Month old guineas. When to sex? When to clip wings?

[cupman]

I bought four guineas from the feed store about a month ago and had a few questions:

1) What age should I begin clipping their wings?

2) They were straight run when I purchased them.. at what age is it easy to determine males/females?

3) When age should I put them into my chicken coop with my other birds?

Thanks

 

[Kevin565]

I bought four guineas from the feed store about a month ago and had a few questions:

1) What age should I begin clipping their wings?

Are they going to be free ranging? If so you may consider keeping feathers in tact. If you are going to always be clipping wings all the time I say start young. It's alot harder to start when there almost adults because they can be very defensive and those nails can easily scar you.

2) They were straight run when I purchased them.. at what age is it easy to determine males/females?

Calls should change around 8 weeks
3) When age should I put them into my chicken coop with my other birds?

What other birds are there and how big of a size difference?
Thanks

 

[perchie.girl]

I don't clip. If you want them to free range then they need those wings for self preservation. But if you have to now would be good. Even with one wing clipped they still can fly. I would clip both wings though on each bird so that when they do fly they can fly evenly.

You will already be getting hints. Males just peep .... peep peep peep peep. Females you will hear a pattern..... peep peep... peep peep.... peep peep... Though figuring out which one is making that noise is not so easy.

But really its not too much of a problem having 50 50 mix of males and females because they aren't like chickens. In the wild they pair off. If there are more males the males will form a bachelor flock.

Hearing BuckWheat is the definitive way to tell females. but that wont be for a while by the time they are BuckWheating you will see a physical difference from male to female. Females tend to walk more hunched tail down and more horizontal. Males carry themselves more up right and straighter. Technically males watttles stick out too females lay flat. But I have one female whos wattles look just like a male and one female that I have NEVER heard a buck wheet
If they are fully feathered they can go in. Just realize that they are much much more active than the chickens. Give them their own perch space They will prefer to roost as high as they can get. They will also still need to be on game bird starter too probably till they are five to six weeks old. Guineas need the higher protien in game bird 28% because they grow so much faster the first six weeks.

Hope this helps

deb