Too many boys?

[SamCO]

Last spring we got 6 guinea fowl. (3 white, 3 pearl). based on their calls only, it seems I have 5males and 1 female. (there are several with small, flat wattles that look female, but I’ve never heard the two syllable call from them. im thinking of getting some more birds so that I can hopefully get more females. Any recommendations for what to do with the extra males? Are male dominant flocks typically a problem? They free range with our 25 chickens on 2acres and are slightly pesky with our chickens when snacks/food is around but otherwise are fine. They roost in a secure coop/run at night. Anyone with Guinea experience have advice? Leave the six as is or get some more to try to even out the genders? Also anyone have hints on how to be sure of the males in case we need to get rid of a few? Thinking of ordering some various colors from guineafarm and then selling off the extras.

 

[R2elk]

Last spring we got 6 guinea fowl. (3 white, 3 pearl). based on their calls only, it seems I have 5males and 1 female. (there are several with small, flat wattles that look female, but I’ve never heard the two syllable call from them. im thinking of getting some more birds so that I can hopefully get more females. Any recommendations for what to do with the extra males? Are male dominant flocks typically a problem? They free range with our 25 chickens on 2acres and are slightly pesky with our chickens when snacks/food is around but otherwise are fine. They roost in a secure coop/run at night. Anyone with Guinea experience have advice? Leave the six as is or get some more to try to even out the genders? Also anyone have hints on how to be sure of the males in case we need to get rid of a few? Thinking of ordering some various colors from guineafarm and then selling off the extras.

Yes, try to get more females to add to your flock.

While not ideal, 5 males to one hen will not be harmful to the hen. The dominant male will take her as his mate. The other males will help protect her.

 

[SamLockwood]

They're not prone to the same behavior problems roosters are: they won't over-mate hens, and you won't get one male that wants all the hens to himself and tries to run off or kill all his rivals. Guineas have a whole other set of behavior problems.

The worst problems you'll have is when they set the intial pecking order, mine bloodied each other quite a bit that first spring. After that, they tend to save their worst violence for intruders.

You may have more hens than you think: the wattles aren't really a great indicator. At any given time about a third of my guinea hens have "male" looking wattles. Not all the females are always chatty. Right now out of the 7 guinea hens I have only two call on a regular basis.

Watching how they behave when they forage is a good indicator: males will either sit down or stand up and keep watch while the females forage. When it gets to egg-laying season the boys will keep watch over their mate's nest.

Egg producdtion is a good indicator. Guineas have a shorter egg-laying season but mine tend to lay an egg every day when they're laying, so your daily egg-haul is a pretty good indicator for how many hens you really have.

I'd second getting more guineas, though. They do better in larger groups. I've never had less than 11 and I'm hoping to expand my flock to 20 regular members this year.