Do Guinea Fowl Mourn The Loss Of A Flock Mate?

Considerable research and studies have demonstrated that humans are not the only members of the animal kingdom that mourn. I am not aware of any investigations which specifically target whether or not Guinea fowl mourn. So, as is often the case with matters regarding Guinea fowl, we’re flying solo on this issue.

Guinea fowl keepers are not in agreement about whether or not their beloved birds mourn or not. I reached this conclusion after doing appreciable research on this subject on the internet. I visited blogs, forums and other non-scientific resources on the web. My conclusion: 85-90% of Guinea fowl keepers think that Guinea fowl do mourn and 10-15% of Guinea fowl keepers do not believe that Guinea fowl mourn.

Perhaps part of the reason Guinea fowl keepers do not agree about whether or not Guinea fowl mourn is relative to the use of the word ‘mourn,’ and our individual interpretations of what it means to mourn. Mourn is a term that connotes emotions, and as such it is customarily reserved for use with humans – like jealousy, envy, love or hate. Further, most people associate mourning with depression, sorrow, unhappiness and so forth.

When you are walking down a crowded street, it’s not possible to look at people passing you by and determine whether they are happy or not happy, depressed or not depressed, and so forth. Of course, there are the rare exceptions to this. Medical professionals believe that most people who suffer from depression don’t even know they are depressed – much less the people around them.

People express unhappiness and depression in many ways. Some are quiet, some are not. Some withdraw, others don’t. Mourning must surely be the same way. Let’s do remember that there are death rituals that are somber and serious, and others that are lighthearted and boisterous.

There are millions of dogs in the US. American dogs are very much a part of the family. Many families have more than one dog. Simply because of the numbers involved, and the close relationships involved, you can cite countless stories about dogs mourning both the loss of a canine pack mate and a human family member/pack mate.

All things taken into account, I believe that Guinea fowl do mourn. I use the word mourn because it refers to going through a process of grief and adjustment following a death. Like all animals, humans included, the way individual Guinea fowl express and cope with death will vary considerably. Some Guinea fowl will make it very noticeable that they are not happy. Others may not demonstrate any behaviors which could be associated with grief or unhappiness.

Guinea fowl like consistency. Ours are disquieted if we move their waterer across the coop. Guinea fowl like their environment to remain static, unchanged. Changes cause them be cautious, suspicious and wary. It would only make sense that the loss of a flock mate would make Guinea fowl uncomfortable at some level.

We have 30 pearl grey Guinea fowl. Our flock of Guinea fowl is here first to work, and second to be pets (sort of). We enjoy time with the Guinea fowl keets on a daily basis. We like spending time with them, watching them and laughing at their antics. We’re pretty attuned to our flock’s behaviors.

Many people, however, have a flock of Guinea fowl as pets first, and simply enjoy the benefits of Guinea fowl ownership: bug, snake and weed control, an alarm system. Many of these Guinea fowl keepers have relatively few birds in their flock. These people are extremely close to their Guinea fowl. They are finely tuned to individual bird’s behaviors. Where I would miss a behavioral shift in a member of my flock, these owners would not.

The establishment of a hierarchy in the group is quite common throughout the animal kingdom. Animals that live in groups tend to have a leader, and then everyone else. It is well documented that many animal groups suffer greatly when the leader dies. When lesser members of the group die, the impact is not so noticeable. Humans are this way. When my grandmother died, there was an obituary notice and about 100 attendees at the funeral. When Michael Jackson died, every media carried the story for weeks and millions mourned around the world.

The Guinea fowl hierarchy is called the pecking order. It would only make sense that if the Guinea fowl at the top of the pecking order died, there would be easily seen, adverse reactions in the flock. For one thing, a new pecking order would need to be established – and that almost invariably means fighting and injury. Any group that has a leader suffers when the leader dies. Humans, for example, go to great lengths to ensure that mechanisms are in place to replace leaders quickly.

