Ostracized guinea

[Fcarter]

I saw the posts about guineas being picked on but it didn't really apply to my question. All of a sudden today 1 guinea is not allowed to socialize with the other 4. They don't peck or bite but just turn on her til she runs. They are 5 months old, raised together, and have always been very close. They allow her to be within 8 to 10 ft of the group. I feel so bad for her but don't know what I can do. Is this normal? Will they work through it? She isn't sick or injured so I'm unsure of the problem and what will help. The group seems distant of me as well. They have always run to greet me but now they ignore me.
Thanks.

 

[Sydney65]

I saw the posts about guineas being picked on but it didn't really apply to my question. All of a sudden today 1 guinea is not allowed to socialize with the other 4. They don't peck or bite but just turn on her til she runs. They are 5 months old, raised together, and have always been very close. They allow her to be within 8 to 10 ft of the group. I feel so bad for her but don't know what I can do. Is this normal? Will they work through it? She isn't sick or injured so I'm unsure of the problem and what will help. The group seems distant of me as well. They have always run to greet me but now they ignore me.
Thanks.

Believe it or not, more of it probably does apply than you think,depending on which thread you were in, bc this comes up a lot.
Many of us have had the odd one out. You have 5 guineas who are 5 months old, & one female is being shut out.
You don't mention the gender of the other 4. Even though breeding season is many months off, I remember once lamenting that mine wldnt let one join in any reindeer games...or eat with them, roost w/them, free range, etc.
I remember my mother saying it was my fault bc he was my "favorite" (he wasn't) and I spent more time "training" him (I didn't). In reality I got used to holding my arm out to give him a respite to land on when they were chasing him, and he spent more time w/me bc-who else was he going to hang out with?
I think @R2elk once said that sometimes it rotates who's ostracized based on changing hierarchy of the flock- the alpha male and female might stay the same, or change to a new cpl. In my case, Nugg was a brat & the flock was fed up, I think.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I saw the posts about guineas being picked on but it didn't really apply to my question. All of a sudden today 1 guinea is not allowed to socialize with the other 4. They don't peck or bite but just turn on her til she runs. They are 5 months old, raised together, and have always been very close. They allow her to be within 8 to 10 ft of the group. I feel so bad for her but don't know what I can do. Is this normal? Will they work through it? She isn't sick or injured so I'm unsure of the problem and what will help. The group seems distant of me as well. They have always run to greet me but now they ignore me.
Thanks.

Poultry in general are hard on each other, and guineas are especially rough. When I had a flock of nine guinea fowl, with only one cock, there were several ostracized females. They were still part of the flock, but they were driven off if they got too close to the dominant birds (which makes roosting in the coop all kinds of fun…).

Now that my flock is bigger, there are several hens that are designated by the flock as low ranking, fringe girls. They seem to have a job as sentries, as all are very watchful, hanging out on the periphery. I also have two cocks that are “fringe birds”, but not as low ranked as those three fringe girls. So, that makes five birds out of 19 adults that stay in the edges of the flock, somewhat more spread out and always seem to be looking out for danger.

Based on my experiences, I’m guessing it’s a flock mechanism for designating sentries. These sentries do change somewhat year to year, though my current three gals have been in this role for two years. Two other fringe girls go back and forth as main vs fringe group. Right now both are in the main group, but are still more sentries than the other main flock birds.

A whole different category for me is a shunned bird. These are birds that the flock seems to want rid of completely. They are very cruel to the shunned bird and may attack it as a group or attack any time they can see the bird, even from a distance. These are the birds that I worry will be killed by the flock. Shunned birds are very nervous about going in the coop and may try to roost in a tree nearby instead. I do see some overlap between shunned and fringe birds. So far, my shunned birds have somehow gotten accepted back into the flock with time, usually over a few weeks, but I’ve had to offer them separate and secret food and work hard to get them into the coop at night until that happens.

 

[Fcarter]

Well, all is back to normal this morning. The group is a group once again. Hope it stays that way. Thanks everyone!

 

[Sydney65]

The lone guinea is female and the others are : 1 male, 2 females and the other I'm not totally sure about but might be a male. Could they have paired up and left her out?

I looked at as kids playing house; the girls would make nests and sit in them w/nothing in them, the boys wld guard them while they did..until they got bored. But at the end of the day, they all returned to the coop.
But the ones that paired up to "play house" weren't the ones they ended up mating w/the following season.
In the mean time, it was a mild winter so I was out in the yard a lot, & Nug would follow me around. When it came time to mate forvreal, Nug did just fine.

