I just can't tell... Male or Female

[coop21denk]

Last spring I ordered Guinea chicks for the first time. They are almost a year old now and I just can't tell if I have all males or mostly males and possibly 1 female. Six out of 10 lived and I've got 3 breeds (I couldn't tell you the breeds if I tried, but can describe them). There's 3 of the lighter gray/lavender breed. I have a feeling these are all male. They seem to be the more aggressive ones in the flock. Then I've got 2 of the more common breed and 1 that's a little different with a white breast. One of the common ones is much smaller than all the others and seems to always run away from the rest.
When trying to identify them by their little waddles, they all look the same size to me.

I've also read that their eggs are slightly smaller than chicken's eggs with speckles. Every once in a while, I'll find a speckled egg, but in past experience, the chickens will sometimes have some speckles in their eggs, so I'm not totally convinced that these are Guinea eggs yet.

I've also noticed that my Leghorn rooster isn't as aggressive as he used to be before I got the Guineas. He seems to want to stay inside the coop while everyone else runs around crazy outside in the pen. I'm not sure if my male duck is dominating the flock or if the Guineas are.

I was hoping to try to hatch some Guinea AND chicken eggs this spring, but if my roo isn't doing his job and I have all male Guineas, that may be a bit difficult.

Any advice?

 

[R2elk]

Last spring I ordered Guinea chicks for the first time. They are almost a year old now and I just can't tell if I have all males or mostly males and possibly 1 female. Six out of 10 lived and I've got 3 breeds (I couldn't tell you the breeds if I tried, but can describe them). There's 3 of the lighter gray/lavender breed. I have a feeling these are all male. They seem to be the more aggressive ones in the flock. Then I've got 2 of the more common breed and 1 that's a little different with a white breast. One of the common ones is much smaller than all the others and seems to always run away from the rest.
When trying to identify them by their little waddles, they all look the same size to me.

I've also read that their eggs are slightly smaller than chicken's eggs with speckles. Every once in a while, I'll find a speckled egg, but in past experience, the chickens will sometimes have some speckles in their eggs, so I'm not totally convinced that these are Guinea eggs yet.

I've also noticed that my Leghorn rooster isn't as aggressive as he used to be before I got the Guineas. He seems to want to stay inside the coop while everyone else runs around crazy outside in the pen. I'm not sure if my male duck is dominating the flock or if the Guineas are.

I was hoping to try to hatch some Guinea AND chicken eggs this spring, but if my roo isn't doing his job and I have all male Guineas, that may be a bit difficult.

Any advice?

You only have one breed. The breed is Helmeted Guinea Fowl. You have the varieties Pearl Gray, Pied Pearl Gray (the one with white on its breast) and Lavender.

You will need to try to sex them by their calls. Trying to sex guinea fowl from the shape of their wattles is not accurate.

 

[R2elk]

Guinea eggs

 

[coop21denk]

Thank you for the clarification on the varieties. That sounds like what the feed store told me. None of my speckled eggs look like these so I'm concluding that I don't have any females. None of the speckled ones are this pointed and they are real sporadic when I get them.
I will, however, try to listen to their calls and see if I can hear a difference. From what I can tell, there's the call when they get excited to see me or warn me. It's the loud deafening one. Then there's another call that's a little softer. I'm not sure what this one means yet, but I'll pay more attention. It's very interesting to me to see how they all socialize together. I love it.
As far as hatching any eggs this spring, I think I'm out of luck. I'll have to order chicks again.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for the clarification on the varieties. That sounds like what the feed store told me. None of my speckled eggs look like these so I'm concluding that I don't have any females. None of the speckled ones are this pointed and they are real sporadic when I get them.
I will, however, try to listen to their calls and see if I can hear a difference. From what I can tell, there's the call when they get excited to see me or warn me. It's the loud deafening one. Then there's another call that's a little softer. I'm not sure what this one means yet, but I'll pay more attention. It's very interesting to me to see how they all socialize together. I love it.
As far as hatching any eggs this spring, I think I'm out of luck. I'll have to order chicks again.

It may be too soon to expect eggs yet. As breeding season approaches a hen will start calling for a mate with the two syllable "buckwheat" call.

When they first start laying, they often drop their egg wherever they happen to be when the urge hits them. Once they get figured out what is going on, they prefer a hidden nest. Once they get going they also will lay one egg a day until they get a big enough clutch to make them go broody. Communal nests are common with guineas.