Mean male guinea...will it get better?

[Guinea Goonie]

You are probably experiencing the "pecking order" of your flock.

Even the Guinea fowl get in on the action.

If your male does not relentlessly chase the roos and other Guinea males you are going to be fine.

If however you see him chasing all the time (and make darn sure it is the same bird !!) you may need to have him for dinner. Guinea fowl are a really nice meal, but we hardly ever have one.

Guineas love to put their wings up in the "chase mode" butt feathers fluffed and chase things. i have witnessed one chasing then the chased turns around and chases the chaser. I watched one pair do this for 30 minutes.

When they do eventuall contact, it is not a vicious attack. You will know a vicious attack when you see it.

Guineas are great flyers and if you see them take off, then you may have a problem.

Remember Guineas or just goonie birds and they usually stay with thier own.

 

[sred98]

Actually, it's pretty vicious. Feathers flying everywhere, and if one guinea gets a roo cornered, then they all run over and start grabbing beakfuls of feathers.

By this point, the roo is laying down, and not even fighting anymore. I just hear the guineas going off, and rescue the roo.

The white roos got it the worst, but they are in the feeding out pens, now. The Barred Rocks are next. They leave the Wellsummer and EE roos alone.

Shelly

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Quote:
Have you sexed your Guineas ?

I sex mine before I put them in the barn. I use leg bands for the females and clip the males waddles with a nail clipper (a small v shape)

If you have this done, take the males (at roost) to a cage for a few days. See if you can get some peace this way.

Then, if you have success, take out ONE male per couple days and see if you are good.

If you get to a point that the males you are taking out start the attack then you will need to rehome this one. Rehoming can be to your dinner plate if you so desire.

I have never had this problem, but seperating and seeing which one or ones are causing you trouble will hold you back from just getting rid of the whole lot of them.

One other consideration. If your roo is attacking a female and a male Guinea has "bonded" to the female, this may also cuase this problem.

Guinea tend to chum up and attack in a group. They are not stupid (at least in this way).

I have watched 6 or so Birds surround my barn cat and move her back to the barn. She no longer feels the need to move about the flock by the way.

 

[sred98]

I know that I have 2 males and 2 females. I had a pair originally, then received a pair from a friend. I have a younger one that I am undecided on, then 2 smaller babies, that aren't part of the flock.

For mine, it is easy to tell them apart. Especially the dominant pair, which were my original ones.

I am in the process of gathering up the roos and feeding them out for processing. I've got the 2 leghorn mixes up, then will get the barred rocks going. They leave the EE and Wellsummers alone. Before I do anything to the guineas, I want to see how the pecking order plays out after all the dominant roos are gone. If they aren't any better, then I will look at sending the mean one to "freezer camp".

Thanks for the advice. I am hoping the "restructuring" will let everyone calm down.

Shelly

 

[Aj1911]

My head guinea does the chase as a pecking order type of thing, he only runs after the lower guinea for a second then stops when he's far enough away and go's back to business, if he gets ahold of the other guinea he grabs on for a sec maybe pulls a feather and then its done, but if the other guinea does it to him he gets made and will chase him up to a tree at which point i make him stop and calm down.

so far they have not really hurt each other but he does kinda do this all throughout the day except while its eating time or bug the chickens time

they both will chase and pull feathers out from my roosters and chickens (the chickens have became very good at dodging them tho

)

anyway if i'm out there i make them be nice to the chickens.

also did he just start doing this? it is mating season and they become quite aggressive during it, i would let him calm down or separate them from the chickens except when free ranging, he shouldn't be as bad next year.

 

[sred98]

Quote:
Well, I got them as babies in March, so this is my first time with them on my own. My grandfather had them when I was younger. So, I am really not sure how they act during mating season. I was wondering if this was what was going on. But, it doesn't help matters that the Hooligan roosters are all trying to mate every guinea. Which is insane, because they are scared of the pullets! LOL! Now, when they occasionally try and mate the pullets, the guineas come and attack them. It is chaos. I am worried that I'm never going to have any fertilized eggs since the guineas are around! LOL!

Shelly

 

[Guinea Goonie]

................it doesn't help matters that the Hooligan roosters are all trying to mate every guinea. Which is insane, because they are scared of the pullets! ..................

Oh my, Female Guineas usually mate to ONE male Guinea.

If your roos are trying to mate a female Guinea that has a mate, you are going to experience HAVOC !!

Guineas will "gang up" on other things (like my barn mama cat) and give them hell.

It would not suprise me to see that even your female Guineas are in the gang against your roos. Guineas are very socialable and one needs to remember they come from a very harsh place (the plains of Africa) so defense is a big deal for them.

 

[sred98]

Oh...the Hooligans are not just trying to mate the females...the MALES too! They have certainly lived up to their names-that's for sure! LOL! They are the rogue gang of roosters that we have decided to send to freezer camp. The 2 worst ones are in the small pen for fattening up. They were upset at first, now they realize they just sit in there and crow, and I get them more food!

I'll probably butcher them this week. Then I've got 4 more to do...2 at a time. The pen will only hold 2 comfortably.

The guineas definitely are a tight group. But, they are even "protecting" the 3 bigger hens they grew up with. I think that's sweet!

Shelly

 

[Kev]

I have to say that guineas do seem to be "mean" birds.. I was given a pair as a thank you from friend 2 years ago. The male has NOT let up on charging & biting chickens and turkey even though he's two now. The tom turkey tries hard to ignore him but the stupid guinea will not have any of that so he actually resorts to going under his tail and biting his butt, yes, right there in that area to make him react and run and then he is chasing the poor tom around over something HE started. He sure has not tried to breed him or "his girl".

My roosters AFAIK have zero interest in either guineas yet the male spends a lot of time charging at them, especially at feeding time. Any rooster in any color, turken or not turken.. so I really don't think it is a case of a grudge against a roo mating his hen.

I have two free range peacocks, both a year old. For reasons unknown the male guinea took it as his job to seriously harass one of the peacocks- the peacock tried hard to escape but the guinea was always right on him even if he flew 10 feet up on a building or a tree etc the guinea would just be right there and biting the heck out of his head and neck.. the final straw was when the peacock was actually nearing exhaustion yet the guinea just took that as a chance to repeatedly 'slam' him I grabbed his butt and clipped both of his wings.. He was intent on seriously hurting this peacock.

The hen set on and hatched a brood of keets.. put her and her babies in a dog run minus the male. She was a good mother.. but, when they were a few months old, I came home to see one of the keets completely bloodied on its back and near death.. the mother AND other keets were pecking at it, trying to kill it. (it died soon after). I kicked all of them out in case they decided to gang up on another one.. good thing I did as sure enough, they all decided for whatever reason that one of the keets is to be an outcast. They all 'dart' at it to keep it away- especially the father. I'm sure that one would have been the next one killed if they were still in the dog run. It is so odd, they are extremely 'tight group' yet they are so mean to that one and the others are just now starting to fight amongst themselves.

I totally know what sred means by the guineas 'ganging up' or being vicious to a chicken- when it happens it goes well beyond a peck or a charge to tell it to go away- they actually seem to try to 'drag it down and beat it up REAL good'.. fortunately when free range they usually don't manage to do anything more than make the chicken lose a few feathers and squawk a lot before it manages to get away.