Guineas

[CK Chickadilly]

snake & tick free? that would be excellent! I hate snakes!
I have OEGBs, wonder if their tail feathers will get pulled

 

[Hambone02]

I thinking about getting a couple or three myself. Should I get all female, or all male? I don't want any offspring. I hear males are a little more vocal, which would be good for "watchdog" purposes, I guess, but are females more docile? I have kids.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Mine have calmed down on the tail pulling, they just peck at the ones they don't like now. Usually it's during feeding time. Other than that, they are usually off on their own somewhere. But the chickens have learned what a bunch of jerks the guineas are, and give them their space.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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I don't think either sex is more docile or quiet, I think it just depends on the bird. They all scream like banshees if they get scared, or you move something to a different part of the yard. As for the offspring, just let them hatch their own eggs, they usually abandon the young anyway. They aren't very smart. It would probably be kinda hard to get all of any sex, since it is so hard to tell what sex they are.

I think if I were going to try and have only one sex I would go with females. They can interbreed with chickens, and you wouldn't want a gang of hormonal guinea cocks mating with your hens!!

 

[Hambone02]

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Sounds like some of the union employees I have.

 

[PlumTuckered]

We let one of our Buff Minorca Hens hatch out 3 guinea eggs last year (they hatched on May 1st), the keets stayed with that Hen for 3 months and to this day they can often be found following her around. We've got 10 Buff Minorca Hens and yet the guineas always go straight to CrazyChick (she hatched 7 chicks and left them all the same day,then spent 2 days acting crazy..hence her name LOL). We got 1 guinea roo and 2 hens out of those eggs and they have always ranged and roosted with the chickens in the hen house. Sadly last month a Hawk tried to take our guinea roo, he got away but he was badly hurt and passed away that night. They are loud but they're a delight to have around.

Michelle

 

[CK Chickadilly]

We have decided to try a couple or maybe 3 guineas, hopefully hens.

We will wait until later this spring after all my other babies are on their own. Thanks all for your input, greatly appreciated!