Spademillane,

Guineas are the watchdogs of the farm world and they are very vocal. Whereas roosters are the noisemakers in the chicken family, it is the female guineas who make most of the noise. If the noise your guineas make drives you nuts, in the future you could purchase only male ones. Unlike roosters, a flock of male guineas will not try to kill one another....although they do compete for the attention of the females.

Our guineas let us know when wild critters are roaming, when the wind is blowing, when the cat is walking across the yard, when the moon is shining, when the leaves are falling, when the grasshoppers are hatching, when the grass is growing, etc.

We keep our guineas locked up securely in a coop from sunset until well after sunrise, and they free-range most of the time during the daylight hours. At night, they are quieter inside the coop than when they attempt to roost in the trees.It doesn't matter where they are during the day, though, as they scream and squawk at anything that is "new" to them. Guineas have several different sounds they make. When I walk into the guinea coop through the front door at night and go to the back of the coop to close the little sliding door they use to go in and out all day, they hiss at me. (Oddly, they don't hiss at me in the morning when I go and open the door to let them out.) They make a lot less noise at night when they are locked up in their coop, but they do sit and look out the windows and squawk every time a varmint (possum, skunk, raccoon, bobcat, cottontail rabbit, etc.) passes by.

When the guineas are free-ranging through the pastures during the day eating bugs, they communication back and forth using all sorts of vocalization. Usually, one guinea is a self-appointed "watcher" who keeps an eye on everyone else and squawks an alarm if danger threatens. Sometimes the danger is real....like a hawk in the sky or a coyote creeping through the grass. Sometimes the threat is something stupid, like maybe I am walking across the yard wearing gardening gloves and a straw hat so they think I am "someone else" who is a threat to them. Usually, if I take off the hat and gloves, they calm down.

Sometimes the flock splits up, with smaller groups going off in several directions. When they do this, the groups call back and forth to one another, as if they are "checking up" on each other. Sometimes, one of them runs off chasing a grasshopper or something, and gets "lost" and the others squawk and call out to him or her to help the lost one find its way back to the flock.

Guineas are very helpful as they eat not only bugs of all kinds but also weeds and weed seeds. They are wonderful garden helpers, especially in rural areas where the grasshoppers travel in large swarms. An adult guinea can eat two pounds of grasshoppers per day. Out guineas keep our property free of grasshoppers, fleas, ticks and many other pests. They also sound the alarm when snakes appear. Some guineas will kill snakes, but mine seem to mostly just scream until the snake flees.

Guineas have a reputation for being dumb, but I think they are much smarter than people give them credit for being. Ours like to follow us as we mow because they know the mower stirs up all sorts of insects that are lurking in the garass. And, because I commonly walk down the driveway to chase them back up into the yard when they are venturing out into the roadway, all they have to do is see me walking down the driveway, and they come running back across the street from the neighbor's pasture across the road....as if they don't want to "get into trouble" so they come back home.

It probably is mating season, more or less. In general, our guineas start laying eggs in April although sometimes they lay in March if the temperatures are warm enough. Ours haven't laid any eggs yet this year. Keats (baby guineas) need really warm weather, so the guineas usually lay the eggs late enough in the spring that the keats begin hatching in the late May to June time frame. If you want to raise your own keats, it is better to put the guinea eggs under a broody hen because guineas are notoriously bad at incubating, hatching and caring for their own young.

There's a great book on guineas called GARDENING WITH GUINEAS: A Step By Step Guide to Raising Guinea Fowl on a Small Scale. It was written by Jeannette Ferguson. I'd already had guineas for many years when I read the book, so I didn't necessarily learn a lot of new info, but it is a very interesting book.

Currently we have lavender, pearl gray, royal purple and powder blue ones. We also have one pied one. In the past we've also had some buff dundotte and white ones. I love my guineas, but there are times I wish I had a pair of ear plugs. On the other hand, though, you're never lonely with them around because they'll "talk" to you all day long.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Guinea Website

Your description of their behavior is so funny. I do know they find snakes and have a squawking fit when they see one. We never bought guineas, but our neighbor got some and didn't lock them up and they all came to our house and stayed until wild animals got them. They roosted in trees and took care of themselves for quite awhile.

Helen, We have some elderly neighbors almost two miles up the road (in their mid-90s I think) who have had guineas and chickens for decades. Their flock doesn't roost at their home at night, though, but goes next door to roost in a tree in the neighbor's yard. I don't know why they prefer that particular tree, but they go there every night even though there are plenty of trees in their own yard.

Our neighbors are very nice and understanding about our guineas visiting their pastures.....our guineas go across the street to the cattle ranch directly across the road and to the one south of it as well. They also go to the place directly south of us and directly north of us. They don't go west because they'd have to travel through 10 acres of woods to reach that neighbor's place, and they prefer grassland to woodland. At the ranches, they have a field day feasting on ticks and worms and other such critters that are common on cattle ranches.

If someone really wants to entertain their guineas, put a large mirror in their coop. They'll fight the "invaders" they see in the mirror forever and never figure out that they are fighting themselves. So, guineas aren't just great at bug and weed control, they provide a lot of entertainment. : )

Dawn

Let out my guinea hens and later found one dead. The other Grinea hens were around pecking at it along with the rooster. Which bird do you think killed it? I am heart broken Did not find any blood. please help my make dicision to maybe get rid of rooster.
Janie