Guineas, Male and Female Comparison Pics...

[speckledhen]

Like I said in another thread:

The males have larger, longer wattles and the helmet is taller. Females have more backswept or smaller wattles and the helmet is sort of backswept and shorter. But there are individual variations in those traits. Females have a more horizontal posture, while males tend to stand more upright, also. And then there's the call, with females sounding like "Come back! Come back!" and the males just sound like noisy machine guns, LOL

I miss my goonie-birds! They were rehomed over a year ago, long story, but I may get more one day when I lose the rest of my marbles, LOL. Anyway, I wanted to post pics of my males and females to show the differences, for people who've been asking about sexing them.
First, Radar, one of my males..see the very long wattles and upright posture?

Here's Mousse, my pearl female.

Radar and Mousse:

In this pic, Charlotte, my lavender female is on the left, Radar on the right with Mousse in the background. You can see the wattle differences in male and female with mine.

Mousse:

Cant find any closeup pics of Dodger, my alpha male bad boy, the cause of their rehoming, but here's one where he's attacking Hawkeye:

Charlotte trying out her nest area:

 

[RioLindoAz]

Awsome pics!!!! That was realy helpful, Thanks!!! I really like the last pic

 

[mangled]

Wow, that is helpful. If I could get closer to her, I'd get a picture of the guinea that appeared out of our woods and adopted my flock.

She looks a lot like Mousse, but the feathers around the base of her neck are almost a lavender. When the sun is on her, she's got the prettiest light purple sheen.

Now, do their wattles grow with age? My guinea (we call her Buckwheat) has the small wattles, but they're very small compared to your hen.

Thanks for posting.
Em

 

[ozark hen]

Thanks Cyn, up until last night I could only go by their sounding off. so interesting that I never noticed the waddles before let alone their posture. Here is my female pearl named...... Pearl

one of my lavender males

thanks for your info as guineas are strange little creatures. I remember when you posted about having to rehome them and why. So far I haven't had a problem with them. Just wanted to downsize. I have two males and two females now and a small coop floor covered in guinea eggs. I didn't know if we could eat them. I know now and will start collecting them for sure.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm not sure if the wattles grow with age. I had to rehome them right before they laid their first eggs. They went to live with a BYC member in Asheville, NC, and I know they've become parents since then, but I'm afraid that one or two were taken by predators. Wish I could get in touch with Maggie to find out. Maggie, are you here???

 

[mangled]

I wish I knew where mine came from and how old she is. I've been watching her, she's an interesting little thing. She goes off into the east woodline between noon and 2 about every day. I bet if I followed her, I'd find where she's laying.

She just came out of nowhere. Walked out of the woods one day, chatting her head off. We have no close neighbors. The west bordering property is a cattle farm, but they just pasture the cattle there, there's no house. They have 600+ acres. The east bodering property is the lady we just got our acreage from, and she has a ton of land.

I wonder if someone didn't just dump her off.
Em

 

[speckledhen]

Gosh, some people have all the luck! There's a man who raises quarterhorses about 1/4 mile from me and I can sometimes hear his guineas in the distance if conditions are right. He used to have about 18 and now seems to be down to 8 or so, but if he'll trade me for some Barred Rock eggs, I may see if I can get some guinea eggs when I have a broody hen....IF I ever get a broody hen again. I've been waiting for my Sunny to go broody again, but she hasn't this year yet. His seem to be pearl, white and royal purple color.

 

[nutz4critters]

Hiya, SpeckledHen

I have a question regarding the goonie birds.

I was told the males called out "Pot rack, Pot rack". You said your females called out "come back, come back". Have I been given a bum steer?

I am seriously considering trying to find some keets if I can find some close that I can afford. If I pick out keets, any tips on how to not get all males?

Before I get any, I've got to do a better snake-proofing job on my brooder area (found that out the hard way today), which I thought was fairly secure.

No, my brooders are not in the house or garage (I don't have a garage). They are in a small building/pen with electricity and water. Hadn't seen a snake in there in years. Found two of the (*&^ things in there today. But on the upside, they aren't doing much hanging around now.

 

[theOEGBman]

I miss Charlotte, Dodger, Radar and Moussie! Darn, I miss seeing pics of them.

 

[wynedot55]

the males call is pot rack pot rack.the females call is buckwheat buckwheat.