of the standard size chickens. So I put this group that were so "close-knit" in the big coop. It happened somewhere in the first week of living in the big pen. They still got to go out and free range most days.But one morning I went into this "walk-in" coop after opening the door to let the anxious ones out and I saw one of my favorites, a young white frizzled naked neck lying dead on top of a cage inside the coop. I examined the body. No puntures, no wounds in his body but his head appeared to be damaged, maybe pecked at? At first I thought his crest of bright white spikey feathers was gone, but no, it was all wet. Only his head feathers were wet. So.....either it was the 2 or 3 remaining big hens OR it had to be those guinea, his comrads, his buddies who decided to do him in.

 

[Jammyjamfan]

I've had Guinea and chickens together for almost two years.... Suddenly one day the Guinea went nuts and started chasing the houdans. Caught one.. Scalped her to death. I don't know which age group of guineas did this but I'm so nervous now. Everything freeranges. Never had this before..

 

[R2elk]

I've had Guinea and chickens together for almost two years.... Suddenly one day the Guinea went nuts and started chasing the houdans. Caught one.. Scalped her to death. I don't know which age group of guineas did this but I'm so nervous now. Everything freeranges. Never had this before..

It is pretty normal for guineas brooded, raised and cooped with chickens to eventually become terrorists to chickens .

It usually starts with the guineas' first breeding season. The guineas can and do attack en masse.

I brood, raise and house my guineas separately from my other poultry. The guineas know that the chickens and turkeys are not guineas. They can all free range in the same area at the same time without any interaction. The guineas keep to themselves as do the other poultry.

My oldest guineas are 10 years old.

 

[SamLockwood]

So I'd like to know: Do your guineas chase and/or kill the chickens?

Not particularly. There's the usual pecking order sort of things: My three adult hens tended to push everyone around, the olive eggers seemed to be on top of the young birds, and the guineas tended to push around the legbars until the last couple months as the pecking order shifted around.

When they had their first spring (around 6-7 months old), they did stress the chickens out with their mating racing / chasing behavior but things sorted out after that. The chickens either flew away or figured out if they squatted the guineas left them alone.

Overall the worst violence has been guinea vs guinea. At about 4 months of age I had guineas bloody each other 4 times (3 of which was the same bird whom I sarcastically nicknamed "lucky" and whom got taken by a coyote two weeks ago after a fallen tree took out part of the fencing on my property).

These days (about 9 months in with most of my mixed flock) the most chasing are two of the guinea males. I'm not sure what the deal is with those two but they'll spend about an hour each day (usually in 2 to three stints) running all over the place. One chases the other, then they switch with some attempted feather pulling every now & then.

Do you free-range your guineas and/or chickens?

Both. I started around 8 weeks with VERY limited outings: one or two hours before dusk, and never the whole flock at once.

After about 4 months I let them out about an hour and a half after sunup until dusk.

Do you have any tips for getting the guineas back into their pen at dusk?

I never had an issue with this. The latest batch of chicks & keets I moved to the coops at two weeks old (it was September and temperatures were mild).

The coops are mosty white (including the polycarbonate roof panels), with motion-sensor activated lights on a 15 second delay so they can find their way in more easily at dusk. My understanding is guineas don't really like to enter dark places so I made the coops as "inviting" as possible to them.

The only issue is the two idiot males that chase each other around. Every once in a while one or both end up on top of the run at dusk and I've got to push them off with a broom and then they go inside on their own.

And, last but not least, how old do the keets have to be to guess their gender by their wattles? I've read that the cocks can have a bigger pair of wattles and helmet than the hens.
I heard at least one of the keets making a "buck-wheat" type of sound today. (Although to me it sounded like "look-alive"!) So I'm guessing that we have at least one female.

The calls are the most reliable way to sex them. A couple of the ones I thought were males based on wattles ended up making the two-syllable call (which to me doesn't sound like words at all but just a sort of "guh-wahk" noise).

I have 13 adult guineas and six of them are female. Mine have a wide range of vocal ability ranging from one that has a very quiet call to one that has a two-tone buzz-saw shriek. The latter bird got very quiet after she paired off (THANK GOD), and a couple never "guh-wahked" that often even when they were looking for mates.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Not particularly. There's the usual pecking order sort of things: My three adult hens tended to push everyone around, the olive eggers seemed to be on top of the young birds, and the guineas tended to push around the legbars until the last couple months as the pecking order shifted around.

When they had their first spring (around 6-7 months old), they did stress the chickens out with their mating racing / chasing behavior but things sorted out after that. The chickens either flew away or figured out if they squatted the guineas left them alone.

