Male female ratio of guinea fowl

[Gkundern]

I have 7 4 mo old guineas. Only one of them is doing the two syllable call. I read that the call generally is there by three months but sometimes "much later" what does much later mean? Can anyone give me a closer time frame?

I'm worried I should buy a few more females. But also if you go by waddle size. Only one has a large Male looking waddle. Maybe I have 6 quiet females and one Male.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[R2elk]

I have 7 4 mo old guineas. Only one of them is doing the two syllable call. I read that the call generally is there by three months but sometimes "much later" what does much later mean? Can anyone give me a closer time frame?

I'm worried I should buy a few more females. But also if you go by waddle size. Only one has a large Male looking waddle. Maybe I have 6 quiet females and one Male.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

By the time they are 6 months old, they should be able to be voice sexed. One way to get the silent ones to talk is by separating them. Take them one at a time and put the individual where it cannot see the others. It should not take long for it to start calling for the rest of the flock.

I do not find wattle size to be a reliable method of sexing guineas, especially when dealing with juvenile guineas.

If you want to add more guineas of a known sex to your flock, you will have to add adult guineas.

 

[EarlJ]

Band their legs in different colors.

It's quite possible you're hearing different females make their buckwheat call at different times. You only hear one doing it at any given time, so you think there's only one because you can't tell any of them apart.

My keets are only 6 weeks old, but I've been hearing buckwheat for a week from one already. I kinda figured there was more than one female... and just this morning I heard two buckwheats going at the same time.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Band their legs in different colors.

It's quite possible you're hearing different females make their buckwheat call at different times. You only hear one doing it at any given time, so you think there's only one because you can't tell any of them apart.

My keets are only 6 weeks old, but I've been hearing buckwheat for a week from one already. I kinda figured there was more than one female... and just this morning I heard two buckwheats going at the same time.

Our almost 5 week old keet free ranges with its mom, and when mom buckwheats for the flock, the keet calls too. It’s more a regular keet call than a buckwheat, but I just noticed yesterday that it’s become a two syllable keet call. I’m guessing that this keet is female and am eager to find out for sure!

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

You sounds worried, so I would say: relax. Ha ha! It'll all work out.

I would not buy or add adult Guineas. It is very difficult for them to get used to the new place and for them to be integrated by the flock, in my experience. Also, you will likely break some Guinea bonds as the adults are likely bonded to other males somewhere else. I know an experienced Guinea owner who sold some adults and said she would never do that again because their mates where calling them and looking for them for days and it broke her heart that she had sold them. She had no idea who was bonded to whom before she saw the results of some of them being gone.

I would say relax for two reasons:

1. I heard of exactly that situation: 1 female and 6 males in a flock. It worked for that Guinea keeper. She said the boys were following her anywhere!

2. As others have said, you may have more than one female. I would not do anything to find out since I would not want to stress them over it. Just be patient and see.

If you really feel bad about the ratio, you may try to get some buff dundottes and request females - the buff dundotte females are much darker than the males from the day the are born, so if you can find a nice hatchery they may accommodate a special request. But keep in mind that they may not mingle easily with your existing flock and it will take separate enclosures and some time for them to get along.

Just my 2 cents.