Mean guinea male

[AMoritz]

I have (well had) a mean male guinea this summer and I was wondering if you could help me figure out why.
Its quite possible it was just his disposition but I was not tolerating it.

We have enough space in our coop to comfortably house 60 birds but we only keep 20 total, and let them free range every day. We have 10 chickens, 10 guineas - 5 complete mated pairs - 5 hens, 5 males.

Mr Grinch was caught a few weeks ago literally pull feathers forceably from my pied male so badly it was knocking my pied over AND Mr. Grinch chased my pied for about 4-5 minutes previously through my entire 4 acres of yard to get him (doesn't seem to be a territory thing since he was chased beyond the "territory"?).
I've seen Mr. Grinch take after my pied male before but I thought it was "puff up my chest and chase you cuz I'm a badass" ordeal the males do to each other on occasion.
After said episode I watched him VERY closely.
A few days later while me and my son were walking the yard looking for eggs he actually tried to take off after me while my back was turned. I turned around and made him run back instead.
This last weekend I've been outside consistently and I see him doing the same thing he did to my pied, to my lavender male. To the extreme point where Mr Grinch would separate my lavender male from his mate and would refuse to let him go near her, even though that female was NOT Mr Grinch's mate. I was able to examine my males further and it appears this behavior has been going on for awhile because both my lavender Male and my pied male are missing a lot of back feathers. My lavender male is even missing some of his top Wing feathers.

Upon seeing all of this the last couple of weeks, Mr Grinch has been dispatched to the stew pot.
However, I'm curious of anyone else knows what may have caused this behavior in only ONE male out of 5?

 

[R2elk]

I have (well had) a mean male guinea this summer and I was wondering if you could help me figure out why.
Its quite possible it was just his disposition but I was not tolerating it.

We have enough space in our coop to comfortably house 60 birds but we only keep 20 total, and let them free range every day. We have 10 chickens, 10 guineas - 5 complete mated pairs - 5 hens, 5 males.

Mr Grinch was caught a few weeks ago literally pull feathers forceably from my pied male so badly it was knocking my pied over AND Mr. Grinch chased my pied for about 4-5 minutes previously through my entire 4 acres of yard to get him (doesn't seem to be a territory thing since he was chased beyond the "territory"?).
I've seen Mr. Grinch take after my pied male before but I thought it was "puff up my chest and chase you cuz I'm a badass" ordeal the males do to each other on occasion.
After said episode I watched him VERY closely.
A few days later while me and my son were walking the yard looking for eggs he actually tried to take off after me while my back was turned. I turned around and made him run back instead.
This last weekend I've been outside consistently and I see him doing the same thing he did to my pied, to my lavender male. To the extreme point where Mr Grinch would separate my lavender male from his mate and would refuse to let him go near her, even though that female was NOT Mr Grinch's mate. I was able to examine my males further and it appears this behavior has been going on for awhile because both my lavender Male and my pied male are missing a lot of back feathers. My lavender male is even missing some of his top Wing feathers.

Upon seeing all of this the last couple of weeks, Mr Grinch has been dispatched to the stew pot.
However, I'm curious of anyone else knows what may have caused this behavior in only ONE male out of 5?

Guineas need much more "personal space" than do chickens. If your calculations are that you can comfortably house 60 chickens, you cannot comfortably house that many guineas in the same space. If you house guineas and chickens together, the guineas need even more space than if they are house by themselves.

The behavior that you described is pretty typical of a very dominant male guinea. The feather pulling and feather breaking are standard guinea behavior.

A very dominant male will take another male's mate if his hen is broody.

Guineas have different behaviors than any other poultry which is why housing them together with other poultry can cause stress to the other poultry.

 

[My2butterflies]

My dominant male guinea (Boss man) acts just like this. He has been chasing other males the past two weeks pretty relentlessly. I honestly don’t know how he has the energy to keep going. Lol

 

[AMoritz]

The dominant male we have has been "top dog" since we first got them 4 years ago. He has NEVER acted like what I described of Mr Grinch. Matter of fact, Mr. Grinch was one of the lower males and my dominant male would put him in his place if need be.
We have never had any problems with our chickens and guineas, together or separately - they even roost together at night without problems as well.
Our coop is 192 square feet, so honestly I highly doubt there's not enough room at night while they sleep as guineas need about 4 square feet (as far as I'm aware) which means our coop is big enough for 48 guineas, and we only have 20 birds total, 10 guineas and 10 chickens.

Personally I have never seen any guinea act the way Mr Grinch has, so was just curious as to what could cause that behavior. If he's just that damn aggressive, that's as bad as an aggressive rooster in my opinion. My entire flock doesn't need the stress of an aggressive male.

 

[AMoritz]

My dominant male guinea (Boss man) acts just like this. He has been chasing other males the past two weeks pretty relentlessly. I honestly don’t know how he has the energy to keep going. Lol

I'll tell you what, if I had as much aggressive energy as Mr Grinch, I'd bottle it up and make money off of it lol

 

[R2elk]

The dominant male we have has been "top dog" since we first got them 4 years ago. He has NEVER acted like what I described of Mr Grinch. Matter of fact, Mr. Grinch was one of the lower males and my dominant male would put him in his place if need be.
We have never had any problems with our chickens and guineas, together or separately - they even roost together at night without problems as well.
Our coop is 192 square feet, so honestly I highly doubt there's not enough room at night while they sleep as guineas need about 4 square feet (as far as I'm aware) which means our coop is big enough for 48 guineas, and we only have 20 birds total, 10 guineas and 10 chickens.

Personally I have never seen any guinea act the way Mr Grinch has, so was just curious as to what could cause that behavior. If he's just that damn aggressive, that's as bad as an aggressive rooster in my opinion. My entire flock doesn't need the stress of an aggressive male.

The 4 sq. ft. of clear space is an absolute minimum for guineas. Apparently your Mr. Grinch was moving up in the peckiing order. Pecking orders do change from time to time.

 

[AMoritz]

The 4 sq. ft. of clear space is an absolute minimum for guineas. Apparently your Mr. Grinch was moving up in the peckiing order. Pecking orders do change from time to time.

That they do.
Going after me or my kids when our backs are turned however, is an absolute no-no.

 

[R2elk]

That they do.
Going after me or my kids when our backs are turned however, is an absolute no-no.

They are delicious.

 

[Sydney65]

Maybe YOU thought the mate #s were equal, sounds like Mr. Grinch was thinking of starting a haram. I had a small flock in their 1st season & everyone stayed in their own lanes until the 1st night one decided to stay on the nest and went missing. Then her mate thought to check out another female who's mate didn't take kindly to the attention. Nugget got an attitude adjustment.
With one bird flying into a car and the one that went missing, I have 1 female to 3 males now. I keep her confined so she can't build a nest somewhere she shldnt and lead my males off property again.
They seem content with this; by day the males free range while staying close to her pen w/o any fighting, and everyone emerges from the coop each morning still alive.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

My dominant male guinea (Boss man) acts just like this. He has been chasing other males the past two weeks pretty relentlessly. I honestly don’t know how he has the energy to keep going. Lol

Seriously!!!! It’s like a zillion degrees here and my guys are chasing each other to kingdom come and back! I’m afraid one will drop dead of a heart attack in this heat!!!! Lay off until it’s cooler Guys!