My gunieas are jerks?

[Henry&Friends]

I have 15 chickens and 3 guineas (was four.) when I let them out in the morning, the gunieas chase and peck my chickens. This morning my rooster hopped out of the coop and ran to hide from them. One of them charged me the other day, but I kicked it away and they haven’t tried again. Why are they being jerks? I know they’re not chickens, but they live in the flock and seem to be influencing the chickens, because now two of them have serious attitude problems (pecking me when I put them on the roosts, running about freely, etc.)

I don’t think I’ll get anymore guineas ever again, they’re loud and mean and their faces are kind of ugly.

 

[Duck_life]

I have 3 guineas as well, with 11 chickens, raised together and actually my guineas are lower in the flock, never attacked any chickens and no chickens chased them, my guineas are nice, sit on my lap, eat from my hand, jump on my shoulder and are fairly quiet (they live in my woods in there coop so that might be why i never hear them) but every guinea is different i guess?

 

[R2elk]

This is great to hear. I have one Guinea (showed up in my yard out of nowhere when she/he was about 2 weeks old). I put him/her right in with my chicks who were about the same age and she/he was so happy to be with them. Now they are all 10 and 11 weeks old now and I noticed my Guinea chasing one of my pullets and pecking at her. Only did this twice, then stopped. Then noticed a bit of the same feisty-ness the next day. Nothing too severe and he/she stopped almost immediately.

I've received some feedback here on my original post (basically that my Guinea is a he and will only get worse and I should get rid of him). I don't know if I can do that. I'm totally attached to her/him now and all she/he has ever known are chickens as flock mates. For the past few days (since the ''aggressive'' incident), I've made a point to sit in the coop for a half an hour to an hour twice a day - which I do anyway and all the chickens and the Guinea will pile on my outstretched legs - but this time I've been holding the Guinea and petting her/him gently for 5-10 minutes). I haven't seen any chasing of that one particular pullet of late, just general running across the chicken run excitedly with feathers slightly poofed up.

I really don't want to have to re-home my Guinea, and I'm still holding out hope that maybe it is a hen and is just stretching her wings and getting used to being more grown up (but I have no experience with Guineas and trying to find info on their body language is tough). He/she makes the alarm call and I think the single-syllable call, but I've heard females can make both the single and double syllable call, and of course I have no other Guineas to compare her/him to in order to guess whether or not it's male or female.

Your experience gives me some hope, though, that maybe she/he won't turn aggressive and hurt my chickens (and I know at least one of them is a roo and I've heard bad things about male Guineas and roos). He/she normally is pretty mellow and will sit on me or come up to me with the rest of the chickens when they think I have snacks.

Anyway, my dad and I will be expanding their run area to about twice its current size (currently about 100 sq feet, so hopefully will end up being 150-200 sq feet), and I also have a side compartment that is about 50 square feet, so maybe if it is a he and he turns aggressive, I can keep him in there (that way he'll be separate from the chickens but still part of the flock (because he'll be able to see them all through the wire)).

If you have any more advice you can offer, I'd really appreciate it. I've been feeling pretty down about the whole thing since I'm afraid I will have to re-home her/him after all and I'm afraid that might make him/her depressed since she/he has only known chickens as family members.

Read Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA

You can keep looking and keep finding posts by people who say how wonderful their guineas get along with their chickens before the guineas reach their first breeding season. The next year when breeding season kicks in and the guineas exhibit their true nature, the same people post questions such as "why are my guineas attacking my chickens?" or else they quit posting about their guineas altogether.

Their are some who are able to keep guineas and chickens together but they usually don't point out that they give their poultry a lot more room than most people think is necessary for chickens. If you read their posts carefully, every now and then they will slip up and let tidbits in about how "on occasion" the guineas will cause "minor" problems because they just don't want to admit how their guineas truly behave.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

You don’t have enough guineas, they are a flock bird and do best in large flocks. Getting 7 more guineas would help keep them from going for your chickens.

