Cause of death?

[ShakeragSusan]

I have (had) 18 guineas living in a hen house with my 20 chickens. Last night we had a storm and a branch fell on the netting of the pen. So, we cleared that this morning early and about 30 minutes later, I came out to see my "Frontyardigans" and one of the guineas was lying dead- still warm. No marks on him, no sign of mites, no missing feathers. The only "clue" is it looked like his neck was broken- it was all floppy. Obviously, I am very new to this, but I don't have a clue what happened.


Let me see if I can present the facts:

Last night, we were out of town until after dark, so my mom put everyone to bed. The chickens and guineas both sleep in the hen house at night. We also had the first rain in weeks in the late afternoon, so Mom tried to get everyone in before the storm arrived. She thought she had everyone in and went back to her house. I counted when we got back and we were short one guinea. He was sitting on an outside roost in the middle of another thunderstorm. I had fully expected him to be under the house, as that is a favorite spot during heat or rain. I tried unsuccessfully to catch him, but was able to shoo him into the house.

The guineas are 12 weeks old (d.o.b. 4-10-12) and the chickens are 9 weeks. The house has an enclosed run attached. Everyone gets along pretty well mostly.

We are not letting our guineas out of the pen and into our yard yet because we are still trying to teach them that the hen house is the place to be at night.

After losing the poor guinea this morning, the rest have been wilder than usual. They started to chase and attack one guinea in particular. It got bad enough in just a couple of minutes that the victim was running to all the corners of the fencing and trying to fly out. He truly looked insane. We caught him and he is now confined alone in the hen house. He has closed his beak and looks okay now.

Are these two things related?

Thanks for any information you can provide. I love my Frontyardigans and want to keep them all healthy and happy.

 

[PeepsCA]

Sorry for your loss... The dead bird may have gotten spooked in the storm, in the dark, hit the roof or a roost and broke his neck or gave himself a head injury (it does not take much for a Guinea to kill itself when spooked/panicked).

12 weeks old is about when my males start becoming aggressive/picking on others... it is still breeding season right now and their hormones have likely kicked in. Separating the picked on Guinea will most likely only cause him to be even more ostricized by the flock, and IMO he's better off in a cage in the coop/pen with the others so they all can still see him... otherwise he may never be accepted back into the flock. The other option is to pen up the birds that were bullying him for a few days so they lose their rank in the pecking order and all the other bird/birds can relax and settle back in. Keep in mind that the aggression may escalate to the point that you have to re-home the worst bullies if you want to keep the peace in your coop/pen. The aggressive behavior does pass once the weather cools down in the Fall, but in the mean time you will most likely see the bullies get "cockier".

The dead bird may have also been picked on, and that is what caused him to break his neck or cause a head injury... so it is possible the 2 incidents are related, but I can't say for sure that they are.

 

[ShakeragSusan]

Thank you, PeepsCA, so much for the reply. I'd catch the bullies and remove them except they are harder to catch.
I let the victimized bird back out with everyone else as a storm is coming again, and within seconds, they were after him again. He runs and stops at a corner and puts his head down. So pitiful. So, I caught him again, before I read this and let him loose in my yard for the moment. He (or she) ran immediately away from the pen and then got under my car.

I have a largish dog crate I can put in the hen house, but I was wondering, would choosing now to free range them help?

I am still very much in hopes that they will come inside to roost. They have been sleeping in the hen house every night since Memorial Day.

They are fussing again. I'm going to go see what the problem is.

Thanks again.

 

[PeepsCA]

If you know which birds are the bullies, and can tell them apart in a dark or dimly lit coop, it's pretty easy to quickly grab them off the perch at night (just be sure to grab them firmly around the wings and body, and be ready for them to explode. Sometimes using a towel works too). You may also be able to herd most of the Guineas into the crate, then reach into the mass of panicked/scrambling Guineas and grab the bullies... then empty the crate and put the bullies back in it.

No doubt that free ranging would definitely help with aggression issues, and also give the picked on bird plenty of space to run, hide, get away from the bullies... but you will probably need to do a lot of baby sitting at first, to make sure they stick around. And hopefully they already know to come running for treats of some kind... because that really helps with getting them back in. Mine usually do not come back to the coop on their own at first tho, since everything looks different to them from the outside they get confused and have no idea where to go. You may have to herd everybody back in before dark consistently for a couple weeks until they get used to the nightly coop up routine... but if they are kept with the chickens and let out with the chickens then they may figure it out right away. Lets hope anyway!

Good luck.

 

[ShakeragSusan]

Well, the victim guinea spent all yesterday outside the pen, a bit nervously.

Last night, he spent the night in a dog crate inside the hen house with everyone else.

This morning, I let all the guineas except the one in the crate out to free range for the first time. After an hour or so, the one left behind clearly wanted out, too.

Things went well with him out with the others for about 30 minutes. Then one guinea in particular was chasing the victim again and cornered him by the poultry fence.
I picked him up and put him back inside. So, I don't know if he's had his status further reduced or if they will get used to him. I suppose I will crate him again tonight and try to let
all of them out tomorrow, assuming I can get them all back inside tonight.