I got a question about guineas

[wowmanacat]

I am thinking of getting some to help with tick control and from what I have heard that the male guinea will fight with roosters at mating season, So the question is can I just have female guineas? I really do not what to have all the fighting to happen.

 

[artsyrobin]

my guineas have never fought with the roo, so i don't know if that is an issue- as far as the guineas go, i don't know that they would be content with just females- there are other options for ticks, some of the jungle fowl might be an option- they pretty much take care of themselves.... and eat the bugs

 

[robin416]

A single Guinea will not do much for ticks, you will need multiples. If you are intending to house Guineas and chickens together than females is the only way to go. The females do not have the genetic switch that gets triggered in the males Spring and Fall that says they must find a sparring partner. Sparring, not sparking.

I keep a flock of 20+ Guineas. I can free range my chickens without any concern that the Guineas will go after the chickens. This is not true for many that try to keep just a few.

 

[kyle7630]

This is my third year with guineas. The first two years, I didn't see much of a difference in the tick population. This year, I have only seen a few ticks. I assume they took care of a large part of last years breeding population, so this year, there aren't many around. My guineas are pushy around the treats and scratch, but I've seen no fighting between my roos and jacks. You should be fine. I have one guinea hen and 3 males. They are the funniest things to watch, especially when they chase each other around the house for hours. One thing to be prepared for is the initial noise.