To get Guineas or not?

[SunHwaKwon]

The chatter is nice but the screaming is not!

 

[HoustonChicks]

Yes guineas (females) are loud, sometimes all day. But they will alarm if a danger is near, also. We love our guineas; have about 11 or so, I'm not really sure because it's difficult to count them all at the same time! They roost with the chickens but are the last to go in at evening. They can hassle chickens at feeding time and I've seen them latch onto tail feathers of roosters. But a curious thing we've seen for a long time is that when 2 roosters are fighting, the whole pack of guineas will come up and walk between the roosters, thus breaking up the fight.It has to be intentional. We started with Pearl and Lavender but have mostly lavender now. They do roam as a pack most of the time. We are very lucky that the neighbors are tolerant of the noise because the sound really carries, but it's part of having guineas and we enjoy it (for the most part). Baby keets are well tolerated by other guineas (from our experience), not like chickens that peck to kill another hen's chicks. It's funny to see the whole bunch of guineas gather around something strange on the ground. I had a rope that might as well have been a giant snake. Their necks were craned far out as they decided what the thing was.One guinea will fluff out and run at my husband, but we've never had any real aggressiveness with people.

 

[PinkyLee]

Here is my noisy flock of 13

. How do I post video?

 

[jak2002003]

Quote:

So I guess my main questions are:

1: is there a problem with keeping all Keats regardless of sex - i.e. Can I have multiple males without issue (I don't want to have to re-home or eat any birds)I
2. I've read they can terrorist chickens, but my girls & boy are massive (Orpington, Australorp and Sussex). Are they still likely to be an issue?
3. How many eggs/ Keats should I give her. They sell eggs by the dozen which sounds like a lot to me.
4. I'm about to get a bee hive, so I'm hoping the Guineas will eat the ants that threaten the hive. But will they also eat the bees (probably a stupid question).
5. For all you Aussies out there - how noisy are they really? We live in the bush with v noisy frogs & kookaburras, so constant noise all around. Are they worse? Do they shout through the night?

Sorry so many questions,

Cheers heaps,

Julia
1. Should not be a problem if they free range... However, male guineas will attack Male roosters when they are mature.

2. My ones did terrorise my chickens. There live fine for about one year.. then the guineas discovered a fun game of surprise chicken attack jump. They would act normally and then suddenly all run a an unsuspecting chicken and one at a time jump on its back and bounce off.. like leapfrog. The poor chickens did not get hurt.. but they got really stressed out and nervous, never knowing when a surprise attack would happen.

3. Big breed chickens could easily hatch out 6 - 8 eggs no problem.. maybe more.

4. They could indeed try to eat the bees.

5. Mine were always quiet in the night. They roost in the trees. The noise will not bother you if you are not bothered by roosters crowing. They can be noisy but only a few time a day.. like when they go up to roost. I never noticed the noise being a problem or annoying.. I liked the sounds.. but neighbours may not like it.

I rehomed my guineas, partly because of them attacking my chickens. and also a lot were getting killed my dogs getting onto my land.

Now I am selling my fancy chickens.. so won't have any to free range.... so am thinking about getting more Guinea fowl.. and my land is dog proof now too.

 

[MissChicks]

I'm not sure if this will post ok, but I took a video of my guinea hen (I just have one,no males) in my bird barn. She is getting along fine with the turkeys and peafowl, and isn't noisy like this all the time. When I talk to her she is noisy tho. Hopefully this will work:

 

[Mysterious]

Wow look at this.

Should I get guinea fowl?

 

[poulet0heureux]

I have guineas as part of a mixed flock - they are weird, and loud, and annoying, and want absolutely nothing to do with me, but I love them and would like to get more. Originally had 8, lost all of my males to a fox. The ladies (nicknamed "The Heathers") boss everybody around, including my rooster, but they haven't attacked or continuously bullied anybody. One thing I would do differently is get different colors - mine are all pearl, beautiful, but eventually kind of boring.

Sometimes it seems like they shout back and forth at each other for the sheer joy of making loud and terrible noises, but I do appreciate their alarms. Most are non-dire, but they have alerted me to people pulling into the driveway and predators (a fox, a dog, and whenever my barn cat shows up).

Sometimes their alerts are hilarious - one time I raked up a pile of leaves to throw in the coop for the chickens to dig through and when I dumped it off the tarp I left it as a pile instead of spreading it out. A little while later I heard a ruckus and jogged out to the coop to find the guineas HIGHLY suspicious of this threatening creature looming in the corner of the coop. They got over it...eventually. Another time I was home sick and went out to do chores in my pajamas and with my hair down. Usually when I do chores I wear the same work clothes and have my hair braided and pinned up. I have very long, very curly, very BIG (think Julia Roberts in the 80's). As soon as I stepped into the coop my guineas PANICKED - screeching at the top of their lungs. It may be a stretch but the only thing I could think of is that they didn't recognize me - stranger danger!

The beasts as babies




Teens



Today.

 

[blkjak]

If the garage door is open at my house, my guineas go in just to amplify their noise. Its deafening!

 

[MMorganE]

I rehomed my three guineas due to NON STOP NOISE! Omg. It was horrible. They looooooved coming onto my back patio, by my sliding glass door and hollaring. I miss them, not the noise. And i will never replace them omg no. Might as well put a scratched and skipping CD on max volume with headphones in.

 

[MMorganE]

I have guineas as part of a mixed flock

Sometimes their alerts are hilarious - 

I couldnt help but noticee you have black baby chicks that look JUST like my 2 week old babies! I am curious...how do they look as adults? Do they get white spota like the one in a bottom picture you posted? Do they keep the white spot on their head? Here is a pic of mine. Thanks!