Farming Friends

August 11th 2008

Guinea Fowl Becomes Violent

I was sorry to hear that one of my reader’s guinea fowl, which they keep as a pet, has suddenly turned violent.

Hello

I have a question about my guinea fowl. I don’t know if it is a male or female. I have had it for a year now and it has been a fun family pet. Yesterday it started to violently attack me and it stabbed my leg with its claw and now we can’t go outside without protection. What is wrong with my guinnea? I was told to put it to sleep but we don’t want to do that if we don’t have to. Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thankyou for your time. charity

Hi Charity,
I am sorry to hear that your guinea fowl has suddenly become violent.

There are a number of ways to tell if a guinea fowl is male or female.

Females make 1 and 2 syllable calls .V. Males only make 1 syllable call.

Females hang lower to the ground .V. Males have more upright posture.

Females have smaller wattles .V. Males have longer, larger cupped wattles.

Females have smaller helmets .V. Males have larger helmets.Here is a link to a video clip of the female guinea fowl call. http://www.farmingfriends.com/female-guinea-fowl-call/I have never seen guinea fowl become aggressive with humans, although if I disturb the guinea fowl hen when she is sitting on her nest then she will try to stab my boots.If your guinea fowl is a female this is the time that the guinea fowl wish to sit on their eggs, if you are in the UK. Today I had 6 guinea fowl hens that were all sitting on nests and they do not like it when I get them off the nest so that predators can’t get them at night.

You say that your guinea fowl is a pet, if this was the case for me I think that I would consider ringing my vet up and having a chat over the phone about the change in the guinea fowls behaviour. The vet may be able to offer advice over the phone and this may not incur a cost.
Your guinea fowl could be ill as often aggression in animals can be a sign that the animal is in pain, so it may be a good idea to talk to a vet, but the decision is yours.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

If you have experience of guinea fowl showing violent behaviour and can offer advice to Charity, then please leave a comment, thanks.