There is no way to absolutely know if Guinea fowl mourn or not. It’s another one of those numerous decisions that each Guinea fowl keeper must make individually. Personally, I believe that Guinea fowl mourn, with the parameters discussed. As such, I will watch for behavioral changes and make necessary allowances when a member of the flock dies.

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Guinea Fowl Keets – How They Grow

Our Guinea fowl keets have grown and developed rapidly. Their growth has not always been steady, either. Sometimes they just change overnight – literally. This was the case when they got the signature Guinea fowl spots on their feathers, when they started to make their adult Guinea fowl calls and when their wattles appeared – to name just a few instances.

As you can see from the photographs, our Guinea fowl keets have indeed grown quickly. The leg and foot of the 9 week old Guinea fowl keet are larger than the entire 3 day old Guinea fowl keet. Both birds are from our flock of 30 pearl grey Guinea fowl.

Our Guinea fowl keets once again have grown overnight. On their 62nd day of life, none of the birds had their bony casques. These bony protrusions from the heads of Guinea fowl are referred to as ‘helmets.’ Hence the name “helmeted Guinea fowl.” On the 63^rd day about 80% of the keets had helmets and on the morning of the 64^th day, every keet had their new helmet.

The photo below shows the Guinea fowl’s helmet from the front angle. Notice this Guinea fowl keet has lost all but the very last of its downy, black and tan head stripes. These exact head stripes (which you can clearly see in the first photo in this blog) are the earmarks of the pearl grey Guinea fowl keet.

The newly formed and growing helmet is not as noticeable from this angle on this Guinea fowl. But it is still clearly visible atop the keet’s head. Also notice the protective hairs on the face and above the eyes of this Guinea fowl keet. Also clearly visible are the thick wattles developing at the rear of both sides of the keet’s mouth. Don’t let the rounded end of the Guinea fowl beak fool you – edge-on, their beaks are quite sharp!

In the photo below, taken of a third Guinea fowl keet in the flock, the new helmet is much less formed, but still clearly visible in the keet’s remaining tufts of downy head covering. This keet has more of the black and tan head stripes remaining than the vast majority of his flockmates. You can also clearly see the beginnings of the bright blue coloring that will eventually cover much of the Guinea fowl’s head. It will also have lots of red. Again, note the thick wattle developing at the rear of the keet’s mouth. There is one on each side and they will someday be quite colorful – red and blue.

Below is a side profile shot of an adult Guinea fowl. Note how colorful the bird is, including its wattles, face, beak and neck. This is also an excellent shot of what the keets’ newly formed helmets will someday look like. You can’t see it at all when they are keets, but Guinea fowl are very colorful birds. If you’d like to see some of the various bright color combinations of Guinea fowl, I’d suggest visiting this link. It’s the Guinea Fowl International Association Guinea fowl color chart. Click on any picture to get a larger, clearer view.

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Fencing for Guinea fowl – keets, too

Almost all Guinea fowl keepers provide fencing for their flocks. Fencing is not required for Guinea fowl flocks, but it serves many worthwhile purposes for both the birds and the keepers. Unless you have very unusual circumstances, fencing will be on your ‘need to do list’ for your flock of Guinea fowl.

If you have a fenced area ready for your Guinea fowl when your first keets arrive, your experience of raising your Guinea fowl will be much easier and more enjoyable. If you have a fenced area for your Guinea fowl keets, you can let them out of the coop to enjoy fresh air, exercise and some fresh bugs. If there’s greenery in your fenced area, the keets will enjoy that also. If the Guinea fowl keets are outside, they will not be pooping in the flooring material, so the coop stays cleaner longer.

Fencing can serve one or both of two functions: to keep things in and to keep things out. Obviously, you’ll want your Guinea fowl fencing to keep the birds contained within the fenced area. The chances are, you’ll also want your Guinea fowl fencing to keep unwanted animals away from your flock of Guinea fowl. If you have good, well installed fencing, you can leave your Guinea fowl – keets included – alone and unattended in the fenced area, even over night.

