All Male Flock of Guineas?

[teach1rusl]

Hi. I read through the Guinea Fowl 101 article, as well as other guinea related threads and guinea sites because I'm considering gettting a few guineas next spring. I can't find an answer to a question I have. I'm really not interested in them hatching/raising keets (afraid of being overrun w/guineas), so it seems logical to me that I should keep either an all female flock or an all male flock, since I will (ultimately) be free ranging them during the day for tick control, and a female could sneak a nest of fertilized eggs somewhere.

Of course I'd rather keep all hens (benefit of eggs), but I'd be okay with all males. Will an all male flock do okay together? I cannot find that answer. The guinea housing would be next to my alpaca barn, which sits in a fenced field of a few acres. I do have chickens that free ranger during the day as well, but their territory is our 2 acres of fenced yard. My chickens have never jumped the fence, but I know that it's possible that the guineas would occasionally come into the yard. Would an all male flock go after the (chicken) hens if there were no guinea hens????

Thanks for the input!

 

[Hotcookie]

Yup, I think they might!

 

[JLeigh]

I think it's safe to assume an all-male guinea flock will fight with each other. You know, if you gather guinea eggs each day, they can be fertile and you'd never know it. I eat our guinea eggs for breakfast and use them for cooking when I'm not hatching them. Just need to gather them every day and put them in the fridge. Same as with chicken eggs.

You'd do better IMHO to get both genders of guineas. That way, they have "companionship" (

) AND you get the tasty eggs. Plus, if you decide to hatch one day, you're all set. Beyond that, I think an all hen flock would be less headache than an all rooster. You'd still want to gather eggs every day to keep them fresh - fertile or not.

I'm not sure which is most likely - a guinea rooster fertilizing a chicken hen, or a chicken rooster fertilizing a guinea hen. Look up "Guin-Hens" on the internet and see, but the hybrid usually doesn't live very long...that part I remember.

 

[PeepsCA]

An all male flock of Guineas on property/land without any other type of poultry there usually do perfectly fine, because unless they are over crowded male Guineas usually only fight (other than when they are establishing their pecking order) when there are females to fight over. But since you already have a flock of chickens (w/Hens in the flock) an all male flock of Guineas will most likely become the tyrants of the land, attacking anything and everything and claiming any Hen they can... taking whatever means they see necessary to get to the other birds, penned or not.

 

[teach1rusl]

I think it's safe to assume an all-male guinea flock will fight with each other. You know, if you gather guinea eggs each day, they can be fertile and you'd never know it. I eat our guinea eggs for breakfast and use them for cooking when I'm not hatching them. Just need to gather them every day and put them in the fridge. Same as with chicken eggs.

You'd do better IMHO to get both genders of guineas. That way, they have "companionship" (

) AND you get the tasty eggs. Plus, if you decide to hatch one day, you're all set. Beyond that, I think an all hen flock would be less headache than an all rooster. You'd still want to gather eggs every day to keep them fresh - fertile or not.

Thanks guys. Yeah, eating fertile eggs doesn't bother me. I've just read that free range guineas (which is what mine would be during the day for tick control - contained at night) will sometimes hide a nest NOT inside the coop - and then a hen might "disappear", reappearing a month later with a bunch of keets. So I was trying to avoid THAT happening.

Sounds like I either need all females or that I'll just have to take my chances on a male/female mix and hope my guinea hens lay only inside the coop.

 

[JLeigh]

An all-female flock will also lay their eggs outside the coop, and at least one hen will eventually go broody and disappear whether the eggs are fertile or not - - she won't know they aren't fertile. Hens often use a community nest. Not always though. Several hens will lay more than one nest (two will lay in one nest, three others will lay in another nest...). A few people are very lucky and their hens build a nest inside the coop. Most aren't so lucky.

Option 1: Keep them penned until you figure out what time of day they lay their eggs and then let them out for the day after their eggs are laid. It's easier said than done if you work full-time, and if they lay eggs mid-afternoon it kind of defeats the purpose of having them free-range all day to eat ticks, etc. But if their eggs are laid in the evening or morning, it works.

Option 2: When you can (weekend if you work), figure out when they lay their eggs and then hold them in the pen until about 1/2 an hour before they lay the eggs, then let them out and be ready to follow them! I did that, and my hen ran full speed straight to her nest. Then I could collect all but a few of the eggs every day. Mark the left eggs with a pen or sharpie so you know which ones are fresh. I left a few because I wanted her to go back to that nest each day. If you take them all, she might make another nest. (She might do that anyway though - you never know) When it was convenient, I went out and collected eggs and could check on her. If she decided to go broody, I knew where she was and could intervene.

I spent a few hours for a few days searching, searching, searching for a nest, then following, following, following the hen to no avail. I got pretty tired of that so I went to Option 2. Took 10 minutes to find the hen, nest and eggs.

Nothing is foolproof though. And guineas surprise you; just when you think you've got them figured out, they decide to do something totally out of routine.

