NEED 2 more adult guinea hens!

[AlienChick]

So my four (4) guineas are about 15 weeks old now. I got them when they were about 5 weeks old.
They live in the coop and free range with my chickens.

NOW, all of a sudden, they have decided to be abusive to my Polish hen (not the rooster).
I don't know why they don't like her, but I'm tired of seeing clumps of her feathers all over the yard!

They also do not like my itty bitty d'Uccle rooster, but he can see them coming and RUN real fast!

I read where the guineas need to pair off or they'll get aggressive. Is this what's happening?

And if so, should I just buy two more guinea hens (or sell two of my males)?
And is there anyone out there who is willing to part with two hens or take my two males??

This is my first year with guineas, so I'm new to this.

Help!

 

[SassyKat6181]

This is my 1st season with guineas and I don't have an answer, but wanted to say your birds are beautiful.

 

[PeepsCA]

It's very common for Guineas to get aggressive during breeding season, hormones are flaring and the males constantly show off for the attention of the Hens, plus they can be (overly) protective of the Hens they have already paired with. Some chicken breeds can deal with it, some can't.

It's hard to say if getting rid of the males will fix the problem or not because sometimes the Hens can be bullies as well, (it's usually the males that are the problem tho). But IMO adding just a couple more Hens probably won't help your situation any and the males will still be aggressive. Guineas do better in larger flocks in general so the males can focus more on each other and not target their aggressions at the chickens.

Is it possible to separate the Guineas from the chickens and free range them at different times maybe?

And I agree with SassyKat, your Guineas are beautiful, all sparkling clean! Pure Whites are one of my favs

 

[Debbienmousey]

Firstly, welcome to the world of guineas

. They can be a pain but mostly they're funny and the babies are so cute!

Secondly, your guinea keets are far too young to be thinking about pairing off. They won't do that until next spring, and then they may change partners the year after that.

Do you know how many boys and girls you have? And do they try to bully that red hen in the photo? Are they about the same size as the Polish?

Some of my young guinea cocks that were hatched this year(probably about the same age as yours, a bit older maybe.) have been picking on the other little guineas a bit. They live in a pen with a Silkie hen, 2 Silkie roosters, 3 mutt pullets, and about 13ish other keets. They haven't done any damage to any of the other keets yet, and I think it's just a part of growing up for them. They're pretty much in their teenage stage so obviously some of them (the bigger ones) feel the need to bully the others. My plan is to put them into the main flock soon and that should settle the problems for me, but I know you don't have any older guineas..So I would suggest either penning the keets somewhere else or pen the Polish and d'Uccle separate from the others for a little while. Or just wait it out a bit longer so long as they're not actually hurting your other birds. Hope those little buggers start behaving for you!

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
I have observed young Guineas in my flocks "pairing up" and forming small sub-flocks (or trios) way before 15 weeks of age. And yes, they do tend to switch mates (or add another) throughout the breeding season, from year to year, they are typical opportunists! I've also observed that just ONE male Guinea will cover 5-6 Hens with no problem, if he doesn't have to compete with other males. The "norm" for Guinea Hens to start laying is 16 weeks of age, but that depends on when they were hatched and what the weather and temps are like when they reach that age, (but it's been scientifically proven that both sexes are anatomically mature and able to reproduce at that age, and even sometimes a little sooner if fed correctly from day one). So figuratively speaking they would actually have to "pair up" prior to that. They don't always wait for the following spring to start breeding/laying.

 

[AlienChick]

Thank you all for the help here!

I watched the whole flock of chickens/guineas yesterday, and they do only go after the Polish hen and the d'Uccle rooster. The rooster now just hops the fence and stays in my backyard all day so he won't be bothered by the pesky guineas. The Polish . . . well, she's pretty clueless most of the time. The guineas do not go after any of the other chickens and they seem to particularly LIKE the barred rocks and will follow one of them around throughout the day.

I don't think my guineas are pairing off or anything, I just thought maybe I needed more hens. (I have 3 males, and only ONE hen). I couldn't buy more cuz that was all the seller had to sell at the time. I do agree that I need more guineas in general, and I do want a large flock of guineas. We're moving to a 13 acre farm next month and I plan on getting lots more keets at that time.

For now I'll keep my eyes on them all and, hopefully, they won't get worse. I'll kinda shoo the guineas to the backyard area in an attempt at separation, but they go over there anyway throughout the day. I only have cheap deer fencing (cut in half) as a "fence" and chickens and guineas fly over whenever they feel the need to forage on the other side.

I love my guineas and I think they're pretty and fun to watch, so it's hard to think of them as these mean monsters of terror. I think they're bi-polar!

 

[Debbienmousey]

Quote:
I have observed young Guineas in my flocks "pairing up" and forming small sub-flocks (or trios) way before 15 weeks of age. And yes, they do tend to switch mates (or add another) throughout the breeding season, from year to year, they are typical opportunists! I've also observed that just ONE male Guinea will cover 5-6 Hens with no problem, if he doesn't have to compete with other males. The "norm" for Guinea Hens to start laying is 16 weeks of age, but that depends on when they were hatched and what the weather and temps are like when they reach that age, (but it's been scientifically proven that both sexes are anatomically mature and able to reproduce at that age, and even sometimes a little sooner if fed correctly from day one). So figuratively speaking they would actually have to "pair up" prior to that. They don't always wait for the following spring to start breeding/laying.

Alright, I take back what I said. Although I was just speaking from personal experience also and from what I remember to have read awhile back. My guineas have never started laying as young as that, and as far as I know it hasn't been til the next spring for me. Of course you are in CA and I'm in GA so like you said I'm sure the weather has a lot to do with it.

Quote:
You're probably right