If you keep guinea fowls at home, then you must have wondered why they chase each other.
Guinea fowls chase each other for different reasons, one of which is to demonstrate dominance. During mating season, it is common to see male guinea fowl chasing other males to excite the hens.
Let’s delve a little further to learn more about why they chase each other around and how to cut down the chasing.
Table of Contents
- 1 Reasons Why Guinea Fowls Chase Each Other
- 2 Ways to Prevent Guinea Fowl from Chasing One Another
- 3 When Guinea Fowl chase each other, do they get hurt?
- 4 When it comes to other birds, are Guinea Fowl aggressive?
- 5 Conclusion
Reasons Why Guinea Fowls Chase Each Other
To some people, this behavior might seem a bit worrisome. However, to experienced guinea fowl breeders, this habit of chasing each other around for hours is a regular occurrence.
Here are the three most typical reasons why guinea fowl chase each other in circles:
1. The Males Are Asserting Dominance
A common means of asserting dominance in guinea fowl is by chasing each other around.
Male guinea fowl often do this with each other. This act of chasing each other is their method of letting the flock know who’s in charge. This is some hierarchy within the herd.
The male that wins the chase automatically becomes the first in the hierarchy. How do you know this? Well, whichever of the running fowl stops running first becomes the most dominant of the flock.
This act of pursuing each other is mainly seen with the male guinea fowl, so if most of your flocks are males, you may witness it more often, which is often entertaining to watch.
2. As A Means for the Males to Impress the Female Guinea Fowl
We all know that the mating season is the period at which most animals express different odd behaviors.
Just like the guinea fowls, this is when the male chases each other around to impress the female fowl.
This is their means of demonstrating to the hens that they are the best option for mating. The fowl runs the longest without stopping wins.
Breeding seasons usually occur following rainy seasons.
The pursuit between two male fowl frequently begins with one chasing the other in one direction before switching roles and fleeing in the opposite direction.
When one of the fowls becomes too exhausted to continue running and stops, the other wins the race and gets its attention from the hens.
P.s. this chase can last for hours, but whoever wins gets your female guinea fowl’s attention.
Related: Here is an article I wrote on why do guinea fowls make noise
3. The Male Guinea Fowl Is Pursuing a Female Guinea Fowl
During the mating season, the male guinea also chases the female guineas. This only happens in a flock with limited competition.
That is, there are maybe one or two male guineas in the flock. You’ll see the male pulling a hen’s back feathers before mating.
It is an approach for them to determine whether the male is worthy of their attention.
Ways to Prevent Guinea Fowl from Chasing One Another
You can use different techniques to prevent your guinea fowl from chasing after one another.
The following are some standard methods:
1. Introduce the Pack to a few Hens
Your male guinea fowls will suffer a hormonal surge during mating season. If your flock is lacking in females, you might consider introducing some to the mix.
Make sure that the pack has an appropriate female-to-male ratio. This will prevent them from fighting over the female guinea.
2. Make more Room for your Guinea Fowl to Move about in.
If you’re putting your flock in a room, make sure there’s enough room for each bird, especially when they want to spread their wings.
Sometimes guinea fowl exhibit dominating traits, and a room space can result in the stronger ones chasing away the ones they perceive as weak from the area they believe to be theirs.
When Guinea Fowl chase each other, do they get hurt?
Breeders sometimes worry that their guinea fowl will get hurt if they are constantly pursuing each other.
They sometimes get aggressive, tugging at other birds’ feathers.
Fortunately, these birds ar