1st snow - Guinea’s missing now

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

It started snowing yesterday and the guineas mostly stuck around and by the time it was coop up time all but one went in.
The one stayed out all night in a tree after refusing to go into the coop.
This morning I saw it alive in the tree still I went and opened up the coop in hopes it would fly down and regroup. the rest were not interested in coming out.
When I went back to check if the one joined the flock the whole coop was empty I figured they all came out but I don’t see them anywhere or hear them. We’re heavily wooded and I won’t see them in any of the trees or on the house.
Where did they go?
Will they come back??
I lost track of their age but over 16 weeks now. We’ve never had issues but they have never had snow. I laid hay out as a walkway to their coop door in hopes it would help them come out which they did and promptly disappeared what the heck.
Ours are usually so noisy every day too.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Go around making their calls. They're most likely in a tree somewhere, too scared to come down. Do you have a kickball? You could randomly throw it up in the air as you search for them in the woods to see or hear if you get a reaction from them seeing it. Also, check under all cars and buildings (campers if you have those too). Some birds like to hide under those because there's no snow under them. Look around for any tracks or poop while you're at it. It might help you locate them.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Go around making their calls. They're most likely in a tree somewhere, too scared to come down. Do you have a kickball? You could randomly throw it up in the air as you search for them in the woods to see or hear if you get a reaction from them seeing it. Also, check under all cars and buildings (campers if you have those too). Some birds like to hide under those because there's no snow under them. Look around for any tracks or poop while you're at it. It might help you locate them.

I tried looking for tracks but didn’t find anything. I’ll try checking under the few buildings we have. We have 8 so if they are in a tree I’d hope I could spot them. The dogs are out searching with me so I assumed they’d make noise but I will keep trying and grab a ball. Thank you.

 

[R2elk]

I tried looking for tracks but didn’t find anything. I’ll try checking under the few buildings we have. We have 8 so if they are in a tree I’d hope I could spot them. The dogs are out searching with me so I assumed they’d make noise but I will keep trying and grab a ball. Thank you.

They are most likely in trees and will not come down willingly until the snows melt which may be too late.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

They are most likely in trees and will not come down willingly until the snows melt which may be too late.

Ughhh I sure hope that’s not the case I’ve looked in all the trees near by and called for them and the small birds and crows are flying around and it’s silent out there. Besides the happy little birds eating all the food the chickens and guineas have failed to eat.

 

[R2elk]

Some people's guineas are familiar with the sound of feed or treats being shaken in a can. If you have trained your guineas to come for feed or treats, you might be able to get a response from them by using whatever method or call you use when feeding or giving treats.

They can be very difficult to locate in dense trees. I had one last winter that I watched flyinto my junipers. I never could see him to try to chase him out of the tree and unfortunately found him 5 days later when he froze and fell out of the tree.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Some people's guineas are familiar with the sound of feed or treats being shaken in a can. If you have trained your guineas to come for feed or treats, you might be able to get a response from them by using whatever method or call you use when feeding or giving treats.

They can be very difficult to locate in dense trees. I had one last winter that I watched flyinto my junipers. I never could see him to try to chase him out of the tree and unfortunately found him 5 days later when he froze and fell out of the tree.

We have mostly cedars or trees that are wide open on branches. I haven’t heard or see anything and walked the perimeter. Did not train them to any sounds or calls as they tend to stick close and always coop up no problem.
I guess I’ll try and remove the snow around their coop and maybe if they are close enough to see that they will come tonight? Idk what else to do

 

[R2elk]

We have mostly cedars or trees that are wide open on branches. I haven’t heard or see anything and walked the perimeter. Did not train them to any sounds or calls as they tend to stick close and always coop up no problem.
I guess I’ll try and remove the snow around their coop and maybe if they are close enough to see that they will come tonight? Idk what else to do

Get on the Internet and play guinea sounds for them.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Is any of the trees thin enough to shake? Go around shaking what trees you can and the trees you can't shake, try kicking them and see if they react to that. Go around under all the trees. By now, they should have pooped, so you might find poop on the ground under some tree.

Do you have any far reaching flash lights? If they're not back by dark, shine it up in the trees looking for their eyes' reflection. They like to roost high and they might climb higher as the day goes on.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Update: they have all been found not in a tree but in the neighbors field. They walked through the snow and brush to the field where the snow isn’t accumulating like it is on our grass. I crawled *while 26weeks pregnant* through the brush and thorns and corralled them back through the woods and snow towards their coop. Some flew into a tree, some flew onto the chicken coop and the rest landed on their own coop. They have now all accumulated at their coop but on it. We layed a heavy layer of straw outside their coop and have their night lights on so hopefully as darkness falls they go into their coop.