Guineafowl Sound, Calls and Noises Explained

The Guineafowl is an exceedingly loud bird. In fact, this is a bird that you really do not want to be raising if you live pretty close to people. They are going to be even louder than roosters. But, what is the guineafowl sound? Let’s take a little look what do guineafowl sound like.

What Do Guinea Fowl Sound Like?

The sound that a guineafowl makes is extremely irritating, low-pitched buckwheat sound.

One of the big issues with Guineafowl is that both males and females look the same. In fact, if you were just looking at the guineafowl, you probably would not be able to tell the difference between the two.

You actually have to listen to the guineafowl noise it makes to get an idea of their sex.

Male and Female Guineafowl Noise Sound Different

The male guineafowl makes just one noise when it vocalizes. Many people will liken it to a ‘one syllable voice’.

Obviously, the tone will change depending on what the guineafowl is trying to say but, for the most part, the sound will always be the same.

We have asked what people thought their female guineafowl sounded like, and pretty much everybody says that it sounds like they are saying the word ‘buckwheat’.

The female guineafowl, on the other hand, will have two syllables that they will switch between.

It may be a bit tough to hear at the start, but we promise you that once you own a guineafowl, you will hear the difference between males and females pretty quickly.

When Do Guineafowl Make Sound?

As we said at the start; the guineafowl is a very loud bird. However, it is not going to be loud most of the time.

For starters; guineafowl will barely make any sound at night. This is because, if they were in the wild, they really do not want to be drawing attention to themselves when it is dark outside.

If a guineafowl does make a sound at night, then you can be pretty sure that something is going to be wrong.

The guineafowl will probably make a lot of sound during the day, though. As you may well know, the guineafowl is going to be quite a social animal.

In the wild, it would travel in flocks of upwards of 20 birds. While it is unlikely that you will have a flock this size in your yard, it is still recommended that you have a decent number of them together.

An individual guineafowl is going to be a loud bird at the best of times, but when you have a good number of them together, they are going to be incredibly loud.

Most of the time you will notice that the guineafowl will make a noise when it is trying to draw the bird’s attention to something.

This may be because they discovered a food source, or perhaps there is a predator in the area.

The Guineafowl as a Guard Bird

Due to the fact that guineafowl sounds are very loud, a lot of people will use them as guard birds. In the US you can find that people are raising the Helmeted guineafowl, which is the only recognized variety by the American Poultry Association.

This means that they will ‘notify’ you if there are any predators or unknown people on the property, the guineafowl will let out a very large sound… and you may have a dozen birds doing this at once.

They are an excellent natural alarm for your property.

You will know that the guineafowl is letting out an ‘alert’ sound because it will be exceedingly loud. It will also be a repetitive, almost excited, sound.

They will repeat this until whatever they perceive to be a threat has disappeared.

Do bear in mind that the guineafowl, due to the social nature, is not really a bird that is going to back away from a threat.

This means that the guineafowl sound will be incredibly loud, and the guineafowl may try to attack anything that it perceives as a threat.

Therefore, if you do hear the alert guineafowl sounds, then you will probably want to check on them as soon as possible in order to ensure that no injuries occur.

The Guinesfowl Sounds Almost Always Aggressive

This is the interesting thing about the guineafowl. The sounds that they make will almost be aggressive sounding.

Yes. The tone will change depending on what they are trying to communicate, but there will always be a hint of aggression in the sounds that they make.

This means that if you are trying to work out what a guineafowl is trying to say, you need to look at their body language.

We know that the guineafowl sound can be a little bit scary if you have never heard it before but, if you look at the bird, you will start to get a feel for whether they pose any threat towards you.

Guineafowl Sound – ‘The Egg Song’

If you listen to a guineafowl sitting on the eggs, you will notice that this is one time that they really do not sound aggressive.

The female is still going to be making that buckwheat sound, but it will sound much calmer. It will be very soft. It will almost sound like a song.

In fact, it sounds so much like a song that a lot of people will refer to it as the ‘egg song’.

The purpose of this song seems to be to alert another guineafowl there they are nesting.

If one of your guineafowls seems to have gone missing during the mating system, there is a good chance that she will have set up a nest somewhere.

Perhaps the best way to try and find them is to listen to this sound, although it is so soft that it can be quite difficult to hear.

Conclusion

Guineafowl sounds can be incredibly loud, if not that varied. Unless the guineafowl is nesting, their sounds are almost always going to sound aggressive in nature.

Therefore, in order to work out what your birds actually want, you should look at their body language. Remember; this is absolutely not a bird that you want to be getting if you live in a built-up area.

Your neighbors are not going to be happy by how loud they are at all. In fact, they would probably prefer you bought a rooster. That sound is going to be a lot more preferable!