How to tell the sex of Guinea fowl by sound (It's really easy!)

As you may know I raise Guinea fowl along with my chickens. I currently have somewhere around 50 Guineas in various colors. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is how to tell the males guineas from the female guineas. I usually respond that the females all have red leg bands on, but I'm pretty sure that's not what they mean! lol

There are several common 'farm wives tales' about sexing guineas, none of which are 100% accurate. I discussed this awhile back in The Guinea Wattle Myth. The only proven sexing method for guineas is by listening to the noise they make and unlike most chicken chicks, guineas cannot be sexed at hatch.

When trying to tell guinea fowl apart, the only sure way to tell the male Guinea cock from the female Guinea hen is by the noise they make. Unfortunately male and female guineas make some of the same noises! 

The female guinea does have 1 unique call though and it is quite distinct, but unless you know what to listen for you might not recognize it.

How to sex guinea fowl:

The female Guinea hen has a unique two syllable call. It sort of sounds like she's yelling "buck-wheat buck-wheat". Some people say it sounds like "come-back, come-back". It's definitely a 2 note call. It's important to note that only the female Guineas can make this call. 

This is a general call they use at any time. This is not their alert call.

The guinea hen also has an alert call which is a one syllable call that sounds like "chi, chi, chi". She will use this when startled, when a car pulls into the drive, a squirrel runs by or just for any reason when she gets a little spooked.

Guinea fowl get spooked a lot! (their not terribly bright) They also have a cute little high pitched trill that they use to communicate with each other in a less ear-splitting fashion.

The different guinea fowl sounds:

As for the male guinea fowl sound....the male also makes a one syllable call and it also sounds like "chi, chi, chi". This is their standard call, the one they use all the time although they can do the trill too. You'll hardly ever notice the trill, but you'll know when the "chi, chi, chi" machine goes off! 

You might want to invest in some earplugs. *sigh*

Ok, so to recap....the female guinea fowl can make the female call and the male call but the male can only make the male call....got that? It goes like this:

Guinea hen sound: 'buck-wheat, buck wheat' & 'chi, chi, chi'

Guinea cock sound: 'chi, chi, chi'

It confused me at first too, so I've prepared a few video clips for you of guinea fowl sounds.

Video Of Guinea Fowl Sounds

This second clip here is one I posted a few years back when someone emailed me asking how to tell the males from the females. It's only after I happened to look at how many times it's been viewed that I decided it might be time to post about this and make a new clip. I hope this helps you when trying to determine the sex of your Guinea fowl.

One visual clue to telling guinea fowl apart

Guinea fowl do have one little visual difference when trying to tell the males from the females. The female tends to have more of a hump on her back where her tail starts. The male is more oval or helmet shaped with no hump. 

You can sorta see it in the one picture up at the top of this article. The white guinea is female and has a slight lift to her tail mid back. The guinea beside her is a juvenile male and has no such hump.

Like everything else with guinea fowl, it's sorta tricky. Not all females seem to have it....but no males do. It can help you to distinguish the female guinea from the male guinea, but sound is really your best bet for a positive gender identification.

Want to know more about raising Guineas? Click here for Guineas 101, everything you want to know about guinea fowl!

~Lisa

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