Male Guinea occasionally says "Buckwheat" like a female!

[JLeigh]

I have a female who fluffs up, stands tall and dominates the others. She's also the noisiest. My two males do that, too. LOL. I would think if a male buck-wheats over and over, it's a female. If it buck-wheats once or twice, it's just a fluke. JMHO.

But causarius is right - DNA sexing is 100% definitive, but so is laying an egg , although it's hard to catch a guinea in the act of laying an egg.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Exactly. Females make the exact same sounds as males, only males cant make the buck-wheat sound. As far as their physical features, I have had countless females with huge facial wattles, and even large helmets. The only sure way to determine their sex is by the buck-wheat sound or DNA sexing. But then again, you can usually distinguish a male by the way they stand on their tip toes with their wings in the air and prance around in a dominant fashion. I havent personally seen a female ever do this, but I have seen them charge at other hens like a male.

This one has the stance and gait of a male. The only female-appearing trait it's shown is this occasional "buckwheat!"

 

[gguineasfamily]

I have a guinea fowl who is five months and I only just heard her say buck wheat (with an extra syllable, like the other hens often do) I thought she was a boy but it makes sense because once she asked to be mated (they do that by running like a duck) and got 4 cocks piling on top of her. But she always chases the boys and gets really angry at one little guy called December. Her name is Summer. I think she's a hen but can't be sure until spring when she starts laying (we're Aussies here). She said it twice and the first time I thought she was just opening her beak while Rainbow or Chatterbox or one of the other hens sang. But the second time it was definitely her and we were overjoyed because we have too many cocks (but we're just so attached to them).


I don't understand why a cock can't say buck wheat. All they have to do is form the sound with their tongue. I wouldn't be too surprised if our 6 month old cock Bouncie says buck wheat once in a couple of years time. Maybe if you lock your cocks up for a day and you find an egg when the hens can't get in it is definitely a girl but if you don't he's still a cock. When they're free ranging it's hard to find eggs.

 

[JLeigh]

The physiology of male vs. female vocalizations would be interesting to know. I had a female guinea I named George, because it never made a sound, and I didn't know if it was a male or female until she laid an egg. It was her first spring and she was about 9 months old.

If you can, separate Summer from the flock, so that she can't see any other guineas, and within a few minutes she should start to make the female call. Guineas get stressed when they're separated, and they call out to the flock members. A female will start buckwheating, and continue until she's reunited with the flock. I've had a 100% success rate with that method.

 

[gguineasfamily]

Summer didn't say buckwheat when we did that. Instead it did the call and thought it was having detention for doing nothing wrong so i let it out.
Summer has been caught mating a hen once and been mated by 4 cocks once. I've lost count how many times (all at random) it made the girl noise but it doesn't do it nearly as much as the other hens.
3 cocks have learned the girl noise lately. First Bebe, the youngest. My sister said Misty was singing and Bebe copied her. I suppose it's possible he's a hen because he hasn't been caught mating hens. Then Bouncie, the oldest of the eggs we hatched end of last year. He's mated so many hens since he was 14 weeks old and mated baby Misty that I'm almost certain he's a cock. I was chasing him trying to catch him I said, 'Bouncie,' he said 'baa-wee' so I'm not sure if he was trying to say buckwheat or Bouncie. Flap was the last one. He's one and a half years and we bought him last spring. I was chasing him trying to catch him and he jumped over the ditch to say buckwheat, buckwheat.
Am I the only one whose hens say a third syllable? it sounds a lot like polka-dot. The first hen I heard say it when we bought her last Spring I called Polkadot. All the hens can say polka-dot and Rainbow and Tiger have even worked out how to say polka-dee-dot. Summer only says polka-dot, not buck wheat.
Just about all my guineas make another noise. It sounds a lot like booweew and is the slightest bit whistled. They only say it with their beaks a crack open. It can't be confused with buckwheat though. When they all say it together with emphasis on boo,it sounds like buzzing. They all do it when they're fighting. When they say it softly and sorrowfully then they're saying sorry. There are lot of other sounds they make.

 

[Sandshaven]

It is impossible for a male to make the "buck wheat" sound.
And gate, size, wattles or helmets mean nothing when it comes to sexing guineas.

 

[critters]

I agree with most of the others...if it 'buck-wheats' its a female...a male can not make that sound.

seems like I read on here sometime ago of a guinea rooster "changing" sex after they thought it to be
a male for 3-4 years....think they just never 'saw' her buck-wheat before was the thing or 'saw' her lay an egg
so all that time he was really a she.....

if she speaks buck-wheat, she is a female!

 

[JLeigh]

Summer didn't say buckwheat when we did that. Instead it did the call and thought it was having detention for doing nothing wrong so i let it out.
Summer has been caught mating a hen once and been mated by 4 cocks once. I've lost count how many times (all at random) it made the girl noise but it doesn't do it nearly as much as the other hens.
3 cocks have learned the girl noise lately. First Bebe, the youngest. My sister said Misty was singing and Bebe copied her. I suppose it's possible he's a hen because he hasn't been caught mating hens. Then Bouncie, the oldest of the eggs we hatched end of last year. He's mated so many hens since he was 14 weeks old and mated baby Misty that I'm almost certain he's a cock. I was chasing him trying to catch him I said, 'Bouncie,' he said 'baa-wee' so I'm not sure if he was trying to say buckwheat or Bouncie. Flap was the last one. He's one and a half years and we bought him last spring. I was chasing him trying to catch him and he jumped over the ditch to say buckwheat, buckwheat.
Am I the only one whose hens say a third syllable? it sounds a lot like polka-dot. The first hen I heard say it when we bought her last Spring I called Polkadot. All the hens can say polka-dot and Rainbow and Tiger have even worked out how to say polka-dee-dot. Summer only says polka-dot, not buck wheat.
Just about all my guineas make another noise. It sounds a lot like booweew and is the slightest bit whistled. They only say it with their beaks a crack open. It can't be confused with buckwheat though. When they all say it together with emphasis on boo,it sounds like buzzing. They all do it when they're fighting. When they say it softly and sorrowfully then they're saying sorry. There are lot of other sounds they make.

How long did you leave Summer separated? It can take several minutes. I had one that wouldn't "comply" for 15-20 minutes. It felt like hours, and I was positive it was a male, but then just before I let it out, she made a two-syllable call. As I wrote, I also had a hen that didn't make a SOUND (that I saw or heard) until she was 9 months old. Now, I have hens that make different variations of the two-syllable call. Some seem to have three syllables, some squeak, are higher pitched, some are "scratchier" but they're not males. Are you mistaking aggressive or dominant female behavior with mating? My guineas are penned 24/7 and I have yet to see the male mate with my hens, so it's "fly-by" mating, but I get fertile eggs that I hatch, so I know he's getting the job done.

No offense, but I think you're assigning human qualities to your guineas' calls. My flock makes all kinds of whistles and soft noises - I have no idea what they mean. I've heard that soft "booweew" sound you're talking about, and I think it's the most pleasant sound they make. The only noise I can decipher outside of the alarm call (that both males and females make) and the two-syllable hen call is when I toss treats out. Guineas can't talk to say "Bouncie". If they could, they'd sell for a whole lot more money!!! LOL.

Are you getting eggs? How old is your flock?

 

[gguineasfamily]

Summer seems like he's definitely a male. He chases the others so vigorously and the hens have calmed down as laying season is starting any day now. He also mates the hens. I think he tried to be female for a little while when he was younger but he's worked out that he's a cock. He said the girl noise many times but he's stopped lately.

Our Bouncie is a clever boy. We're trying to teach him to say his name properly.

Just shows that boys can make the girl noise