What would you do? Hurt guinea hen.

[beauciolino]

I've raised my ten guineas from keets, and they're just about mature--they started laying eggs last week! They spend their nights in a very large barn and their days free-ranging. Unfortunately, I believe I've got two females and eight males. Two of them have flat wattles, the female call, and are the only ones laying eggs, so I'm pretty sure they are the hens! One of them has been beat up on badly, with a pecked bald spot on her chest and just today started limping. I kept the guineas in their coop today due to work we have being done on the property, so I put her in a dog crate next to the coop, gave her save-a-chick and food, and let her be. I have two main questions: 1.) am I stressing her out more by seperating her or is her being within the line of sight of the other guineas enough? 2.) should I put the other hen in with her? The dog crate could fit them both but it would be slightly tight. The second hen has a small bit of pecking but otherwise looks way better, but I'm worried now with their main target gone they will hurt the remaining hen. Open to any and all advice, thanks in advance!

 

[HeritageFan]

I don’t have guineas, but I do have turkeys.
Hopefully someone w guineas will chime in soon!
But. I would imagine that the intervention would be the same-
If the “pecked” hen has any blood/ red spots showing, it likely will be a target

I use Rooster Booster Pick no More “lotion”. Wilco, tractor supply, chewy, and many more places carry it
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...li__Oq5xbwuTgBnB7N-J5LvMLhGt1tOBoCdN8QAvD_BwE
The purple “lotion” covers any red areas, and aids healing.
.....depending on severity.
Some people use Blu Cote
I prefer the lotion to the spray, personally.

The answer to the question of her stress level - well, I feel like there is some more info needed before that can be addressed.
- can you send some pix of the severity of her injuries?
- do you feel like she’s being over bred, or, just being bullied bc she's at the bottom of the pecking order?
- can you send some pix of their setup? Sometimes bullying happens purely from boredom :/
- what are you feeding? Sometimes feather pulling happens due to a lack of nutrients in feed.
- also. Is there a way that you can possibly separate the two girls w maybe one boy, and put the “bachelors” in their own area?

 

[HeritageFan]

Perhaps my advice was very wrong.
Although I did give the disclaimer that I’ve not had guineas !
@R2elk

This thread may also help
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guinea-help.1596886/

 

[R2elk]

Perhaps my advice was very wrong.
Although I did give the disclaimer that I’ve not had guineas !
@R2elk

This thread may also help
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guinea-help.1596886/

For one thing, feather pulling and breaking is part of being a guinea and has nothing to do with their feed.

 

[R2elk]

I've raised my ten guineas from keets, and they're just about mature--they started laying eggs last week! They spend their nights in a very large barn and their days free-ranging. Unfortunately, I believe I've got two females and eight males. Two of them have flat wattles, the female call, and are the only ones laying eggs, so I'm pretty sure they are the hens! One of them has been beat up on badly, with a pecked bald spot on her chest and just today started limping. I kept the guineas in their coop today due to work we have being done on the property, so I put her in a dog crate next to the coop, gave her save-a-chick and food, and let her be. I have two main questions: 1.) am I stressing her out more by separating her or is her being within the line of sight of the other guineas enough? 2.) should I put the other hen in with her? The dog crate could fit them both but it would be slightly tight. The second hen has a small bit of pecking but otherwise looks way better, but I'm worried now with their main target gone they will hurt the remaining hen. Open to any and all advice, thanks in advance!

If the bald spot is on her chest, it has nothing to do with being over bred.

Your numbers are not ideal but in normal situations are not a problem with guineas. Normally the hens would pair up with their mate and the other males form a group of their own.

The limping may or may not have anything to do with being picked on. Guinea hens that are laying but are not getting sufficient calcium can develop problems walking to the point that they can't even walk. At the very least, they need free choice oyster shell available.

A good guinea set up will have lots of free space and lots of obstacles and hiding places so that any guinea that is being harassed by the flock has places to escape the harassment.

I would have been more likely to try to figure out which guinea was doing the harassing of the hen and isolate that guinea instead of the hen. Since you have separated her, it is best that she be where she can interact with the rest of the flock.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I've only had 4 Guineas for over a year, 2 pair. There is a pecking order, the boys are quite boisterous & 1 was limping for 2 days this summer, due to some rough house play when they chased each other around. They jump up high & there was 1 perch they actually knocked down. So I made sure their perches were well anchored, extra screws to set it firmly, and haven't seen anyone gimpy since. They do play & run & jump alot, plus they are sometimes a bit clumsy. With chickens, the more interesting places to perch on or dig, the better. But with my Guineas I need less small obstacles to run into or trip over (larger hiding places set up to the side, not in their running pathway seems to work better) & the few perches set up for them must be large & sturdy. If you keep Guineas & Chickens together, it will be more of a challenge. I just found that my Guineas need more room to run around with less obstacles to crash into. The hiding places mine like best are higher perch areas they jump up to. They run around very fast on the ground, then love jumping & flying high up to the roof top. I've seen them stumble to gain footing on the guttering, so wile mine fly great, their landings are not exactly ballet quality.

I've heard it's better to have more females than males. I don't know if maybe perhaps all males are trying to mate with the 2 females, but that is what happens with chickens. I don't have experience with Guineas in that scenario.

As far as feathers, it seems like Guineas lose more feathers than my chickens do on a regular basis. Now whether this is shedding, or plucking them out deliberately to feather layer a cushy space to lay an egg, or from knocking out feathers playing rough (I've witnessed many times, a Guinea pulling out a beak full of feathers from eachother or my pigeons), who can say...I just know when I sweep up my hallway, there are numerous feathers, & quite a few have Guinea polka dots. Now during molt, there are So Many feathers, from Every Pigeon, Chicken & Guinea, I'm shocked no birds are bald. Lol

 

[R2elk]

I've heard it's better to have more females than males. I don't know if maybe perhaps all males are trying to mate with the 2 females, but that is what happens with chickens. I don't have experience with Guineas in that scenario.

The dominant males will claim their hens and all extra males will become a bachelor flock. The dominant males will not tolerate other males breeding their hens. Some males will try to sneak in which will set off the races, chases and fights.

It is best to have equal numbers of hens and cocks and okay to have a couple extra hens since some (not all) males will take on more than one hen especially if their preferred hen happens to be broody at the time.

As far as feathers, it seems like Guineas lose more feathers than my chickens do on a regular basis.

The pulling and breaking feathers off from attacks from behind is part of guinea life.

Two pair of guineas is not enough guineas for them to properly experience flock dynamics. Guineas are a flock bird and do best in large groups of guineas.