Chicken wire is cheap, lightweight and pretty easy to install. It will keep the Guinea fowl contained. Chicken wire will even keep the keets contained, once they reach about 3 weeks of age. If you do not have to worry about land predators such as fox, raccoon, possum and skunk – and you don’t have to worry about any dogs trying to get at the Guinea fowl, then chicken wire might just be all you’ll need for your Guinea fowl fencing.

If you do have ground predators or prying dogs in your area, then you’ll need something stronger than chicken wire to keep them away from your Guinea fowl. We went with a quality 2″x4″ welded wire to stop larger animals from getting at the Guinea fowl. Our Guinea fowl fenced area is 6′ tall. The chicken wire runs from the ground to the top – all 6′. It is installed on the insides of the fenced area. The welded wire is attached to the outside of the fenced area, and only goes up 4′. We also have 40′ of recycled chain link fencing. We attached chicken wire to the outside of that fence section.

Options for the welded wire could be chain link, hardware cloth or even tightly spaced electric fencing. I’ve read about people who install the steel mesh that is made to hold stucco in place. That would surely do the job, but it is heavy, not very flexible and will rust terribly.

When you are planning your Guinea fowl fencing, find out the predators that you will need to keep away from your keets and adult Guinea fowl. Coyotes and raccoons are almost everywhere – and either will go right through chicken wire to dine on your birds. Make sure your selected fencing is strong enough to keep out the predators that are in your area.

Many predators will dig under fencing to get at their prey. To prevent this from happening, you can install welded wire (some people use chicken wire) flat on the ground. Lay the welded wire down on the ground with one edge at the bottom of the fence. I’d suggest using pieces of welded wire that are 24″ wide – that’ll stop anything from digging into your Guinea fowl yard. Secure the wire to the ground with either landscaping spikes or metal, hook-top tent stakes. Lay the wire flat, and secure it firmly to the ground. Grass will grow through it and it will become invisible, and you can run your lawnmower over it.

We have two large dogs that are hyper-protective of the property and everything on it. Having them allowed us to skip ground fencing the Guinea fowl yard.

We have about every type of flying predator you can have in the US: hawks, falcons, owls and even eagles. So our Guinea fowl fencing includes a top. We just used good chicken wire for the top. Our dogs charge low flying predators, but at night an owl could quietly fly into an un-topped Guinea fowl yard and kill a bird. Also, during the day, if we had not topped the yard a bird could ignore the charging dogs and nab a Guinea fowl. The dogs cannot enter the Guinea fowl yard, so once a bird of prey is inside the yard, the dogs are rendered impotent.

We also decided that topping the Guinea fowl yard fencing was important because it lets us allow the keets out during growth, without ever worrying about them escaping from the fenced yard. We are making sure our Guinea fowl keets are fully trained about coming when called and spending the night in the coop before we release them to free range. We’ll be releasing them between 11-12 weeks of age – very soon!

The area we fenced for our Guinea fowl allows each bird about 10 square feet, which is more than enough room. We also have about 50 linear feet of roosting, two Guinea fowl teepees, a small waterer, some large rocks and a sandstone boulder.

We have never regretted the Guinea fowl fencing we installed, despite the top having been such a hassle to install. It’s been a good thing all the way around. Good, well planned Guinea fowl fencing is something you – and your Guinea fowl – will very much appreciate over the years.

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Guinea fowl drink lots of water – even as keets

We have 30 pearl grey Guinea fowl keets that just turned 9 weeks old. Our coop waterer is a 3 gallon model – picture is at the bottom of the page link. We have to clean and refill this waterer every other day. Doing the math, that means that every 10 Guinea fowl keets drink about ½ gallon of water every day! That equates to around 6.4 ounces per bird per day. The temperatures here right now are 50°-70°F at night and 75°-95°F during the day.

A lot of Guinea fowl keepers believe that adding apple cider vinegar (ACV) to your Guinea fowl’s water is good for them, and also helps prevent growths from forming in the water. The customary ratio is 1 teaspoon of ACV for each gallon of water.