Overall the worst violence has been guinea vs guinea. At about 4 months of age I had guineas bloody each other 4 times (3 of which was the same bird whom I sarcastically nicknamed "lucky" and whom got taken by a coyote two weeks ago after a fallen tree took out part of the fencing on my property).

These days (about 9 months in with most of my mixed flock) the most chasing are two of the guinea males. I'm not sure what the deal is with those two but they'll spend about an hour each day (usually in 2 to three stints) running all over the place. One chases the other, then they switch with some attempted feather pulling every now & then.


Both. I started around 8 weeks with VERY limited outings: one or two hours before dusk, and never the whole flock at once.

After about 4 months I let them out about an hour and a half after sunup until dusk.


I never had an issue with this. The latest batch of chicks & keets I moved to the coops at two weeks old (it was September and temperatures were mild).

The coops are mosty white (including the polycarbonate roof panels), with motion-sensor activated lights on a 15 second delay so they can find their way in more easily at dusk. My understanding is guineas don't really like to enter dark places so I made the coops as "inviting" as possible to them.

The only issue is the two idiot males that chase each other around. Every once in a while one or both end up on top of the run at dusk and I've got to push them off with a broom and then they go inside on their own.


The calls are the most reliable way to sex them. A couple of the ones I thought were males based on wattles ended up making the two-syllable call (which to me doesn't sound like words at all but just a sort of "guh-wahk" noise).

I have 13 adult guineas and six of them are female. Mine have a wide range of vocal ability ranging from one that has a very quiet call to one that has a two-tone buzz-saw shriek. The latter bird got very quiet after she paired off (THANK GOD), and a couple never "guh-wahked" that often even when they were looking for mates.

I wouldn't even bother quoting someone who hasn't been on the forum since 2018. But I'm sure your experience is appreciated.

 

[cwade01]

We let our keets out of their pen today. A tiny, half-grown cockerel chased them into the open and now they're scouting out the area.

Yesterday we were told by a friend who keeps both guineas and chickens that if you let the two together the guineas will run down the chickens until they can no longer run and then they will kill them. So far all that I've read on the Internet has told me otherwise, but I'd like to see what other experiences people have had.

So I'd like to know: Do your guineas chase and/or kill the chickens?
Do you free-range your guineas and/or chickens?
Do you have any tips for getting the guineas back into their pen at dusk?

And, last but not least, how old do the keets have to be to guess their gender by their wattles? I've read that the cocks can have a bigger pair of wattles and helmet than the hens.
I heard at least one of the keets making a "buck-wheat" type of sound today. (Although to me it sounded like "look-alive"!) So I'm guessing that we have at least one female.

Thanks!

We raised 6 Guinea keets with 19 chicks last spring. Since they were raised together, the appeared to have bonded and the guineas go roost up by themselves every night. In fact, they often start calling to the flock when dusk arrives. However- now about 9 months old - they are harassing the chickens and have already run one down and pecked it to death. Tonight we discovered the guineas doing the same thing to another chicken. Even the one rooster we have is afraid of the guineas and won’t go anywhere near where the food is when the guineas are around. Now I’m worried that I have 6 thugs in my flock that will systematically kill all the hens and my rooster. I do love the guineas and actually wish I had more guineas and less chickens but I can’t have this kind of violence going on. I’m wondering if simply getting rid of the male guineas would help.

 

[R2elk]

We raised 6 Guinea keets with 19 chicks last spring. Since they were raised together, the appeared to have bonded and the guineas go roost up by themselves every night. In fact, they often start calling to the flock when dusk arrives. However- now about 9 months old - they are harassing the chickens and have already run one down and pecked it to death. Tonight we discovered the guineas doing the same thing to another chicken. Even the one rooster we have is afraid of the guineas and won’t go anywhere near where the food is when the guineas are around. Now I’m worried that I have 6 thugs in my flock that will systematically kill all the hens and my rooster. I do love the guineas and actually wish I had more guineas and less chickens but I can’t have this kind of violence going on. I’m wondering if simply getting rid of the male guineas would help.

This is happening because you raised the keets with the chicks. The imprinting removed the guineas ability to understand that chickens are not guineas.

If you want guineas and chickens to get along, brood the keets by themselves and house them separately from the chickens.

 

[McChooky]

Guinea roosters are protective of their hens. I hate Guineas for that reason. They killed one of my roosters 2 years ago. I will never get guineas again. They are loud, mean, and annoying.

I don't keep guineas either. Chickens are all i need thanks!