My gunieas are jerks?

[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.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

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

Glad to hear it! I even hold Victoria (the Guinea fowl), even though she isn't too fond of me picking her up. Once I get her on my lap, though, she calms down a bit and makes her happy (or nervous?) whistling sound. I pet her gently and can even rub a finger under her chin between her wattles and she'll close her eyes a bit. I haven't seen any aggression for about a week, just the fluffing of the back feathers and excited darting about (and not too much of that, either). Still holding out hope she's a hen and will be fine with the chickens. We're also expanding their run - doubling the size - and I'm seriously considering making the new opening a large gate so, if the aggression escalates, I can keep Victoria in the new run area so she'll have plenty of room and still be able to be close to her flock.

 

[Duck_life]

Thats good.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I don’t have first hand knowledge of this, but I have heard of guineas living for a long time with chicken flocks. I do think that they may be free ranging all, or that they only have a few guinea girls and many more chickens; maybe that works? I’ve posted multiple times on my 15 guinea keets that I brooded with chicks and ducklings. I’m now raising a similar number of keets alone. 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.

From my older flock, I had to rehome all but one lone male (Ghost); the males really are so much more aggressive, but the females will join in too. My guineas free range but chickens are locked up. Ghost is just funny: he’s fine with most chicken hens. I had a sad broody silkie hen that I took out of the run daily and fed treats; she would attack Ghost and the guinea hens if they approached her treats. Any of the guineas could have killed this silkie, but they kind of treated her as a kid sister and humored her with surprising deference. All of the guineas are good with the 3 month old cockerels that come out to free range for a few hours a day; Ghost will chase them a little if he wants their feed but it’s very mild chasing. On the other hand, If I let the roosters out of the bachelor pad, and they come up to the split guinea/hen coop, Ghost will chase 3 of the 4 mercilessly, pulling tail feathers as he goes. He’s fine with the fourth rooster. He also loves to rush the ducks.

Our issues have not really been breeding season related. We have individual poultry issues, especially guinea cock to rooster. However, Ghost knows that if I’m out near the poultry with my herding stick, that he’s not permitted to chase them, and he mostly respects that. We will see how it goes with the new keets, who will be going into a new, dedicated guinea coop.

 

[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.

 

[blackfishfin]

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.

Our guineas are well past their breeding season and they do WONDERFUL with our bannie chickens. I'm pretty sure that they're being so mean because the chickens and the guineas are from two different flocks. If the guinea flock was larger, I don't think this would be as much of a problem as it is. Try feeding them in separate places. I'm genuinely not sure. Some guineas are just HORRIBLE and mean just because they want to be mean.
Perhaps they are attacking you because they feel threatened. I sit outside and read to the guineas and chickens as I feed them, and they have learned to sit on my shoulders and try and peck the hairs off of my legs. I was always a huge motherly figure to them when they were chicks and I've never had a problem with them being mean. My guineas are also free-range.

 

[blackfishfin]

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.

I forgot to add this in my last post. Guineas require a LOT more space than chickens do. If they are kept in a small pen, they will be literal demons and will literally kill your other chickens. My flock is free range, so I don't have that problem.

 

[R2elk]

Our guineas are well past their breeding season and they do WONDERFUL with our bannie chickens. I'm pretty sure that they're being so mean because the chickens and the guineas are from two different flocks. If the guinea flock was larger, I don't think this would be as much of a problem as it is. Try feeding them in separate places. I'm genuinely not sure. Some guineas are just HORRIBLE and mean just because they want to be mean.
Perhaps they are attacking you because they feel threatened. I sit outside and read to the guineas and chickens as I feed them, and they have learned to sit on my shoulders and try and peck the hairs off of my legs. I was always a huge motherly figure to them when they were chicks and I've never had a problem with them being mean. My guineas are also free-range.

Apparently you did not actually read the post that you quoted. I have no problems between my guineas and my other poultry. My guineas do not attack me or any of my other poultry. I have no idea where you came up with this idea but it certainly isn't from any of my posts..

 

[blackfishfin]

Apparently you did not actually read the post that you quoted. I have no problems between my guineas and my other poultry. My guineas do not attack me or any of my other poultry. I have no idea where you came up with this idea but it certainly isn't from any my posts..

I didn't mean to quote you. I was just responding to the first post. I thought that the poster would see it no matter who I responded to. I apologize!