What are the 'horns' on guinea heads and faces for?

[222danette]

I just brought home my first pearl keets today and have been looking at on-line images of the adults. Does anyone know what the 'horns' on top to their heads and the sides of their faces are called? Do they have a function? Will they crossbreed with my chickens?

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm knot sure what the knobs are for, but according to the research I have done, Guinea fowl can hybridize with Peafowl, Domestic fowl and perhaps other species. However, they don't do it naturally and it probably won't create healthy or fertile hybrids. If you have multiple guineas and multiple chickens then they shouldn't attempt to breed with one another.

I hope this helps!

 

[perchie.girl]

The horns are called Casques.... and they grow quite a bit. Not sure what they are for but the term Casque is a french word for Helmet... http://www.freewebs.com/fancyfeathers-bc/Guinea fowl anatomy diagram 4.pdf

Most of the ones people have are called Helmeted Guinea Fowl.... But there are nine different subspecies of Helmeted Guinea fowl

The following is an excerpt of an article on Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmeted_guineafowl

There are nine recognized subspecies:

• N. m. coronatus (Gurney, 1868) - natal helmeted guineafowl - eastern South Africa
• N. m. galeatus (Pallas, 1767) - West African guineafowl - western Africa to southern Chad, central Zaire, and northern Angola
• N. m. marungensis (Schalow, 1884) - Marungu helmeted guineafowl - south Congo Basin to western Angola and Zambia
• N. m. meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758) - Saharan helmeted guineafowl - eastern Chad to Ethiopia, northern Zaire, Uganda and northern Kenya
• N. m. mitratus (Pallas, 1764) - tufted guineafowl - Tanzania to eastern Mozambique, Zambia, and northern Botswana
• N. m. papillosus (Reichenow, 1894) - Damara helmeted guineafowl - southern Angola to Botswana and Namibia
• N. m. reichenowi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1894) - Reichenow's helmeted guineafowl - Kenya and central Tanzania
• N. m. sabyi (Hartert, 1919) - Saby's helmeted guineafowl - northwestern Morocco
• N. m. somaliensis (Neumann, 1899) - Somali tufted guineafowl - northeastern Ethiopia and Somalia

Other species of Guinea fowl are:

Crested Guinea fowl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_guineafowl
There are five recognized subspecies:

• G. p. barbata (Ghigi, 1905) – Malawi crested guineafowl – southeastern Tanzania to eastern Mozambique and Malawi
• G. p. edouardi (Hartlaub, 1867) – eastern Zambia to Mozambique and eastern South Africa
• G. p. pucherani (Hartlaub, 1861) – Kenya crested guineafowl – Somalia to Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Tumbatu Island
• G. p. sclateri (Reichenow, 1898) – Sclater's crested guineafowl – northwestern Cameroon
• G. p. verreauxi (Elliot, 1870) – Lindi crested guineafowl – Guinea-Bissau to western Kenya, Angola, and Zambia

Vulturine Guinea fowl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulturine_guineafowl
very pretty bird I dont think there are any subspecies...

You can buy Vulturine hybrids which are a hybrid between Vultuine and Helmeted Guinea fowl.

sorry to overload with info but its good to know there are other varieties.

Guinea fowl males cannot breed with chickens... but chicken males can breed with Guinea hens. It has to do with how each are built for the process.

Of course AI experiments are done all over So far all hybrids are sterile... even the guinea to guinea hybrid...

deb

 

[222danette]

Wow, thanks!

 

[perchie.girl]

Wow, thanks!

VBG I go overboard sometimes. I love research.

deb