Submissive posture?

[11squawkers]

Hello,
I have been looking through the forums for a while and haven't found anything on this and just curious to find out what this means. I visit with my Guineas several times a day and sometimes when I touch my Guineas backs to pet them they will crouch down put their head down touching the ground and spread their wings, seriously funny! Especially when it happens when they are on the roost and their head just dangles there and they look like they are dead or passed out cold!
Very funny birds! But this is my first time raising Guineas and wondering if this is just a submissive posture letting me know they think I am top bird or does this mean they are females taking a mating position and this can tell me which are female? (Still trying to figure out which are male and which are female) Or will all do this? As so far I have gotten 5 of my Guineas to do this before I lost track of who I tested out of the 7 I have. They are about 9 weeks old and are really quite amusing!!

 

[PeepsCA]

That is the posture/position the Hens use when they want to be bred, but females are not sexually mature until they are 1-16 wks old. It's also a submissive posture that I have seen done by both sexes in my flocks, usually young birds submitting to older birds... but I would not count on it being a reliable way of determining their sex tho.

If you hear and see any of them doing the 2-syllable buck-wheat call, those are 100% positively females, because the males do not make that call. At 9 wks old the females should be buck-wheating quite a bit by now (and it only gets worse from here, lol).

 

[11squawkers]

Well hmm :/ darn, was hoping that would help me determine their sex. I do hear a lot of the two syllable sounds but still not sure of how many are making that call. But hey if they are being submissive to me that's a good thing right? Better than having them upset or attack me when I visit! Thanks a lot for the info PeepsCA, you are relatively close in location to me and I have gotten other really helpful info from some of your other posts. I have really enjoyed being a member of this site because of all the great information, helpful members, and the quick responses to questions.

 

[PeepsCA]

Yes being submissive (and tame) is always a huge plus when it comes to Guineas. The males will start getting "cocky" with their flood of raging hormones really soon tho, and they might do a 180 on you and not be so submissive any more. Some males can be quite full of themselves

A good way to figure out who the buck-wheaters are is to separate one bird at a time, away from the others/out of their site. If it's a little Hen she will start buck-wheating right away (you might have to stay out of their site too, so that a little separation anxiety sets in and they start calling). If they buck-wheat you can put a colored zip tie (or a combo of colors) on her leg/legs if you want, so that you can keep track of who is who. Make sure to put them on loose enough to allow for a little more growth, but not so loose that they come off. And you may need to change them out if they start to get snug, so be sure to keep an eye on them. Depending on the brand I buy, they usually last a yr or so on my adults before they degrade in the sun and come off on their own.

Oh and sometimes Hens can be late bloomers on the buck-wheating, so don't assume just because a bird does not buck-wheat when you try the separation method that it's a male... I usually wait and give those another try in another week or 2.

 

[11squawkers]

That's an awesome idea! I will definitely do both the separation to listen to the calls and band them various colors so I can keep better track of who is who since they all look alike, with the exception of the one I call Scrappy since a few weeks ago when they did their "cage fighting" to figure out their pecking order one lost a waddle