Odd behavior, what do you think?

[crj]

Hello all,

I have a question for you guinea owners. My turkey hen convinced 7 guineas that she is there mom several months ago. The guineas are about 5 or 6 months old now. Boy, the guineas really latch on..... lol. Mother hen dumps them on the tom and he can't seem to shake them.

I have, and I'm guessing it's the same guinea, that will attack the guinea hen. He will get a hold of her face or neck, feathers and not let go. She will run from him but he just won't let up. I've had to try and catch him so the hen could get away yesterday. Any reason why this guinea would be so aggressive? I have 2 turkey hens and I'm not totally sure it's the actual "mother" hen. One of the hens aren't as fond of the guineas but she does tolerate them. I find it odd that one would be so aggressive while all the others are fine.

 

[critters]

My guineas, during the daytime, are with chickens, ducks and peafowl and I can't imagine
one of them going after someone else like that.....

a guinea going after a guinea I could see but after a turkey? too funny! ...

sorry....unless he thinks she (the turkey) needs to step aside and let him (the guinea)
be the boss...top of the pecking order.....setting size aside and all!

best I can think of!?

 

[PeepsCA]

Sounds like it could possibly be a case of hormones that the male doesn't know what to do with yet, so it's surfacing as aggression. You could cage the trouble maker up for a time out for a few days and see if that changes his attitude. Sometimes tho, birds can sense a weak link in the flock and will target that bird until they run it off or kill it. It's hard to say why he's doing it exactly, (could possibly even be jealousy or him being territorial over another Hen), but like I mentioned, putting him in a time out may help. Some males are just extra cocky and need to be re-homed or sent to freezer camp

Good luck, hope you/they work it out

 

[crj]

Quote:
Luckily it's not all the time. I only have 1 hen and the other 4 are males. The turkey hens are pretty quiet and timid but the guineas think they are "Mom" I was thinking maybe the one hen is trying to "kick them from the nest" kind of thing. Possibly one of the boys isn't to happy about that. They really are clingy. If the hen doesn't want them around they run to the tom (dad) and surround him. Poor guy can never shake them no matter how fast he runs. It's really funny to see. Then their are times the guineas will go on there own for a bit but are never far from a turkey or a chicken.