How do you tell male from female guineas? Ours are a little over 2 months old now. They are normal pearl guineas. Is there a way to sex them visually?
Sexing guineas
I don't have guineas--but everyone says you sex them by their call. The females have a different call from the males--I think they say "Buckwheat" although others have a different interpretation of what they are saying. There is a site somewhere that actually plays it for you.
Does someone know the site? And what do the males say?
They're really hard to sex by sight, I can't do it. Here's a web site with tons of info.
http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/
The females do make a "buckwheat" sound eventually. I can't remember at what age. As adolescents they just make a lot of noise- I'm warning you now if you haven't had them before. Everything will cause them to alarm in their first year. They'll mellow out in their second year.
Jenny
i am thinking by four months your females will be buckwheating, and the others will be males...
Males have a single syllable call "buck, buck, buck" as compared with "buckwheat, buckwheat, buckwheat." I liked them, but the rest of the family coimplained, so I gave them to a neighbor. Then my son said " I didn't mean it--I was kidding ;(" Too late.
Even full grown, visual sexing would be hard.
Suze
Anyone,
Actually visual sexing can be done ... but not by their appearance but by how they move. Guinea roos are belligerent. The chase off others from around the feed. They make darting movements toward hens. So it is easy to spot them when they're wandering about. I have 2 adult roos ... I can spot the Pearl roo in a few minutes. The other is Platinum ... so I can spot him in a second.
Kelly in Moxee
my males generally hve MUCH taller helmets and larger waddles, more "winged out". and the females have flatter backs for the purpose of the males... and they aften are the first to jum pup on something and make that single syllable call, which i call "chi-chi-chi-chi"...
my females sounded like they were saying come back. now they say buck wheat
Thanks everyone! I hear both calls in our group but at this point I can't tell how many of each we have. I'll keep an eye out for behavioral differences too, although once they are all back together in a group, picking out which one just did what is a bit impossible. They are all so much alike at this point.
the males seem to have bigger wattles at this point. mine are still keets
yes, when they become mature, you will see the male wattles extend out further like wings. and the females have flatter backs. did i say that already?