 

[R2elk]

I have 3 guineas as well, with 11 chickens, raised together and actually my guineas are lower in the flock, never attacked any chickens and no chickens chased them, my guineas are nice, sit on my lap, eat from my hand, jump on my shoulder and are fairly quiet (they live in my woods in there coop so that might be why i never hear them) but every guinea is different i guess?

Have you been through a guinea breeding season yet? Guineas raised with chickens can seem to get along very well right up to the time of the first breeding season. That is when everything changes.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Read Raising Guinea Fowl 101 and pay particular attention to posts made by @PeepsCA

You can keep looking and keep finding posts by people who say how wonderful their guineas get along with their chickens before the guineas reach their first breeding season. The next year when breeding season kicks in and the guineas exhibit their true nature, the same people post questions such as "why are my guineas attacking my chickens?" or else they quit posting about their guineas altogether.

Their are some who are able to keep guineas and chickens together but they usually don't point out that they give their poultry a lot more room than most people think is necessary for chickens. If you read their posts carefully, every now and then they will slip up and let tidbits in about how "on occasion" the guineas will cause "minor" problems because they just don't want to admit how their guineas truly behave.

Thanks for the advice, and that makes sense. I’m probably holding onto false hope, but it’s all I’ve got right now . I just want all my birds to be happy <3.

 

[R2elk]

I will say that my present keets are indeed much more skittish; I hope that they will eventually calm down and not try desperately to escape when they see me.

Just spend time with them. Get down as close to their level as you can especially when approaching. Some people just sit and talk with them. They do have an instinctual fear of anything approaching from above.

 

[Unicornlife3316]

My guineas are aholes too, not raised with my chickens, but my males still love to chase the chickens. My females are MUCH better behaved but the males are just aggressive, never to me or any other humans but to my chickens.

 

[Duck_life]

This is great to hear. I have one Guinea (showed up in my yard out of nowhere when she/he was about 2 weeks old). I put him/her right in with my chicks who were about the same age and she/he was so happy to be with them. Now they are all 10 and 11 weeks old now and I noticed my Guinea chasing one of my pullets and pecking at her. Only did this twice, then stopped. Then noticed a bit of the same feisty-ness the next day. Nothing too severe and he/she stopped almost immediately.

I've received some feedback here on my original post (basically that my Guinea is a he and will only get worse and I should get rid of him). I don't know if I can do that. I'm totally attached to her/him now and all she/he has ever known are chickens as flock mates. For the past few days (since the ''aggressive'' incident), I've made a point to sit in the coop for a half an hour to an hour twice a day - which I do anyway and all the chickens and the Guinea will pile on my outstretched legs - but this time I've been holding the Guinea and petting her/him gently for 5-10 minutes). I haven't seen any chasing of that one particular pullet of late, just general running across the chicken run excitedly with feathers slightly poofed up.

I really don't want to have to re-home my Guinea, and I'm still holding out hope that maybe it is a hen and is just stretching her wings and getting used to being more grown up (but I have no experience with Guineas and trying to find info on their body language is tough). He/she makes the alarm call and I think the single-syllable call, but I've heard females can make both the single and double syllable call, and of course I have no other Guineas to compare her/him to in order to guess whether or not it's male or female.

Your experience gives me some hope, though, that maybe she/he won't turn aggressive and hurt my chickens (and I know at least one of them is a roo and I've heard bad things about male Guineas and roos). He/she normally is pretty mellow and will sit on me or come up to me with the rest of the chickens when they think I have snacks.

Anyway, my dad and I will be expanding their run area to about twice its current size (currently about 100 sq feet, so hopefully will end up being 150-200 sq feet), and I also have a side compartment that is about 50 square feet, so maybe if it is a he and he turns aggressive, I can keep him in there (that way he'll be separate from the chickens but still part of the flock (because he'll be able to see them all through the wire)).

If you have any more advice you can offer, I'd really appreciate it. I've been feeling pretty down about the whole thing since I'm afraid I will have to re-home her/him after all and I'm afraid that might make him/her depressed since she/he has only known chickens as family members.

I've been doing the "sitting in the coop" with my chicken and guineas everyday since i've gotten them, it helps.

 

[Duck_life]

Thats good.