australorp hatches guineas!

[ozark hen]

thank you Jackie for sharing those great photos! Please keep us posted on their progress.

 

[ozark hen]

Well, apparently, I did not latch the gate to the inner cage last night and this morning all thirteen guineas are loose and I have tried for hours to catch them.

They actually were in some of the thirty foot trees around the house and in the heavy brush. I had one on the porch awhile ago. I try to get near them and they run/fly. I have only actually seen three but hear them all the time cheeping. I am so frustrated that I was so careless and didn't double check that latch! I had to fight it all the time and should have checked it again the last time I fed and watered last night. The outter latch on the pen was still secure. The brush is so thick I can't get through it to herd them this way. I am already covered in some poison and on Benadryl!! so I guess I am without guineas now..or will be in a day or two. I saw one little one fly from one tree to another and it was about 75 ft. I was amazed at the wing strength. I have their food and water sitting outside the pen in case they back to that side of the yard.

 

[chicks rule]

Awww Ozark Hen, I hate to hear that, hopefully they will wander back to their pen. Silly things don't they know we want to keep them and take care of them? I'm still leary of letting mine loose. Gooc Luck. When I had just the one she got away and I left the pen open, she wasn't there the next morning and I give up on her, but, she was there that afternoon, so maybe yours will do the same

 

[ozark hen]

Thanks Chicks Rule I just called my DH and told him about them. He said that maybe they would come back at dusk. I don't see how though as they aren't four weeks old yet and every thing must seem sooo big to them. I am just getting so frustrated with the guineas. I had not planned on turning them loose until they were pretty much grown. They had only been outside in their cage for about four days or so. I just went outside and listened for them and they are much farther away in the brush, soon they will be in the woods and gone. too sad but I know things happen for a reason sooo.

 

[chicks rule]

Yes they are very frustrating for sure. I lost two of the new ones I had gotten, I still have eleven of various ages. I sometimes sit here and think of ways to keep them in the yard, do you think I could really tie a little string around one of their little legs and stake them in the yard??? That is the one thought that keeps popping into my head???

 

[ozark hen]

You know I read some threads on here and a lot of people don't have any trouble keeping them??? Go figure! I was crazy about the one male who did stay around here. He was the one I found dead in front of the dog pen. I saw the dog making a bee line for the ducks as I let them out of the coop last week and it made me wonder? So now to be safe, I put the dog up in the morning before I release the chickens/ducks and put him up at night after they have all returned safely to the coop. There was no sign of struggle on the dead guinea but maybe the dog chased it and caught it and let it go trying to play? No loose feathers or or blood or anything. So now the dog patrols at night and I let the small dogs keep things away during the day. So far, knock on wood, I have no even seen a hawk. In the fall/winter we have a pair of them here but I have not seen them at all since winter. I do see turkey buzzards but they won't kill anything.

 

[ozark hen]

Well, thank the Lord, I caught one of the babie guineas who had escaped|!! It came on the porch again and hid behind the portable fridge out there. I put an open cage on one side of the fridge and I went to the other side and it ran right into the cage!!!! I am going to treat this one like a found treasure|!!

I am going to keep this one in the cage until my DH fixes that latch on the outside cage within the pen. Maybe it will call the others?? Hopefully.

 

[chicks rule]

I'm glad you caught one, maybe the others will wander back , I sure hope so

. And thank goodness there aren't cameras around we we are trying to corral these silly birds,

 

[ozark hen]

my goodness, I didn't think of that...let alone someone within hearing distance to hear me calling them!!!

 

[JackieK318]

I've heard of people setting a trap for them so they can get in but can't get out. I'm not sure what you'd put in there to treat them so you wouldn't end up with a squirrel or something. I wish somedays we could just speak animal and get them to understand what we're doing! I sure hope you at least capture a male and a female! Let me know if you don't have any around you and I'll check the feed store by me. Worst case scenerio, I'll get them to you in the fall when I go to a conference in October in your area.