 

[Sydney65]

I know to treat or not to treat is controversial, but not wanting birds bullied isn't. One thing I've seen recommended for that other poultry commonly seen on farms is entertainment/distraction/
alleviating boredom to deter pecking, bullying & cannibalism.
Most of these ideas involve food, unfortunately, bc the distraction is pecking & scratching. One is called a flock block, but mostly geared for chickens (although what's bad for goons wld seemingly be bad for chickens?).
Anyway, curious what you all think of ingredients in this. Personally I thought red millet was a no no, but I cld be misinformed.
https://www.chewy.com/farmers-helpe...uyAqs1sj8CH0mpVCnnSMpnpIecuLhc1gaAhxxEALw_wcB

I don't have a bullying problem at the moment, but I like the idea of keeoing them engaged when it's crummy outside.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I know to treat or not to treat is controversial, but not wanting birds bullied isn't. One thing I've seen recommended for that other poultry commonly seen on farms is entertainment/distraction/
alleviating boredom to deter pecking, bullying & cannibalism.
Most of these ideas involve food, unfortunately, bc the distraction is pecking & scratching. One is called a flock block, but mostly geared for chickens (although what's bad for goons wld seemingly be bad for chickens?).
Anyway, curious what you all think of ingredients in this. Personally I thought red millet was a no no, but I cld be misinformed.
https://www.chewy.com/farmers-helper-optimal-foragecake/dp/248650?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=f&utm_content=Farmers' Helper&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1eLFpVwj3dO-ux5iJ_PFnSuyAqs1sj8CH0mpVCnnSMpnpIecuLhc1gaAhxxEALw_wcB

I don't have a bullying problem at the moment, but I like the idea of keeoing them engaged when it's crummy outside.

Since mine are free-ranging, I like to spread some white millet around to give the guineas something to do and give an incentive to stay close. Unfortunately, the price of white millet has gone through the roof in our area, from around $14/50 lb to $35/50 lb, so I won’t be giving out much white millet. Our local mill’s poultry scratch contains red millet, plus whole oats, wheat, and cracked corn. I buy that in winter and spread it around the chicken run to entertain our chickens. I sometimes give it to the guineas too, but they don’t like the corn much. I think they will be getting the scratch with red millet more unless the white millet price comes down…

As for flock blocks, I’ve give them to the chickens a few times. My main problem with them is that they go moldy if they get wet. Plus, I worry that they attract rodents and the meaner chickens can guard the flock block. I think I like scattering scratch better…

 

[R2elk]

I know to treat or not to treat is controversial, but not wanting birds bullied isn't. One thing I've seen recommended for that other poultry commonly seen on farms is entertainment/distraction/
alleviating boredom to deter pecking, bullying & cannibalism.
Most of these ideas involve food, unfortunately, bc the distraction is pecking & scratching. One is called a flock block, but mostly geared for chickens (although what's bad for goons wld seemingly be bad for chickens?).
Anyway, curious what you all think of ingredients in this. Personally I thought red millet was a no no, but I cld be misinformed.
https://www.chewy.com/farmers-helper-optimal-foragecake/dp/248650?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=f&utm_content=Farmers' Helper&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1eLFpVwj3dO-ux5iJ_PFnSuyAqs1sj8CH0mpVCnnSMpnpIecuLhc1gaAhxxEALw_wcB

I don't have a bullying problem at the moment, but I like the idea of keeoing them engaged when it's crummy outside.

That is definitely made for chickens. I don't know where you heard red millet is bad. The most common thing I hear about millet is that guineas prefer white millet as a treat.

What concerns me about the nutrition information is that they do not list the fat content. They are adding sunflower oil and shelled sunflower seeds which = fat.

If your guineas will go for it, hang a head cabbage at head level and let them peck at that.

 

[Sydney65]

That is definitely made for chickens. I don't know where you heard red millet is bad. The most common thing I hear about millet is that guineas prefer white millet as a treat.

What concerns me about the nutrition information is that they do not list the fat content. They are adding sunflower oil and shelled sunflower seeds which = fat.

If your guineas will go for it, hang a head cabbage at head level and let them peck at that.

Yeah, I tried that and they ignored it-odd, bc they eat individual cabbage leaves. I did see a recipe to make your own block; I guess we could come up w/healthier version for guineas? Mb it was just that they prefer white millet.
Another was to put the scratch in a water bottle with holes poked in it. I got them one of those yellow Likket balls once, but nothing I could think of was big enough to not just fall out of the holes in it.
For Numi, I put holes on 4 sides of a clear container and fit small silicone funnels in each side. I put her food inside of it so she can run in and out. Did a poor job cutting the funnels; I was going for the gallon bucket feeder concept, but this is entertaining. Lol.
The last batch had fun going through a tunnel made from an oats container,so I'll need to get her one of those.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for your story. I've only ever had two guineas, male and female, at a time. After my last hen was killed by a predator, I got two hens b/c I thought it would make Mr Guinea happy and I'd have a spare in case of losing one. To my surprise and dismay, Mr Guinea paired up strongly with one but is hostile to the other. I tried advertising her to find her a happier home but no takers. So I've been hoping that she will eventually be accepted. The chicken hens are usually OK with her but sometimes pick on her, too. She is very lonely and unhappy. I've been keeping everyone penned up for fear she'll run off and to help them get used to her. At dusk, she has to wait until Mr. Guinea roosts before going into the coop because he is like the troll on the bridge- whenever she approaches the door, he runs out and runs her off. I've been thinking of getting another female for her to pal around with. Do you think that would work?

It would be better to get another male rather than a female. Guineas tend to pair up, one hen to one male. Not all males will accept more than one hen.

You do not have nearly enough guineas for them to have proper flock dynamics. They are flock birds and their behavior does not match that of any other poultry.