My guinea problems

[miohippus]

I use to have 13 Guinea fowl, now I only have two males (they fight sometimes but get along very well) I could not get them to go into a coup at night it was like pulling teeth so I gave up. I bought some more a few years ago to keep the males company, and keep them in a brooder till they started flying, but all the new Guinea got killed by an owl cause they roosted outside and wouldn't go in the run-in-shed where the two old males roost i was hopeing the two older males would show them where to be safe since they have survied so long (hatched in 2003) but no such luck they did not fight with them a bit got along real well but uforuntly did not show them where it was safe to roost, so I still have my two old males that are all by themselves.


What kind of predators prey on Guineas? Wouldn't there be some feathers at least. An Owl will carry them off if they are small enough and not leave any feathers.

 

[peacockfarmer1]

with like 8 hens and two males how is fertility most people in this post say they only have a few males but i was told they pair off?

 

[robin416]

Quote:
Yes, they pair off. Most of the time for life. It is not unheard of for a male to fertilize other females if the male to female ratio is as unbalanced as yours is.

 

[HoustonChicks]

It is from this site I learned to tell the difference between male & female by the 2-syllable female call vs. the single call for the male. So, I can say that I have 3 male French guineas & 3 females (including one lavender). They're about 8 months old.
I have never had any trouble with my guineas, either to each other or to my approx. 46 bantam silkies & Ameracaunas. I got them when they were a day old from the hatchery and they were raised together. I always assumed they get along because they've always been together.
The 5 French guineas stay as a tight group and range all over the yard, while my 2 chicken groups have their own territories. The guineas act like police or peacemakers.....if roosters fight, all the guineas show up and walk between the fighting chickens til they break up the fight! I saw 2 roosters in a "disagreement" inside the roost house; a guinea found the door,went in and walked back & forth between them til the roosters stopped.
The guinea group seems to show up any time there's something going on, especially if I'm trying to catch a chicken. If I'm holding a rooster that showed agression toward me, the guineas will run after it & peck it when I put it down. That's hilarious! BUT they never peck or chase chickens in a mean way. They'll do that guinea "run" at roosters where they rush a few feet, but they just chase the chicken away, not attack. They will keep chickens away from food treats, like watermelon, but otherwise, they coexist fine. I feel lucky to have this group of guineas. I just wish they wern't quite so LOUD all the time!!
I did have trouble for awhile when the chicken roosters decided a female guinea was fair game when maturity and mating set in! Poor guinea; roosters would chase her all over the yard til she cowered down with her head hidden; they'd jump on her back and finally fall off, thinking they'd done their deed! If she ran to the other guineas, the roosters immediately backed off, but she didn't always do that. I was glad when this stage seemed to pass. No more roosters thinking they have a larger, strange-looking hen to mate with. Maybe it took martuity of the guineas to stop that.

 

[cgmccary]

Thus far, I am pleased with my Guineas. I will say one thing: they are NOISY but not a problem for me. I have 14 Guineas hatched & raised last August by chicken hens (13 are Pearl with 2-3 w/ a few white primaries & one solid white Guinea). I believe I have 4-6 males and 10-8 female Guineas. I free range Chickens, Guineas, Geese & Turkeys. All get along pretty good. The Geese rule everything and chase & pull more feathers than all the rest combined. I also have two good mutt dogs that keep away the predators. The Guineas and Chickens put themselves up at night and roost in the same large coop (I close & lock the door when I get home at night). Some Guineas roost right beside and with the chickens in the coop and some others roost up high away from the chickens. Sometimes, one of the turkeys will join them. Otherwise, the Geese and Turkeys stay out 24/7 and Turkeys roost in the rafters of some open barns; the Geese like to stay up all hours near the house but they have a barn they go to (where their nest is & they think is theirs).

I have noticed a Guinea chasing a chicken hen here and there but I also see chicken hens chasing other hens. The Guineas seem to adore the rooster who is out and he likes all the attention. They follow him everywhere. The only blood I have ever seen drawn on my place is the occasional chicken rooster getting out who doesn't get along with another rooster (and that is just a cut on the comb). When they are free ranging, there is plenty of room to get away for any bird being chased by another bird. I realize that it all might change but I am hoping Robin416 is correct about the 10-plus rule. I need the Guineas for tick & Japanese beetle control. I hope they brood and I can increase the flock numbers. Since mine were raised by chicken hens, they seem to still adore the hens that mothered them & they see the big coop as somewhere safe and to escape to -- I've noticed.

