Christmas Eve Loss

[Sydney65]

Not noticeably....I have 3 that were from last year and the others were hatched this past spring. They stick together as a whole group. They are too young so no male fighting during breeding season yet. This group I have trained really well they go into the pen every night on their own. If I’m out there with food or not. When I get home if they are down at the neighbors yard I holler “guinea, guinea, guinea” from my car and they come running/ flying and follow me up the driveway to our house. They literally stay at my feet at times (see photo, those are my feet....in my chicken boots!!!) Actually today for the first time one kinda flew up at me, startled me a bit. I don’t think it was trying to attack me idk what it was doing.
View attachment 2465688

My boots! Mine have certain games they play, like fly over mom while she's cleaning the drop boards or use her as a boost after launching, or Bella's favorite, fly from perch to mom's head and out the door.

 

[sunnie7]

My boots! Mine have certain games they play, like fly over mom while she's cleaning the drop boards or use her as a boost after launching, or Bella's favorite, fly from perch to mom's head and out the door.

Okay so normal guineas behavior....I wasn’t being “attacked!” Lol. I think they just associate me with food all the time. I always question if I’m feeding them enough. They free range pretty much all day and I feed them 2 large yogurt containers in the morning and 2 in the evening of Purina gamebird and a little cracked corn mixed in.

 

[Sydney65]

Okay so normal guineas behavior....I wasn’t being “attacked!” Lol. I think they just associate me with food all the time. I always question if I’m feeding them enough. They free range pretty much all day and I feed them 2 large yogurt containers in the morning and 2 in the evening of Purina gamebird and a little cracked corn mixed in.

Well, that's 48 oz- 6 cups for 14 birds a day. Mine free range every day, with the exception of days they refuse to come out- like those 2 frigid days,or when it's raining. Otherwise, I only fill the feeders once a day, 5 feeders with about a cup each for 6 birds (the twins always stay together, even to eat) and they are never completely empty. They share a couple of stalks of celery every day. I have to break off pieces for the twins, but the other 4 take turns nibbling while I hold it. The twins are off of the gamebird startena now and eating the all flock with the elders.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Today I checked on the guineas when I heard them alarming. I found them hiding in brush, the roosters hiding in their coop, and a red tailed hawk sitting nearby. The hawk flew off at my approach, but just flew a short ways and perched in a nearby tree. He was much more reluctant to leave than I usually see with our hawks. A crow came and the hawk flew up in circles near overhead, slowly rising and eventually disappearing.

I also finally found some sign of Macbeth’s disappearance : a ring of downy feathers near the brush that the guineas were hiding in. All of this makes me think that it was this red tailed hawk that is the most likely culprit in Macbeth’s disappearance. I’m guessing something else scavenged the carcass as I still can’t find any other remains or evidence.

 

[Sydney65]

Today I checked on the guineas when I heard them alarming. I found them hiding in brush, the roosters hiding in their coop, and a red tailed hawk sitting nearby. The hawk flew off at my approach, but just flew a short ways and perched in a nearby tree. He was much more reluctant to leave than I usually see with our hawks. A crow came and the hawk flew up in circles near overhead, slowly rising and eventually disappearing.

I also finally found some sign of Macbeth’s disappearance : a ring of downy feathers near the brush that the guineas were hiding in. All of this makes me think that it was this red tailed hawk that is the most likely culprit in Macbeth’s disappearance. I’m guessing something else scavenged the carcass as I still can’t find any other remains or evidence.

Someone said something about crows driving hawks off? Can't say I've ever noticed it. I know hawks seemto be what mine areforever scanning for. They seem to take shifts while grazing, head cocked, one eye scanning. Until the eagle showed up, hawks were my biggest concern. - and you wouldn't necessarily find more clues, bc they just carry them off.
Side note-tail feathers. I had read that they release easily, kind of like a daddy long leg's leg or a chameleon's tail. -a few weeks back I made a grab for Mouse; proved that theory.
I wish you'd had a better outcome. There weren't fresh feathers when Lucy went missing, just the old ones she'd been laying on.
Mb a make do shelter to get you through the winter? We used the dog kennel until the run was finished.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Someone said something about crows driving hawks off? Can't say I've ever noticed it. I know hawks seemto be what mine areforever scanning for. They seem to take shifts while grazing, head cocked, one eye scanning. Until the eagle showed up, hawks were my biggest concern. - and you wouldn't necessarily find more clues, bc they just carry them off.
Side note-tail feathers. I had read that they release easily, kind of like a daddy long leg's leg or a chameleon's tail. -a few weeks back I made a grab for Mouse; proved that theory.
I wish you'd had a better outcome. There weren't fresh feathers when Lucy went missing, just the old ones she'd been laying on.
Mb a make do shelter to get you through the winter? We used the dog kennel until the run was finished.

I would have thought that mine were hawk savvy - they do seem very aware of them. This hawk may have surprised them. Our poor guineas are so shell shocked and flighty still. I sprinkled some millet around for them and they could barely stand still long enough to eat it. Someone made a noise back at our house and they all flew off in terror.

I can work on the run this weekend, but I’m sure it will take me awhile, maybe 1-2 months, to get it done. I’ve been agonizing for months over what the design of the run should be; I need to make a decision and just go with it... I’ve been trying to decide between six more hoops attached at one end for a 8’x 24’run versus 4x4 PT wood posts with hardware cloth, maybe 8x24 or maybe more expansive but going up uneven ground.

Huh. I’m typing this from bed and a loud coyote chorus just started up, probably a few blocks away. We have so many predators... I’m thinking about getting hatching eggs fro The Guinea Farm since I won’t be breeding Macbeth to Violet and Slate. Then I wonder if their birds that have all been protected and penned, for who knows how many generations, can really survive as free ranging birds...

 

[Sydney65]

Do your hoops go all the way to the ground or are they attached to wood posts? I was just thinking, if you cld get ahold of something like even recycled rebar, cut it in pieces then drive into ground with sledge hammer, then slide your poles over it, it won't be coming out. I'll have to ask Himself what the friendly recycle man dropped off here - humongously long rods that we'll be using as rebar. - something he hauled out of an old barn.
I know, any men reading this are cackling, but someone kept taking floral arrangements from my dad's grave (wasn't the wind, else others would have been disrupted) so we drove rebar abt a foot into the ground, & bent the top down. It's a bit of a hassle when I change arrangements, but by golly no one steals them anymore. Lol.