Quick!! How loud is a guinea hen compared to a small (like OEGB) bantam roo?

[bantyshanty]

Okay.... I Want Guineas!!! I'm a little on the fence. My DH has recently agreed this is a good idea (yay! fire up the incubator

)
I'm about to bid on guinea eggs, currently on auction, unless someone tells me than raising 1-2 hens with a broody Silkie hen & cooping them up at night with the flock is insane.

Here are the considerations:

0- my one -acre- away neighbors can hear them & I'm semi-suburban (with no poultry or farming ordinance)

1--they'll be inside a secure coop at night, and in a large run & tractored the majority of the day (unfortunately)

2--the neighbors couldn't care less about the 4 bantam roos who crow --1 from inside my house!

3- there's a lot of loud traffic & industrial stuff around here anyway

4- I have no backyard neighbors, just acres of forest, and there are a ton of bugs & weeds to eat, & undergrowth (rhodies to hide in year round.)

Good to raise a couple guinea hens?

 

[Tressa27884]

I don't have any; I considered them and was told they scream really REALLY loud all the time. So it was a no go for me. Check you tube for videos - you'll get an idea from there...

 

[bantyshanty]

Thanks, that was quick, indeed. I did listen to them on the videos on You tube, and the females didn't seem too loud, but then, it may be my speakers. When their calls echo through the valley, is it still not too loud? Just two hens?

I have a couple Ameraucanas who have get terribly loud complaining when they're broody and some other hen sits on their eggs to lay. They run out of the coop wailing , which is way-way- waay louder than all my roosters crowing.

Can guinea hens be worse?


Update; okay, so I'm getting some anyway

 

[Tressa27884]

Was there ever any doubt?!

Quote:

 

[KrisH]

buy the neighbors neighbors one or more of the following

1) earplugs

2) Loud Mototrcycle

3) Very loud stereo with BIG Bass Speaker (They might make themselves Deaf)

4) Jet Engine

it might help draw some of the attention away from your guinea noise and to the other neighbors house.


We love our guineas, but they have quite a bit to say for themselves, and they yell it for everyone to hear.

RobertH

Thanks, that was quick, indeed. I did listen to them on the videos on You tube, and the females didn't seem too loud, but then, it may be my speakers. When their calls echo through the valley, is it still not too loud? Just two hens?

I have a couple Ameraucanas who have get terribly loud complaining when they're broody and some other hen sits on their eggs to lay. They run out of the coop wailing , which is way-way- waay louder than all my roosters crowing.

Can guinea hens be worse?


Update; okay, so I'm getting some anyway

 

[Lollipop]

buy the neighbors neighbors one or more of the following

1) earplugs

2) Loud Mototrcycle

3) Very loud stereo with BIG Bass Speaker (They might make themselves Deaf)

4) Jet Engine

it might help draw some of the attention away from your guinea noise and to the other neighbors house.


We love our guineas, but they have quite a bit to say for themselves, and they yell it for everyone to hear.

RobertH

Ha Ha, you're getting some anyway?? LOL. Guineas ARE louder than most roosters, but it's not so much the "loud", it's the constant chatter at the top of their lungs. The females are MUCH more obnoxious than the males and seem to NEVER shut up. That is until they mature, then they shut up "sometimes". That said, guineas are truly a trip. The clowns of the barnyard, or backyard. They do roam far and wide, so all your neighbors within a mile will become familiar with your guineas. When they mature they will stay closer to home. Get more than you want if they will free range, because predators hide behind every bush. The smart ones will survive, but it takes 6 guineas to make one brain. I love my guineas and hope to hatch more this year. I started with my second batch of 20 about 2 years ago and now have the three smart ones left. Only one hen, though. Every nest they start in the yard/woods is destroyed by predators. This year I hope to find the nest early and collect some eggs for a chicken to hatch. Wish us both luck......Pop

 

[HoustonChicks]

I have silkies and bantams....waaay too many roosters. We currently have 7 guineas; 3 mature hens & 4 "teenagers." Guineas are so, so, so much louder than roosters or any kind of noise chickens can make. They yell all day, they become separated and sit there and yell instead of joining back up with the group, they yell when they see "invisible" things that alarm them. But we love our guineas; they are so much fun. I'm glad you decided to go ahead with guineas. It sounds like your home is suited for the sound levels. I have neighbors closeby, but there is no ordinance and everybody puts up with whatever goes on. I try to soothe neighbors with free eggs, also! We raised our first guineas with chicks from the hatchery and all were fine. If we have new chicks or chickens now, the big guineas will peck at the wire for quite a while til enough time has gone by to be accepted. Two baby ducks got into our yard and the older guineas took off after them and I think they would have hurt them if we had not been there. Our guineas follow us around, meet my car at the gate when I come home, and are intensely interested with whatever I'm doing in the yard. We think guineas are great, and I hope you find your experience the same, just learn to put up with the eternal yelling! Actually, it seemed that they quieted down later in the summer, but now we have these younger ones. I'm waiting to see if they pair up.

 

[tinybarnfarm]

Ha Ha, you're getting some anyway?? LOL. Guineas ARE louder than most roosters, but it's not so much the "loud", it's the constant chatter at the top of their lungs. The females are MUCH more obnoxious than the males and seem to NEVER shut up. That is until they mature, then they shut up "sometimes". That said, guineas are truly a trip. The clowns of the barnyard, or backyard. They do roam far and wide, so all your neighbors within a mile will become familiar with your guineas. When they mature they will stay closer to home. Get more than you want if they will free range, because predators hide behind every bush. The smart ones will survive, but it takes 6 guineas to make one brain. I love my guineas and hope to hatch more this year. I started with my second batch of 20 about 2 years ago and now have the three smart ones left. Only one hen, though. Every nest they start in the yard/woods is destroyed by predators. This year I hope to find the nest early and collect some eggs for a chicken to hatch. Wish us both luck......Pop

So at what age do they mature and shut up "sometimes"?

 

[PeepsCA]

Mine quiet down SOME by their 2nd spring, after they've been around here for a year or so and know all the sights, sounds and normal daily excitement on my ranch. My older birds will still sound off about anything out of the ordinary, and the Hens buckwheat quite a bit Spring thru late Fall... but it's not a non-stop thing like it is with the younger birds. They are still never completely quiet tho, lol.

 

[Lollipop]

Mine quiet down SOME by their 2nd spring, after they've been around here for a year or so and know all the sights, sounds and normal daily excitement on my ranch. My older birds will still sound off about anything out of the ordinary, and the Hens buckwheat quite a bit Spring thru late Fall... but it's not a non-stop thing like it is with the younger birds. They are still never completely quiet tho, lol.

So at what age do they mature and shut up "sometimes"?

There ya go. Peeps answered your question. Ya do get used to the racket and even come to enjoy it.....sometimes, LOL. Guineas don't eat much if they free range and they eat EVERY kind of insect, incuding mice and small snakes. I got mine for tick control, with the added bonus of scorpions, moths, yellow jackets, etc. What a pleasure that is. The ones I had in FL also worked good on flies and mosquitoes. They are worth every bit of racket they produce. besides, they are the funniest most entertaining critters you can have. Never mind that it takes 6 of them to make one brain, I love'm anyway.......Pop