We originally added ACV to our Guinea fowl keets’ drinking water, but with such frequent cleanings and re-fillings, it was clear that no growths would have a chance to get a foothold in the supply. I did some research on ACV and digestion, and just couldn’t find anything I’d consider ‘scientific data’ supporting the claim that it aided with Guinea fowl digestion. So we quit adding ACV to the keets’ waterer. This decision saved time and money. We could see no change in the keets, the quality of their drinking water or the amount of water they consumed – so no more ACV-treated for our Guinea fowl.

For the every-other-day cleaning, we just do a good rinsing (wiping as needed) inside and out. About every 3 weeks we fill the waterer with water and then add one tablespoon of bleach – shake well for 30 seconds – dump out and rinse thoroughly. The bleach can’t stay in the plastic waterer for too long.

We’ve always been amazed at how much water the Guinea fowl keets drink. Ever since the first day they spent in the brooding box, they have been big water drinkers. We all know how important water is to animals, but we didn’t think something so relatively small could consume so much of it.

If you’re thinking about becoming a Guinea fowl keeper, water needs to be a primary consideration in your planning. The water needs to be fresh, available, and drinkable. If you can afford an automated Guinea fowl watering system, great! If not, you’re going to have to access the waterer frequently, get the waterer to where you can dump and wash it, and then refill it. For these reasons, we keep our waterer right next to the main door.

In the winter, you’ll have to make sure the Guinea fowl have water that is not frozen. If your coop is heated – you’ve got it made. There are also small, inexpensive heaters made that prevent (or drastically slow) freezing. They are usually 100 watts or so and sit under the waterer. There are also heated waterers for sale. Of course using heat means you’ll have to have 110-volt electricity handy to the waterer location.

Don’t leave exposed electrical wires, even Romex, anywhere that the Guinea fowl can peck at them. Not only is this dangerous for the bird doing the pecking, but it’s a fire hazard. Our primary 110-volt wires we ran through ½” flexible metal conduit. Cords we protect another way.

To protect an electrical cord from the incessant pecking of a Guinea fowl, it can be wrapped in heavy duty rubber hose – available from your local auto parts place. Use reinforced hose that’s designed to withstand 300 PSI or better. Cut the hose to length and then, using a sharp utility knife, cut it lengthwise one time. Now just slip the wire inside the hose through the opening you cut. There should be no need to wrap tape around the hose. Even though it is slit, it will stay together just fine. Now, if you have to make some sharp angles with the hose-covered wire, then you may need a few strips of tape to keep it fully closed.

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The Guinea Fowl Keets Turn 9 Weeks Old

 Today is Wednesday, August 26, 2009 – and that means it’s a birthday kinda day around the Guinea fowl coop. Today, the Guinea fowl keets turned the ripe old age of 9 weeks. Since we’ve yet to figure out how to get candles to stand up in millet, the festivities will have to go another direction.

I did finally get around to replacing one of the screens in the Guinea fowl keets’ coop, today. The old camper we converted into a Guinea fowl coop had nylon screens in the windows. One by one, the screens have been pecked to ribbons by the keets. The one I replaced today should be the last one they can get to. Remember, if you’re going to build a Guinea fowl coop, be sure to use metal screening.

And while I’m on the subject of Guinea fowl demolishing things inside their own coop, let me add something. Guinea fowl will peck at anything, and their beaks are formidable. In the videos, it becomes clear that Guinea fowl beaks and talons are capable of tearing down even large sandstone rocks and boulders. So wood is really no great challenge to them.

It would be difficult (and likely very costly) to construct a Guinea fowl coop using something that is impervious to the pecking and clawing of these powerful birds. The inside of our camper-converted Guinea fowl coop is plywood, pine 2″x4″s and the wood used inside of RVs, whatever that is. Whatever it is, it’s pretty hard wood. The keets picked places to peck – and did them substantial damage until I learned something.

The Guinea fowl keets peck at any irregularities in the surfaces of things. They tend to leave flat, smooth surfaces alone. I accidentally made this discovery while I was editing one of the Guinea Fowl TV episodes. I noticed, twice, that keets landed atop the Guinea fowl teepee with an OSB roof, grabbed a small wafer of the peeling OSB and ripped it off the roof. Upon inspection, I could see the roof had been through similar attacks before. The other Guinea fowl teepee in the coop yard has a smooth plywood roof, and had not been pecked on at all.

