AGGRESSIVE GUINEAS (bonus turkey question)

[JessMay]

Last year I purchased four guinea keets and six turkeys. They’re all full grown now, but recently I started to notice some behavioral issues. I raised the turkeys and guineas together, and then introduced them to my flock of ten chickens and one rooster. I am now down to two guineas ( 1 male, 1 female) and five turkeys (2 toms 3 hens) About 1-2 months ago I started to notice my hens were bald in some spots.. mostly they’re backs and tail feathers.. I thought maybe since the weather is warming up they’re getting ready for summer.. until I saw the guineas latching onto the hens backs and chasing them through the yard. They free range on some days if it’s a nice day. Then they started doing it to my rooster and ripping his feathers out. The strange thing is that the turkey hens will start attacking the guineas (pecking, chasing) and then they start spurring eachother. I’m getting very frustrated because the guineas are so aggressive to the point where the hens are afraid to go into the coop at night. I’ve started to kick them out and make them sleep in the trees. Is this normal behavior and is there a fix? I’m starting to think I either need to cull or get rid of the guineas so my other birds can be happy.. although if there’s a chance I’d like to keep them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S (if anyone is educated on turkeys) I have a second question about my toms.. figured I’d post it on this thread just in case. For the past three days they have been in a constant show down.. I mean they have NOT let up on fighting. They usually get along very well and I’ve never seen any aggression in them. They have been grabbing eachother and literally RIPPING eachothers faces off. I’ve been separating them because I don’t want any of my other birds to get hurt.. but separating means one stays in the run while the other stays in the coop. Even if one is free ranging and one is in the run ( the run is chicken wire so they can see eachother) they are chest slamming into the chicken wire and will continue to do it from 9am to 9pm.. we are supposed to get a bad storm and I’d like everyone to be in the coop, but I’m worried that they will fight to death in there and harm my other birds. Any advice on what to do about my toms? Not sure if I should let them fight it out or keep seperate.. of course I wouldn’t want one or the other getting killed, but I also don’t want an injury to occur in which it can get infected.. please help!

 

[sourland]

The reason for both behaviors is that it is breeding season, and hormone levels are high. Guinea fowl tend to become obsessive, and I doubt their behavior will change.

With the toms it is their desire to prove dominance so that their DNA gets to carry on. Hopefully @R2elk will have some advice for you. My turkey knowledge is limited - his is limitless.

 

[JessMay]

The reason for both behaviors is that it is breeding season, and hormone levels are high. Guinea fowl tend to become obsessive, and I doubt their behavior will change.

With the toms it is their desire to prove dominance so that their DNA gets to carry on. Hopefully @R2elk will have some advice for you. My turkey knowledge is limited - his is limitless.

Thanks so much! As for the guineas, I figured that’s why. My rooster isn’t being very nice right now either lol. You mentioned you doubt their behavior will change.. does that mean just for breeding season or for as long as I choose to keep them in my flock? I’ll have to get rid of them if their behavior doesn’t change.

 

[sourland]

I really liked guinea fowl, but my general impression is that once a behavior starts it remains only modifying somewhat during the non breeding season as they are so high energy.

 

[R2elk]

Last year I purchased four guinea keets and six turkeys. They’re all full grown now, but recently I started to notice some behavioral issues. I raised the turkeys and guineas together, and then introduced them to my flock of ten chickens and one rooster. I am now down to two guineas ( 1 male, 1 female) and five turkeys (2 toms 3 hens) About 1-2 months ago I started to notice my hens were bald in some spots.. mostly they’re backs and tail feathers.. I thought maybe since the weather is warming up they’re getting ready for summer.. until I saw the guineas latching onto the hens backs and chasing them through the yard. They free range on some days if it’s a nice day. Then they started doing it to my rooster and ripping his feathers out. The strange thing is that the turkey hens will start attacking the guineas (pecking, chasing) and then they start spurring eachother. I’m getting very frustrated because the guineas are so aggressive to the point where the hens are afraid to go into the coop at night. I’ve started to kick them out and make them sleep in the trees. Is this normal behavior and is there a fix? I’m starting to think I either need to cull or get rid of the guineas so my other birds can be happy.. although if there’s a chance I’d like to keep them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S (if anyone is educated on turkeys) I have a second question about my toms.. figured I’d post it on this thread just in case. For the past three days they have been in a constant show down.. I mean they have NOT let up on fighting. They usually get along very well and I’ve never seen any aggression in them. They have been grabbing eachother and literally RIPPING eachothers faces off. I’ve been separating them because I don’t want any of my other birds to get hurt.. but separating means one stays in the run while the other stays in the coop. Even if one is free ranging and one is in the run ( the run is chicken wire so they can see eachother) they are chest slamming into the chicken wire and will continue to do it from 9am to 9pm.. we are supposed to get a bad storm and I’d like everyone to be in the coop, but I’m worried that they will fight to death in there and harm my other birds. Any advice on what to do about my toms? Not sure if I should let them fight it out or keep separate.. of course I wouldn’t want one or the other getting killed, but I also don’t want an injury to occur in which it can get infected.. please help!

