guineas out to kill the hens

[erinm]

any suggestions. suddenly my 2 guineas are attacking a couple of my hens and they are out to kill not claim high status. What do i do? anyone think it will pass? or should i just nix the guineas? I think i will post in buy sell and trade or give them away free. i don't want them if this is what they will do. erinm

 

[speckledhen]

Been there. Had them together for months then suddenly my alpha male began trying to kill one RIR hen. She was hiding in nests all day. Then he tried the other RIRs then his three pals joined him. None of the other chickens were harmed except my rooster. I had to rehome them eventually. They are relentless and I think it's worse with small numbers of guineas and a small flock. They dont think like chickens. I love guineas, but they are unique, to say the least.

 

[okiechick57]

So sorry, I just re-homed my 3 Guineas for the same reason. I waited 4 days.........and it got nothing but worse.... you will have to separate them or re-home them. I will eventually build another coop just for Guineas and let them stay in all day and night....... I loved them.sure do miss them now....... good luck !

 

[robin416]

If you can seperate them until they grow out of this phase you might be OK. They hit about the 4 month old mark and become holy terrors.

I have my teenagers in my chicken coop but in a pen where they can not access the chickens. They have a seperate door that they can go out of but again can not access the chickens.

I have an adult flock, birds that are now over a year old that could care less about the chickens.

But I can verify that they can and will do harm. I've treated a silkie for head trauma since they reached this stage and when I first started had chickens & guineas together they when they caused a standard bird harm.

 

[wren]

Robin how long does the holy terror stage last?

I have guineas and chickens and so far the chickens push the guineas around. My guins are only 3 MONTHS old though. I have not owned guineas before, but I've read quite a bit. They have separate places to eat and sleep and 3 different sources of food and water and a ton of space. I have made many adjustments so that they don't have to compete for anything. So far so good, but I'm watching them.

 

[robin416]

Cynthia needs to pop in here. I moved my chickens in to a different coop the first time they gave me trouble so never experienced when it stopped.

I'm in the process of building another coop for the chickens so again I might miss when things calm down with these guys.

My guess would be six to 8 months and probably closer to 8. I do think my birds were about 8 months before they kept trying to break in to the chicken pen to get at my roos. Now they stroll by without a care in the world. Early this summer I would find one of the adults in the outside yard with the chickens not bothering any of them.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm here! I did put the guineas in their own coop on lockdown for a couple of weeks. During that time, Hawkeye, my new rooster, was released from quarantine. When I was sure he was situated in his new flock, I released the guineas. Dodger, the alpha, made a few hesitant runs at Hawkeye, but didn't get anywhere. Actually, he was probably just testing the waters. In a day or two, he got his other three companions involved and they as a team, ran Hawkeye into the woods, where he waited for me to come get him. After that, I decided that they were just not going to get any better. They were just at laying age when I sold them to another BYC member so she got the first egg, dang it.

 

[2mnypets]

Listening to these stories are the very reason that I have not purchased Guinies. I want some so bad but not at the expense of my chickens. If someone can come up with a great solution that works, I'm sure there are a ton of us that will be listening with open ears and wider eyes. I'm sorry you seem to be having so much problems with them. Best of luck to you.

 

[robin416]

Maturity appears the magic word with these guys.

Last years youngsters never bothered the chickens, they had the adults they had to obey. The problem youngsters that I have now were hatched by Silkies, brooded by them and learned to talk chicken from them. Its a phase, one that does end.

But I do not recommend keeping the two species in the same coop, it can get very stressful for the chickens. Or divide off your coop so that the guineas have one side and the chickens the other. For the most part they will free range without much trouble once they've matured.

 

[wren]

Hmm. I'm going to make it work by keeping the guineas in the best habitat/conditions possible. I'm starting to believe that small groups of goonies (2 to 6) with chickens won't work no matter what. Although I still feel that males won't fight if there are no females to fight for. When two guineas fight, the loser will run into the rest of the group to hide from the victor. So maybe a big group is important.