Question about sexing Guineas

[buggymuffin]

Hi we have 10 guinea fowl about a month apart in age, 5 we purchased around Memorial Day and 5 more we got the end of June and we are trying to figure out our male to female ratio. I have tried listening to their calls, but they make so much noise, that doesn't help. So I have two questions. First do they all make the chattering noise? That is definitely the most common sound. I only know of one of them making the "buckwheat" sound for sure, but I know others are, just not sure which ones. Mostly they get to chattering and it sounds like about a 100 raccoons in my front yard.

Second, how reliable is looking at the wattles? Does it vary by color? The 5 older guineas consist of 3 pearled and 2 white. One of the pearled guineas has very distinctive long wattles (that flap around when it runs) while the other 4 all have smaller wattles and they all look the same. I am thinking that the one is a male and the others are females, but I am not sure if that is reliable or not. Is it possible that the wattles on the white ones would develop differently? The younger ones (2 white, 3 lavender) haven't really developed wattles yet.

 

[HeyHey]

any buckwheat sound is a girl and yes the boys have longer waddles I have 6 and got 5 girls and 1 boy. If you cane hold them and get them away from the others it will make it's call back to the others, either buckwheat or chi chi chi

 

[Leaguinea]

Their call is the most reliable way to tell the sex.
Both male and female make the one syllable chi chi (alarm) call but only the female make the two syllable buckwheat call.
Some say the wattles on the male are bigger but I have a male with small wattles.
There is a difference in looks once they mature, they have different mannerisms and once you spot those it will be easier to tell the difference. The male also will grow slightly larger than the female. In the picture below the one on the left is a male and the other 2 are female. They are about 14 months, they free ranged for a while but each got injured in some way (the male lost a toe somehow, the pearled female lost her tail and the white is blind in one eye) so I caught them and locked them in the hutch.
The males also seem more alert than the females the females don't last long on free range.
Not sure if this helps you out any.

 

[buggymuffin]

Catching them isn't going to happen. I have a hard enough time catching the ducks. ;P
I can usually make out one of them doing the buckwheat call, but that's only because she will do in non stop for about 5 minutes straight. The others intermix it with the chattering so you can't figure out who the sound is coming from. As long as I have a decent balance, I guess it doesn't matter too much.

One other question, when looking for sexing information, I came across a website that said that guineas are monogamous and mate for life. Is that true? I hadn't seen that anywhere else when researching them.

 

[R2elk]

One other question, when looking for sexing information, I came across a website that said that guineas are monogamous and mate for life. Is that true? I hadn't seen that anywhere else when researching them.

There are many that make that claim. In my experience, they often do seem paired for life but they are definitely not monogamous. The males in particular are not monogamous. If they lose their chosen mate, they will choose another mate.

In my flock, every spring when breeding season starts, the hens choose the males. By the end of breeding season those pairs are often no longer together as the dominant males will take hens away from lesser males.

My most dominant Coral Blue cock originally paired with a Coral Blue hen and part way through the breeding season he took his buddy's lavender hen also. That of course caused the buddy to take a Coral Blue hen away from a Powder Blue cock. The Powder Blue then proceeded to make sneak breedings with any of the hens causing the Coral Blue boys to be constantly beating on him.

Some people have pairs that are inseparable all year long and not just during breeding season. Others have hens that hang together and males that hang together when it isn't breeding season.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I think we have hillbilly guineas or something. Everyone talks about the "buckwheat" call but I swear ours sounds exactly like they're saying "butt crack" instead.

 

[justin shrew]

it has been studied and investigated out in the kruger national park,in africa1948 with the caught species of african guineafowl to determined the bond between two sexes year round. " guineafowl are totally monogamous and pair for life, during the theory of cross breedings, it has been noted out that, on the gene flow, not all characteristic were becomed the positioned of the true guinea

yes they are mono...because todd and nun paired off a from non breeding to molting,feeding, to next breeding seasons. althought some males seemed to change hens every season.

 

[R2elk]

it has been studied and investigated out in the kruger national park,in africa1948 with the caught species of african guineafowl to determined the bond between two sexes year round. " guineafowl are totally monogamous and pair for life, during the theory of cross breedings, it has been noted out that, on the gene flow, not all characteristic were becomed the positioned of the true guinea

yes they are mono...because todd and nun paired off a from non breeding to molting,feeding, to next breeding seasons. althought some males seemed to change hens every season.

I have personal experience and can guarantee you that guineas, especially the cocks, are not monogamous. Too often people doing studies have preconceived ideas that they use to set up studies to promote their viewpoint.

There may be some guineas that pair for life but not all guineas pair for life and guineas that lose their mate will seek and take another mate.

 

[BlueShadow]

it has been studied and investigated out in the kruger national park,in africa1948 with the caught species of african guineafowl to determined the bond between two sexes year round. " guineafowl are totally monogamous and pair for life, during the theory of cross breedings, it has been noted out that, on the gene flow, not all characteristic were becomed the positioned of the true guinea

yes they are mono...because todd and nun paired off a from non breeding to molting,feeding, to next breeding seasons. althought some males seemed to change hens every season.

My males are definitely NOT monogamous. I have two trios running around, one male with 2 females. Also, about half of the males, when their hen starts sitting on a nest, go off and find a new female. This resulted in a trio of all males running around and causing chaos.

The females may be more likely to be mongamous, but I cannot say with certainty. I did have one female this year who refused to pair up with any male, and never did pair (until a predator got her). She was an older hen from last year, so she may have been the hen that lost her mate last year. That, however, is pure speculation, because I can't identify all the lav guineas individually very well.

 

[BlueShadow]

As for the OP original question, as has been said, the call is by far the most reliable, especially at their current age. The wattles will continue to change as they grow and mature. I have found it is easier to positively identify males by wattles than females. With my guineas, many of the males do have long wattles although some are fairly short. Wattle color seems to have a lot more to do with maturity, hormone levels, and general health than gender. The female wattles will turn more orange when they are setting. I have a pair of guineas that is very low ranking and doesn't get the access to supplemental feed like the rest, both male and female have more orange wattles and just a more pale coloration on their heads.

You also can look at the knobs on their heads, as they mature, the males will get a bit larger knobs. I find this to be even less reliable than wattles, however, as there is a lot more variation in size, some males will have smaller knobs and some females will have larger.

Once spring comes and breeding season starts, then you will know for sure. Behavior is a really easy way to tell, the males always fluff up their feathers as they run around so they look bigger, trying to intimidate the other males and impress females.