Odd guinea hen behavior

[chooks4life]

Eh, lol, silly site hid updated threads from me again... It's gone on the fritz and I've been unable to find a lot of threads I'd been participating in. Apologies for the super late reply. :/ But at least it seems it's all working out. (?)

 

[aniwaya]

Hi, I'm new here, both to the site and raising birds. I have two guinea hens and two guinea cocks. I signed in to ask why my one guinea hen always makes a racket. The others squawk when there are strangers or the neighbors cat is skulking around or if their water froze or if they run out of feed. But this one squawks when I can't find anything wrong. The others do not bully her, they all seem to get along. She eats fine, she is the fattest. I was told they would lay in the spring but I am reading here they can lay at 6 or 7 months? They haven't yet but this doesn't seem to bother the other one. I am at a loss, both for answers and for sleep since their coop isn't that far from our bedroom. I will be thankful for all answers we are new so don't presume we know the obvious.

 

[red horse ranch]

Glad you joined us aniwaya!

Some females just love to sing! One of my first guinea hens never seemed to shut up. I often had to shut the bedroom window at night so we could sleep. But it's not so bad now that she is older. What you are describing is normal for guineas. If you haven't had them long she may just be complaining about her new environment. They are known as 'The Farmers Watchdog' because they will let you know if anything different or unusual is going on. It may help to keep their coop area totally dark at night. If you have outdoor lighting it may be why she is singing at night. Males are usually quiet unless something alarms them.

When we have guests and they remark about the noisy guineas I just tell them that it sounds like 'country music' to me!

I have heard of guinea hens laying at 6 or 7 months old but none of mine ever have. Guineas typically lay eggs from early April until mid September. If you live in a warm climate their season may be a little longer. If they mature late in the fall they probably won't lay until the next spring.

Feel free to ask all the questions you want. There's usually someone on here that can help you.

 

[mommaguinea]

I agree- some hens just have the gift of gab!. It tends to lessen as they get a little older. Do you have a light in their coop- a colored one? Sometimes it helps if they can see and guineas suffer from "night terrors". Our coop is away from the house but sometimes late at night I can hear some hens still discussing the day!.

Welcome to the group!

 

[mkeawsh]

Have a hen that doesn't shut up the whole day and at night all of them whistle snore when their sleeping. Once they are a sleep don't hear nothing from them except that.