Noisy females

[gootziecat]

I have a female under 6 months old. She's noisy. Does it ever get any better?

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

Lol - yes, and no. Guineas are fairly noisy birds; they will 'buckwheat' (or 'chi' if they're a boy) at just about anything. As they get older, they get used to certain things, and don't get as noisy about them. For example, I live close to a small, private airport, and when my guineas were young, they would go crazy whenever a plane flew over. As they have matured, they are frightened by the occasional plane, but most planes go by now without much noise from them. However, I think it got better mostly because we just got used to it.

Those annoying calls of theirs are terrific predator warnings. Also, having guineas has put a serious hurt on the local pests, particularly the grasshoppers, which have been awful this year. Guineas are so quirky. They do something that makes me laugh every day, and they are amazingly resilient birds. We had one with an injured leg who for the past month hopped around until her foot healed. She limps on it now, but still keeps up with the flock when they wander the acreage looking for bugs.

For us, all of these great qualities have made the noise something that doesn't bother us anymore. In fact, the rare times I go out into the barnyard now and don't hear them, I almost miss it. It's become the way they greet us, as well as the way they drive us crazy.

 

[gootziecat]

Ok. I get it.

Another question. There are 3 males to this one hen. Should I cull 2 of the boys and keep a pair or will there be little problem keeping so many males to 1 female? Thanks.

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

I'd wait and see. Supposedly the males "race" each other to win the favor of the desired female - I've heard it can be quite comical, and although some males occasionally get aggressive, many are passive and just go with the flow.

We have 5 females and one male, so we haven't had that problem. We had one other male who was taken out by a predator a few weeks ago, but even when he was around, he was the low man on the totem pole. He was submissive, and none of the hens were his - they all belonged to our big boy. Well, at least the four that stay with him. Lol- we have one very unique hen who prefers the company of our goats to the other guineas. Neither of the boys were interested in her - they'd actually chase her away from the rest of the flock whenever she'd get too close. Anyway, you never know. Even if you had more hens, one or two of the boys might still miss out on the action.

 

[gootziecat]

Interesting. The girl that likes the goats makes me wonder if she has reproductive issues, although it probably doesn't matter. It is a hoot.
There are a couple of swaps coming up, the last ones for the year around here, and I was debating whether I should take the 2 extra males. Some times they make it hard on the other poultry, especially bantams, which I have mostly.

 

[cappy]

My females seem to stop the constant "buckwheat" when the begin to lay. That lasts pretty much through the summer. When they stop laying they start the calling again. Summers are sooooo peaceful.

Ken

 

[PeaChick C]

I have a mated pair that I swear need marriage counseling. The female, a beautiful spotless royal purple, will fly up on the roof of the house and her pearl husband will fly up on the garage some 10 feet away an they will call at each other for hours trying to convince the other to come to their roof. Very comical.

Ours are always quietest after spring match up when they are doing competing for mates. Also I find that when our numbers drop to around 6 or 7 they are louder than when we have a dozen. They are very content creatures when in a flock.

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

Interesting. The girl that likes the goats makes me wonder if she has reproductive issues, although it probably doesn't matter. It is a hoot.
There are a couple of swaps coming up, the last ones for the year around here, and I was debating whether I should take the 2 extra males. Some times they make it hard on the other poultry, especially bantams, which I have mostly.

If they hassle your bantams, I would take them to the swap meet. On the other hand, if they don't seem to be causing too many problems, just consider the two of them extra pest control.