As @sourland pointed out, it is breeding season. I house my guineas separately from all my other poultry. I do not brood my guineas with any other poultry. I can allow my guineas, turkeys and chickens to free range at the same time in the same area without any issues. My guinea flock is currently at 13 which helps because guineas are a flock bird and do best in large groups. It also helps that there are enough guineas for them to do their evils on each other. Only another guinea can understand a guinea. Other poultry do not understand the chasing, attacking from behind, feather pulling and breaking. Other poultry do not know how to show submissiveness in "guinea methods".

For the turkeys, you need to get rid of one of the toms. You do not have enough hen turkeys for more than one tom. Your toms are apparently pretty equal in age, size and fighting ability which means that the fighting will continue non stop until one of them either proves his dominance or kills the other one. In the meantime you will not be getting any fertile eggs from your turkey hens because both toms are preventing each other from completing the breeding act.

You can also end up with injured or dead hens if one of the toms happens to be on the back of a hen when the other tom interferes. In the mad scramble to remain on the hen's back, they can rip her side wide open.

Any interference in their fights will only make the dominance battle last longer.

If you choose to separate them rather permanently removing one of the toms, you need to separate them in a fashion that they cannot see each other. The only thing that toms like better than fighting each other is to fight each other through a fence. It makes them braver. Toms that have settled their differences in a pen, will start the fight all over again if they are suddenly separated by a see through fence.

 

[KirbyH]

As I see it you have two issues that may be provoking this behavior. Guineas are super social birds and two guineas, a flock doesn’t make. To solve this, I would either rehome the two of them to someone with a flock or get them some friends. Secondly, my experience with them is they don’t like feeling trapped and especially trapped with these other birds. By the time you let your male, who is frustrated already by being mostly alone, out he is fit to be tied and going to take it out on anything. Even guineas hatched up by our chickens, once they were grown, got aggressive with the chickens. You could try letting the two guineas roost outside or build them their own coop, but, frankly, I think this male’s behavior won’t change until he has a flock to relate to.

 

[Nwygle93]

I am in the same boat. I had 8 guineas in December and lost a few. Was down to 6 at the start of this week and a coyote came along and had been picking them off till now I’m down to 3 females. Luckily my husband seen her picking around the coop yesterday afternoon (yes! Afternoon! Brave coyote) and got her. So now I’m down to 3 hens. There was only one male to start with..and this one hen seemed to chase the others constantly. Of course, she didn’t get picked off so now there are three hens and one is the bully. I witnessed her chase the other two through the tree tops this evening. Ridiculous! I don’t know if I should get rid of her or get more or what..

 

[R2elk]

I am in the same boat. I had 8 guineas in December and lost a few. Was down to 6 at the start of this week and a coyote came along and had been picking them off till now I’m down to 3 females. Luckily my husband seen her picking around the coop yesterday afternoon (yes! Afternoon! Brave coyote) and got her. So now I’m down to 3 hens. There was only one male to start with..and this one hen seemed to chase the others constantly. Of course, she didn’t get picked off so now there are three hens and one is the bully. I witnessed her chase the other two through the tree tops this evening. Ridiculous! I don’t know if I should get rid of her or get more or what..

You should probably do both, get rid of her and get more.

 

[JessMay]

I am in the same boat. I had 8 guineas in December and lost a few. Was down to 6 at the start of this week and a coyote came along and had been picking them off till now I’m down to 3 females. Luckily my husband seen her picking around the coop yesterday afternoon (yes! Afternoon! Brave coyote) and got her. So now I’m down to 3 hens. There was only one male to start with..and this one hen seemed to chase the others constantly. Of course, she didn’t get picked off so now there are three hens and one is the bully. I witnessed her chase the other two through the tree tops this evening. Ridiculous! I don’t know if I should get rid of her or get more or what..

Sorry to hear.. I had a pack of coons dig an opening into the coop. Snatched both my guineas that I had left. Luckily , I don’t have anymore to harass my chickens but sadly they did get eaten. They also took 5 of my hens.

 

[Nwygle93]

Sorry to hear.. I had a pack of coons dig an opening into the coop. Snatched both my guineas that I had left. Luckily , I don’t have anymore to harass my chickens but sadly they did get eaten. They also took 5 of my hens.

UGH! I hate raccoons!! They are cute as babies but they turn into cold blooded killers.