Too stupid to live

[Salt and timbers]

Hi friends,

I know that guinea fowl are not the sharpest tools in the shed and that's totally fine, I didn't expect rocket scientists. But of my 10 six week old guineas, 4 seem very dim and one seems too stupid to have any hope of survival. Is this normal? Are some simply too thick to make it?

I have been periodically adding higher perches to their shed as they get bigger and I had one tonight that couldn't seem to understand where it's 9 friends had gone, despite the fact that they we're calling to it. It ended up outside, on the shed roof. I waited patiently for it to jump down and closed the shed up with (idiot) keet number 10 on the floor. Should I just cull this little idiot, or hope that it catches on in time.

Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

Hi friends,

I know that guinea fowl are not the sharpest tools in the shed and that's totally fine, I didn't expect rocket scientists. But of my 10 six week old guineas, 4 seem very dim and one seems too stupid to have any hope of survival. Is this normal? Are some simply too thick to make it?

I have been periodically adding higher perches to their shed as they get bigger and I had one tonight that couldn't seem to understand where it's 9 friends had gone, despite the fact that they we're calling to it. It ended up outside, on the shed roof. I waited patiently for it to jump down and closed the shed up with (idiot) keet number 10 on the floor. Should I just cull this little idiot, or hope that it catches on in time.

Thanks!

Guineas have entirely different instincts than any other poultry. I wouldn't cull a keet just because it didn't do what I thought it should do.

 

[SamLockwood]

I don't find that guinea fowl are any stupider than any other poultry. In fact, they're a lot more predator savvy than my chickens (the bobcat I'm trying to deal with is 0 to 4 on the eating guineas vs eating chickens scorecard).

I do have a couple that are pretty much blind in dim light. If I didn't have motion controlled lights in my coop and run they'd never find their way in.

I have two males that have a habit of sparring and chasing each other, and from time to time one ends up getting chased onto the roof of the coop or run. The usual remedy is to wait until the others are bedded down, push the roof sitter off with a broom, and he walks inside on his own.

 

[Sydney65]

It's less about them being stupid and more about us not knowing more about them. If you dropped me into Africa, or even NYC, I'd probably not be equipped to survive long on my own.
Guineas don't like change, for good reason. Unlike us, they have monovision, so they kind of rely on things being where they always are. If you move their water dispenser every day, you'll have frustrated birds.
They can't see in the dark, so once the sun sets, they're stuck wherever they are until it comes back up, unless we leave a light on.
They weren't meant to be where it's cold and wet. Adults do ok, but if they've keets tagging along through wet grass or chilly mornings, odds are some will succumb.
There's not a lot of info for us to read to learn about them, so learning comes mainly from watching. I've learned a lot just quietly sitting with them while they free range and in the coop when they're broody. Just remember, if you walk through your house and someone has moved your furniture around, you'd be confused too, and that's assuming you don't have monovision.

 

[Mountain Roost]

I love them too....but my guinea committed suicide banging its head against the coop door in order to get in with the other ones. Poor Guy.

They come from Africa and have to be skittish in order to not be food. If I lived somewhere warm, having a Vulturine Guineafowl would be so cool!

 

[R2elk]

Oh I don't mean the noise. Example- I thought I was being sneaky going through eggs from Numi's nest when she wasn't there. A young hen perched on the roost watched me, then hopped down and ran out to the run. Just as fast that hen AND Numi shot back in to coop and took up positions on the nest, glaring at me. Little snitch. There hadn't been a raucous, no one was screaming about the sky falling, but somehow she made it known that I was rifling through Numi's nest.
To us, all PG keets look the same. Try adding a stray to a hen's brood sometime. She knows, and she's not nice about it.

I see people always saying to sneak in new flock members at night or sneaking new little ones under a hen.

In a guinea flock every member of the flock knows every other member of the flock. They know immediately if someone has tried to sneak a new member in. It usually doesn't turn out well for the newcomer.

 

[Amiti]

Hi friends,

I know that guinea fowl are not the sharpest tools in the shed and that's totally fine, I didn't expect rocket scientists. But of my 10 six week old guineas, 4 seem very dim and one seems too stupid to have any hope of survival. Is this normal? Are some simply too thick to make it?

I have been periodically adding higher perches to their shed as they get bigger and I had one tonight that couldn't seem to understand where it's 9 friends had gone, despite the fact that they we're calling to it. It ended up outside, on the shed roof. I waited patiently for it to jump down and closed the shed up with (idiot) keet number 10 on the floor. Should I just cull this little idiot, or hope that it catches on in time.

Thanks!

They are quite dumb... I have watched them pace a 10 foot line of fence that had no ends (was putting it up) long enough to wear a track in the ground. Don't get me wrong, I adore them, but they will watch another get run over and stand there, in the road waiting for the next car..

 

[R2elk]

Despite Guinea fowl appearing to have the lowest IQ of any creature on the planet, somehow they have survived 1000’s of years in a brutal environment. How? I have no freaking idea. Lol

Too many people apply what they know about chickens to other fowl. Guineas have different instincts than any other poultry. Equating instincts to intelligence is wrong.

 

[Sydney65]

Add in the human trait of believing other animals are just "poor dumb animals." We don't understand how they communicate, so they must not communicate. That's our folly. I think a lot of instincts that we once had we've forgotten given to convenience. We have others telling us what to eat, what meds to use, etc. But if those conveniences disappeared tomorrow, few would know what plant to grab for bleeding or upset stomach, or which of those pretty flowers we plant are edible or poisonous. Yet animals romp through flower beds without eating lilies but munching on dandelions. Guineas will bypass onions (or pull them out of the ground), but chow down on the chives next to them. If a hen is dropping shellless eggs and there's borage, spinach or other leafy dark greens around, she knows what to do.
Consider all the ways humans come up with to (incorrectly) do gender identity on guinea fowl. That's why I have a cock named "Mia. See, we aren't that smart. "

 

[R2elk]

Oh...I believe they can communicate. They are NOT shy with their communication

Guineas tend to never shut up. Much of their talk is a quiet melodic sound that is pleasant to listen to..