Guineas picking on chicks they were raised with

[Sarah24]

This is my first year raising guineas. I have 3 of them, sex unknown, who are 2 months old and have been raised with 6 chicks since they were a day old (2 buff orpingtons, 2 silkies, and 2 d'uccles) and have had no problems until today. I noticed that they were picking on my silkies, close to their eyes, repeatedly. This mostly happens when they're in the brooder for the night so I wonder if being more crowded than during the day has something to do with it. I noticed my buff orpingtons have small red marks on their beaks where the guineas have been picking on them too. I'm worried because the silkies and d'uccles are much smaller than the guineas and I'm afraid the guineas will seriously hurt them even though they have been raised together. I'm planning on putting them in the coop with my 19 other bigger chickens this weekend and now I'm afraid the guineas will hurt my older chickens too. Has anyone had experience with this? I had planned on separating the younger chicks and guineas from the older chickens in their own pen until they all get used to each other but now I'm wondering if I should separate the guineas from the chicks they have been raised with and have suddenly started picking on (I did for bed tonight). Like I said, this is my first time with guineas so I don't really know what to expect from them as they get older. Any thoughts would be appreciated (I've already decided if they seriously hurt my precious silkies or anyone else, they will have to go to a new home)

 

[gguineasfamily]

Guineas will pick on chicks I haven't had the issue myself but I know people who have and if it gets bad the separate them. If the guineas freak out and cry for the chicks train them. But if you don't have time separate them so they can still see each other but not peck each other. If they're in two cages I would put the cages side by side. How did putting your guineas with the older chickens go?

 

[Sarah24]

Thanks for the reply! I ended up putting the guineas and young chicks together in a large pen (I have a large coop so I was able to give them lots of room) and it went well! The guineas didn't pick on the chicks they were familiar with at all. I haven't introduced them to my older chickens yet but they can see each other throughout the day in the coop so hopefully in a few days, everything will go smoothly.