| User | Post |
|
8:45 am
December 16, 2009
|
Joyce
| | Western WV | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 178 | |
|
|
I got carried away while ordering chickens and ducks last Spring, and ordered four guineas as well. The hatchery was out of the commoner guineas so we got the lavender ones. We just raised them in with the broiler chickens and ducks and they seem ro have done fine. However now they are grown I realize that I have no idea how to tell males from females, I also have no idea how often they lay (presuming at least one is female), also are they likely to lay in the old chicken house where they stay at night with the ducks? The reason I was tempted was because someone told me that they will clean ticks out of an area and the ticks were awful here last Spring. Any information would be of interest they are funny little birds and we do enjoy them, thanks hope everyone has a great day.
|
|
|
12:37 pm
December 16, 2009
|
BuckeyeGirl
| | N.E. Ohio | |
| Admin
| posts 3992 | |
|
|
Well, it's NOT easy!  It's more a series of clues with guineas.
Their call is different, males only make a single syllable call. Females have a combination call. Yeah I know it's not easy to be sure who's doing what there, but I've heard female's call described as them saying "Buckwheat! Buckwheat!", or "Come-Back! Come-Back!" etc. that sort of call.
Males also have slightly bigger wattles, again, hard to tell.
Often, (another that's hard to be sure of IMO but…) often, males' helmets are bigger too.
Also, males usually have a more upright stance, females sort of crouch and 'hug' the ground more, that one is usually easiest for me to go by, but takes some watching.
Can I tell you more specifically than that? Nnnnoooo.  (so sorry!)
|
If tomatoes are a fruit, then isn’t ketchup technically a
smoothie?
|
|
|
1:32 pm
December 16, 2009
|
Pete
| | WV | |
| Moderator
| posts 7875 | |
|
|
Guineas have been discussed around here quite a bit from time to time, but I don't remember that particular question! You might find some useful info by doing a search up toward the top on the left just using the word "Guinea."
Now it looks like I'm just being lazy! We usually try to provide a link for information folks ask about. In this case, you would likely enjoy what others have said about them and get more worthwhile information that way.
|
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
|
|
|
2:48 pm
December 16, 2009
|
Maud
| | Virginia | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 180 | |
|
|
http://www.shadyhollowfarm.com…..eetid.html
"The only true way to tell the sexes apart is that one lays eggs and the other doesn't"
Oh, dear. That quote is from the above link I posted.
http://www.guineafowl.com/frit…..as/sexing/
|
Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ~Ambrose Bierce
|
|
|
6:26 am
December 17, 2009
|
Joyce
| | Western WV | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 178 | |
|
|
I will be looking to see which guineas are standing on their tippytoes this morning when I feed, and of course what they are yelling (and they sure do yell) I probably should have looked up info through the net, but really love to hear from folks who have been there, done that. Thanks so much.
|
|
|
8:15 pm
December 17, 2009
|
farmershae
| | Happy Valley, OR | |
| Big Chicken | posts 13 | |
|
|
Hi Joyce, We had 2 guineas for just over a year and we loved them dearly. They ended up as owl prey, but we plan on having many more in the future when we can better protect them from those beautiful, blood-thirsty owls….
We raised ours up with our laying flock chicks – we got the keets and the chicks at the same time and they were the same age. They free-ranged with the flock and everyone came home at night to roost. The guineas were usually the last ones in, and would have a tendency to call in the chickens if they thought it was getting too late for them (I have to assume that is what they were doing, otherwise, they were just crazy…) We were very lucky that the guineas behaved almost exactly as the chickens did, roosting in the chicken house and laying in the nest boxes. We have a friend that raised hers the exact same way (treating them like chickens and raising them with her laying chicks) and they went the more standard 'wild' route of roosting in the trees and laying a clutch of eggs in the fields. I can't figure out why hers did one thing and ours did the other, but it sounds like yours are coming home at night and that is a habit that I would encourage. (on nice summer nights, ours tried to sleep out in the orchard, but we herded them back into the chicken house)
When we got ours, we searched all over the internet to try to figure out how to sex them. It seemed to us that the most definitive way to tell (other than girls laying eggs) is the call. Both sexes will have the alert call, which I do not know how to describe – screechy, panicked bird screams? But only the hens have the "buckwheat" call.
Both of our guineas were girls, and we were getting 1 egg a day from them both (so one every other day from the individual hens.) They were a bit larger than the chicken eggs, dappled and slightly pointed. The shells were also much thicker than the chicken eggs. Our friend swears that they are better to bake with.
We miss ours a lot – give yours a hug for me, lol. Let me know if you have any other questions – I could talk about guineas all day long! 
Farmer Shae
|
|
|
10:17 am
April 23, 2010
|
BuckeyeGirl
| | N.E. Ohio | |
| Admin
| posts 3992 | |
|
|
With all the talk about Guineas around here, I found this thread again! I can't wait till the one's I ordered hatch. I'm getting them from some people nearby who only hatch if they have an order. I think they're afraid they'll be overrun if the do it the other way around! 
|
If tomatoes are a fruit, then isn’t ketchup technically a
smoothie?
|
|
|
10:28 am
April 23, 2010
|
Pete
| | WV | |
| Moderator
| posts 7875 | |
|
|
Ooooh! Thanks for bringing this back to the front, BG! Our keets just yesterday started "standing tall!" It is soooo adorable. But, one remains erect while the other stands tall, looks around then settles back into more of a chicken stance. Maybe we DO have a pair!
|
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
|
|
Contact
Login 
Register 
Search 
Home
Topic RSS 