The only weird things that have happened (that I have been home & observed), two things: First, was one night I heard a big commotion in the coop & I went out there and Guineas were flying around crazy-like in the coop & haphazardly slamming themselves into the walls and wire. I just knew someone was going to get killed by accident. I looked around real good to see what had spooked them but didn't see anything. It was near New Year's so I was thinking maybe a distant fireworks sound. Nobody got hurt and all was well the next day. Second thing, for whatever reason, the Guineas grouped together one day like a big gang and then as a flock, advanced by ground on a neighbors house (some distance away), inching forward , clamouring louder and louder as they approached. Once there , right in front of the neighbors house, they like doubled the noise. It was real loud. The neighbor was alarmed, came out, clapped her hands one time & that sent the Guineas to take flight and fly home.
Is there a good book on Guineas that explains their nature? I like books.

 

[robin416]

Quote:
The commotion you heard after lights out is them fighting over a roost spot. It can get really noisy when its a low bird that has the spot a higher placed flock member wants. I quite often hear bodies slamming walls and wings flapping. Once they finally work out who is going to roost where they quit.

They saw something and they were after it. It could have been the neighbor's cat, a visitor they didn't recognize, or just about anything that was not normal at her house. This is what I've referred to when I say the Guineas flock up. Usually the flock up is to attack whatever it is as a group. That's why Guineas can be dangerous to chickens. The whole flock will gang up on one chicken.

 

[speckledhen]

They saw something and they were after it. It could have been the neighbor's cat, a visitor they didn't recognize, or just about anything that was not normal at her house. This is what I've referred to when I say the Guineas flock up. Usually the flock up is to attack whatever it is as a group. That's why Guineas can be dangerous to chickens. The whole flock will gang up on one chicken.

I can swear to this from experience. There are really no great books on Guineas. The one most recommended is "Gardening with Guineas" and that in no way truly describes their nature. She says "Guineas rule", but doesn't say how bad it can really get, glossing over the really bad issues that can occur. Robin knows how much trouble I had with them and why I rehomed mine. That said, I loved my guineas, I really did and do plan to have them again, but I won't house them with chickens this time and will have a larger guinea flock than just the four I had originally.​

 

[phasian]

It is frustrating that there are so few books on Guinea Fowl. In a recent visit to Powell's City of Books (book mecca), there were four shelves full of books on chickens and not one on Guineas. The best one I have found so far is published in Britain by Gold Cockerel Books and is titled Guineafowl, Past & Present, by Michael Roberts. It is much more informative and scholarly than Gardening with Guineas. My Guineas are grass eating machines which was never mentioned in Gardening with Guineas. I have also not found them to be the "bad asses" that the author described them to be.

I was really excited by on finding an old publication online, titled, Guinea Fowl & Other Poultry, by Leonard Bacon which after receiving it turned out to be a Bohemian book of self-absorbed fanciful poetry that had nothing whatsoever to do with poultry husbandry. Thankfully, Alibris let me return it.
,
I keep a flock of 14; 5 are males. This flock includes browns, slates, violets, and buff. They live in harmony with 55 chickens, 20 Runner Ducks, a pair of Buff Geese, and a pair of Mini Rex Rabbits. They are not violent with each other or my other birds. I hatched them from fertile eggs, raised the keets by hand and introduced them into their pastured run by housing them in the run inside an enormous parrot cage for 10 days until they seemed to be familiar with their home turf. I then let them out of the cage daily and they return to it on their own most evenings. There are a couple to round up now & then. The cage is protected with a roof and tarping when weather conditions merit it. They will soon be relocated to my large (8'x16') coop.

 

[robin416]

Gardening With Guineas is just fluff. It does not delve in to the true experience of keeping a flock of Guineas. It glosses over the challenges and having to adapt ourselves to their odd ways. So many got Guineas based on that book and came to regret it when their own experiences were completely different.

Before I got my Guineas I read everything I could find. Most of what I learned was from a board based primarily on living with them. I got first hand information on the joys and challenges of keeping something that is not far removed genetically from their African roots.