One of my Guinea hens is getting picked on by the other Guineas

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

sounds like elementary school..

Exactly!

 

[Muv]

Just recently one of the guinea hens started being chased away from the group by a couple of the other guineas. What would cause this? They (6 total) all have been together since they were 1 week old (that's when I bought them). They are now 17 weeks old. They roost in a coop at night and have a large run to play in during the day. They were all getting along until a few weeks ago, one of the guineas just died. I still do not know why he/she died. It was sudden. The rest of the flock are doing fine, except now one hen is constently getting chased away from the group, food, and water. This hen used to be the one incharge. Now she is being kickout.
I realise that the pecking order had to be re-established since they are now down to 5 but it's been 2 weeks and I'm worried that the little hen will not get enough food and water. I put out 2 separate waters and 2 separate food bins but if they see her drinking/eating out of any of them, they chase her.

Is this normal? Will it eventual work itself out? Or do I need to separate her? So far I haven't seen any pecking or fighting, just the flapping of wings and chasing.

 

[Sydney65]

Seems like there's always one. As to why. Lots of theories. A lot of times, the one that gets shunned here is a diff color-lighter. Theory there is they are perceived as a threat to the flock bc they are easier for predators to see. Runts, lame, weaker, sick birds, same deal.
Now, you said you had one die, and the one being bullied was the alpha. At only 17 weeks, sounds like she had her crown taken. They will scrabble with hierarchy for quite sometime until there's a proven alpha, and unless you have no males, it's unlikely that a female will be it. But I'm sure it was fun for her while it lasted.
I've had both males and females be ostracized. We put a ledge up higher and to the side of the roosts for then, bc the others boot them off the roost. Likewise, I put small containers up high for the loner to have food and water. In my case, when the loner is able to go up while the rest are down around the feeders, they don't notice the loner or bother them.
As long as they aren't beating her up, that should give her some piece. If they are physically bullying her, that's a longer process-let me find and repost how I dealt with that instead of retyping.
As long as she's able to eat, drink, etc.this should pass. She will either find her way back in or it will resolve with mating season, or she may prefer to remain a loner (have 2 of those). I had a male once who started fighting back,and then assumed the role of coop monitor. He'd go to the roof at the end of the day and call everyone in. If there were stragglers, he'd find and chase them in. He didn't go in himself until everyone else was in, and then go to his ledge. When he took a mate, she moved on the ledge w/him.
One caveat- it's stressful being bullied. So if you notice differences in her behavior, loose stools, -suspect coccidia. When the brats were about the age of yours, they ganged up & started bullying EVERYONE, including adults. I ended up having to bring Numi back inside and treat her because she was so stressed she ended up with coccidiosis.
Will find and repost my bully experience.-

 

[Sydney65]

Post in thread 'Guinnea Back Damage' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guinnea-back-damage.1605854/post-27350586

 

[SamLockwood]

Guineas are much more quarrelsome than other poultry, and they tend to ratchet up the violence level a lot more quickly. For instance, chickens when they're having pecking order disputes will start out with a peck I call a "tap on the shoulder" which is just enough to get the other bird's attention and then pecking harder and harder until the other bird complies.

I've never seen a guinea peck without removing feathers.

Last year I had what I thought was one cock was bullying the other: some days it looked like there was this constant chase going on. I got worn out just watching them. Then I caught the "victim" turning around and kicking the "bully" whenever the chase stopped, to get it started again.

I have a couple of guinea cocks that seem to like charging other birds just for the hell of it. For a while his favorite game was seeing how high he could make the roosters jump when he "goosed" them from behind (5 feet is the current record). I've seen guinea fights break out for no apparent reason. Everything's quiet and all of a sudden they're beak-fencing.

The other side of the coin is if they're in the right mood, usually in the winter, the flock will break up fights before the escalate too far: they'll either step in between the belligerents or they'll pick a winner and chase the other one off.

They even do this with the chickens in my mixed flock: I had a couple of young roosters that were vying for dominance and if they ever got past the "face off" stage the nearby guineas would start making their soothing noises and intervene.

Guineas are weird.

 

[SamLockwood]

When the brats were about the age of yours, they ganged up & started bullying EVERYONE, including adults.

I second this, at 16 to 20 weeks of age guineas are at their worst. I had the most fights, the most screaming for no reason, and them trying to attack any foreign creature that entered their territory: squirrels, wild birds, my mom's cat.

The three keetagers I added to the flock this summer exhibited similarly bad behavior, although since they were the minority it was limited to them screaming and running away from everything (like human teenagers storming out of the room, yelling "you just don't understand me!").

 

[Scatterjill]

Is it possible to hide a food and water station, like, around a corner or behind a storage bin? That way she can sneak a meal and a drink before they all see her.

If it were me, I would see if there is a leader instigating this behavior and find another home for him/her. Sometimes taking the biggest bully out can help. I had a bully who was a real jerk. When he was gone, everything was calm - mostly

.

I love love love guineas, but I'm not going to let one kill another over dominance issues. I know it's "nature" but most of us keep relatively small flocks compared to the wild, and we already circumvent nature by keeping them at all. It's gotta work for everybody or the offender goes to live somewhere else at my house.

Just my humble opinion.

Edit: All of this assumes the first one died from lack of food and water, which may not be the case. They may work it out just fine...just keep an eye on the hen who is bullied.

My guineas pecked the little one they bullied near to death, she might not make it still, I should have moved her when I noticed them being mean to her

 

[R2elk]

My guineas pecked the little one they bullied near to death, she might not make it still, I should have moved her when I noticed them being mean to her

This thread is from 2012. The person you replied to has not been on BYC since 2015.