With my newfound knowledge I went inside the coop and investigated the places the Guinea fowl keets had been pecking at. Sure enough, there were noteworthy surface irregularities in every instance. I sanded some areas down smoother, and filled and sanded a few other areas. Problem solved. The keets have quit pecking those areas.

As we do every Wednesday, we took photos of the Guinea fowl keets for our website’s Age Photos of Guinea Fowl page. That page shows photographs of the pearl grey Guinea fowl keets since the day they arrived. It’s a great place to see how large Guinea fowl will be at any age. I’ll put one of the photos in here for your viewing enjoyment.

To help the keets celebrate their 9 week birthday, we gave them an extra large serving of live grasshoppers today. Usually we serve about 50 grasshoppers to the 30 keets. Today it was more like 80. All of the jumping little garden destroyers were consumed in less than a minute. Grasshoppers have truly become our Guinea fowl keets’ favorite food – even more than millet.

We have been unable to locate anything which definitively tells us when our flock of 30 birds turns from Guinea fowl keets to Guinea fowl adults. We did find one mention, but since we could find no corroborating information, we figure it’s sort of up to us. We figure we’ll give them a couple more weeks and then start calling them simply Guinea fowl.

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Pearl Grey Guinea fowl keets, Part 10

We filmed episode 10 of Guinea Fowl TV during the keets’ 7th week of life. We entitled the episode Feeding Frenzies. This 4 minute long episode shows the keets’ growing enthusiasm for coming when called to eat millet. It also has excellent close ups of the keets being fed grasshoppers. We fed the keets two servings of grasshoppers that day – just to make the video more informative. The last thing this episode shows is the keets eating and attacking chunks of watermelon rind. They were reluctant at first – probably owing to the size of the chunks we served them. But they eventually caught on, and within an hour 2# of watermelon rind had been consumed by the 30 Guinea fowl keets.

3 minutes into episode 10 we show a short clip of what we call the “Guinea Feeding Flower.” The keets encircle the round feeder and eat voraciously. They radiate out from the feeder and it appears from above like they are the petals of a flower. The episode ends with a shot of one roosted Guinea fowl keet nodding off to sleep. It’s one of my favorite clips!

It was during the keets’ 7th week of life that we noticed a marked increase in both the number fights within the flock, and their severity. Some of the fights would last 2-3 minutes, and some of them were bloody. We were prepared for fighting within the Guinea fowl flock, but quite honestly we did not expect the fights to go as far as some did/do. We make sure to closely observe the birds every day – watching out for any wounds that may require medical attention. At this writing, no injuries sustained during fights have required treatment.

It was also in this time frame that we discovered something very interesting about Guinea fowl. Their calls bring in wild turkeys. We’ve always had Merriam’s wild turkeys on the place, but since the Guinea fowl have started making their adult calls, the turkeys come in much closer than ever before. One evening we decided to take advantage of the proximity of the wild turkeys. We filmed a 3 minute Special Edition of Guinea Fowl TV featuring the wild turkeys.

Since our first filming of the wild turkeys, we’ve caught more of them on tape. Someday we hope to publish a better wild turkey episode of Guinea Fowl TV.

On of our primary objectives when we began filming Guinea Fowl TV was to show Guinea fowl keepers – new and old alike – the behaviors of these amazing birds. So we were extremely excited when, during a filming session, a hawk circled the Guinea fowl’s pen. The reaction of the keets was most interesting to observe. Episode 11 of Guinea Fowl TV is one of my favorites!

In episode 11 of Guinea Fowl TV we also started inserting some voiceovers for our Guinea fowl actors. We weren’t sure how this would be received, but we couldn’t help ourselves. Some things just needed to be said. Our emails about the video were all very positive, so voiceovers will become more common in future Guinea Fowl TV episodes.

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