 

[johnpitt]

we have had 3 male guineas for over threee years and yes they do fight . But they seem to figure out a pecking order and things work out. We do not have any chickens for them to chase so I am not sure about impact around chickens. We spoil ours, feed them meal worms and Crickets for treats and all is happy,Happy.
John Pitt

 

[Ferretgirrrl]

An all male flock of Guineas on property/land without any other type of poultry there usually do perfectly fine, because unless they are over crowded male Guineas usually only fight (other than when they are establishing their pecking order) when there are females to fight over. But since you already have a flock of chickens (w/Hens in the flock) an all male flock of Guineas will most likely become the tyrants of the land, attacking anything and everything and claiming any Hen they can... taking whatever means they see necessary to get to the other birds, penned or not.

Well this is good news! Over the last 3 years my females have all wandered off at nesting time and only once did one return - now she's gone too, I have a flock of 10 males who actually seem to get along perfectly fine. Their Mama and Papa live separately, and, interestingly, they only roam in the houseyard, and where the other guineas do not.
I've thought I needed to get girls for my boys, but now I think just the flock of boys is excellent for tick control. Plus the eggs, when laid, are always somewhere obscure (like in the rain-forest adjacent to my land, and not attainable. Plus, they attracted many snakes when I had more females. Mama, on the other hand, always returns to the chicken coop to dutifully lay her one egg a day, under the watchful eye of Papa, then wanders around clearing ticks from my immediate space.. The only fights I've ever seen were over the girls. This season started with 10 males/2 females in the big cage out in the paddock, and, now that there are only males, they seem to get along really well!
Plus, Mama and papa have been living with 3 chooks now for 3 years - no problems with the chooks, they all huddle up together in their coop at night on their perches. mama gets a bit itsy when she's with egg, then returns to normal once it's been laid. my biggest problem now is that 2 winters ago I lost all but one keets, and the one remaining - male - has slept inside my house every night, roaming in the chook run when Mama and Papa are out and about, but always returning to his cage in my bathroom at night. He likes pats, cuddles and sitting under my feet in the living room. It's a weird relationship, and one I can't see a way out of as all the other guineas wish to fight him.

 

[R2elk]

Well this is good news! Over the last 3 years my females have all wandered off at nesting time and only once did one return - now she's gone too, I have a flock of 10 males who actually seem to get along perfectly fine. Their Mama and Papa live separately, and, interestingly, they only roam in the houseyard, and where the other guineas do not.
I've thought I needed to get girls for my boys, but now I think just the flock of boys is excellent for tick control. Plus the eggs, when laid, are always somewhere obscure (like in the rain-forest adjacent to my land, and not attainable. Mama, on the other hand, always returns to the chicken coop to dutifully lay her one egg a day, under the watchful eye of Papa, then wanders around clearing ticks from my immediate space.. The only fights I've ever seen were over the girls. This season started with 10 males/2 females in the big cage out in the paddock, and, now that there are only males, they seem to get along really well!
Plus, Mama and papa have been living with 3 chooks now for 3 years - no problems with the hooks, they all huddle up together in their coop at night on their perches. mama gets a bit itsy when she's with egg, then returns to normal once it's been laid. my biggest problem now is that 2 winters ago I lost all but one keets, and the one remaining - male - has slept inside my house every night, roaming in the chook run when Mama and Papa are out and about, but always returning to his cage in my bathroom at night. He likes pats, cuddles and sitting under my feet in the living room. It's a weird relationship, and one I can't see a way out of as all the other guineas wish to fight him.

A guinea flock without any hens is quieter too without any hens calling for mates.

 

[Ferretgirrrl]

Well this is good news! Over the last 3 years my females have all wandered off at nesting time and only once did one return - now she's gone too, I have a flock of 10 males who actually seem to get along perfectly fine. Their Mama and Papa live separately, and, interestingly, they only roam in the houseyard, and where the other guineas do not.
I've thought I needed to get girls for my boys, but now I think just the flock of boys is excellent for tick control. Plus the eggs, when laid, are always somewhere obscure (like in the rain-forest adjacent to my land, and not attainable. Plus, they attracted many snakes when I had more females. Mama, on the other hand, always returns to the chicken coop to dutifully lay her one egg a day, under the watchful eye of Papa, then wanders around clearing ticks from my immediate space.. The only fights I've ever seen were over the girls. This season started with 10 males/2 females in the big cage out in the paddock, and, now that there are only males, they seem to get along really well!
Plus, Mama and papa have been living with 3 chooks now for 3 years - no problems with the chooks, they all huddle up together in their coop at night on their perches. mama gets a bit itsy when she's with egg, then returns to normal once it's been laid. my biggest problem now is that 2 winters ago I lost all but one keets, and the one remaining - male - has slept inside my house every night, roaming in the chook run when Mama and Papa are out and about, but always returning to his cage in my bathroom at night. He likes pats, cuddles and sitting under my feet in the living room. It's a weird relationship, and one I can't see a way out of as all the other guineas wish to fight him.

An addendum: I can hear the two females out in a paddock nesting, so I imagine, once the eggs hatch, they will just leave them and return to the big cage with the boys, so I'm fixing to go on a hunt to find them when the weather permits, with a heat pack in a box, and put them in the incubator, as I have seen how they just get up and walk off leaving the chicks alone and helpless.
Since I can hear the females, and I know they will return, I've incubated another batch and I'm giving the new males away to someone who wants some tick/snake control/patrol, and raising the females to join my flock.