Guineafowl grief

[Kmorrissey]

Hi,
I have a lovely flock of solid white guineafowl. Unfortunately in the past month we have been met with some tragedy. Until this weekend we didn’t know what the culprit was, long story, but we’ve discovered that our neighbor’s dog killed 2 our guineafowl and indirectly a third died a week after the first as her mate was the 1st killed. She was heart broken and stressed.
i am now concerned with the remaining 3 birds. The last female was killed 3 days ago, died in my arms, they still call for her, they aren’t eating and beginning to show the same depressed behaviors as mama before she passed. I am afraid I am going to lose them too.
The behavior of this flock is very untraditional per my reading. They are quite domesticated, I do not let them free range, they are kept in an enclosure during the day, I take them for an evening walk, then we walk back to the coop for treats/food, they roost and I lock them in.
Does anyone know what I can do to get them to not starve themselves or lose the will to live? Tonight I did get them to roll in the dirt and take dust baths.
Thank you for any advice,
Kelly

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi,
I have a lovely flock of solid white guineafowl. Unfortunately in the past month we have been met with some tragedy. Until this weekend we didn’t know what the culprit was, long story, but we’ve discovered that our neighbor’s dog killed 2 our guineafowl and indirectly a third died a week after the first as her mate was the 1st killed. She was heart broken and stressed.
i am now concerned with the remaining 3 birds. The last female was killed 3 days ago, died in my arms, they still call for her, they aren’t eating and beginning to show the same depressed behaviors as mama before she passed. I am afraid I am going to lose them too.
The behavior of this flock is very untraditional per my reading. They are quite domesticated, I do not let them free range, they are kept in an enclosure during the day, I take them for an evening walk, then we walk back to the coop for treats/food, they roost and I lock them in.
Does anyone know what I can do to get them to not starve themselves or lose the will to live? Tonight I did get them to roll in the dirt and take dust baths.
Thank you for any advice,
Kelly

Awww, that’s so sad Kelly! I’ve seen our guinea fowl grieve, but they are no where near as tame as yours… When my flock has lost birds, the whole flock became very agitated and flighty, I’m guessing because they feel particularly unsafe.

My last loss, Scout Lemon, just a month ago, seemed to really upset her mate, Bruiser. He had three hens, so Scout Lemon was not even his only mate. But when Scout Lemon disappeared, it was Bruiser who called and called for her, seeming particularly agitated when she didn’t show up at the coop to roost at night. Then he abruptly lost his top dog spot in the flock that he’s held for a year, even the most subordinate male started to bully Bruiser. It was as if he was just too sad to fight for his spot anymore, he would just sit hunched over and let the other males peck him. He is better now, and I think that they can get over a loss, but it’s hard on them. Writing this made me want to find a pic of Scout Lemon: this was her as a juvenile last year, the survivor of a snake attack in the coop that killed her hatch mates, and now she’s gone too.

If your guineas enjoy your company, maybe you could spend some extra time with them, giving them treats and helping them feel safe?

 

[Kmorrissey]

Awww, that’s so sad Kelly! I’ve seen our guinea fowl grieve, but they are no where near as tame as yours… When my flock has lost birds, the whole flock became very agitated and flighty, I’m guessing because they feel particularly unsafe.

My last loss, Scout Lemon, just a month ago, seemed to really upset her mate, Bruiser. He had three hens, so Scout Lemon was not even his only mate. But when Scout Lemon disappeared, it was Bruiser who called and called for her, seeming particularly agitated when she didn’t show up at the coop to roost at night. Then he abruptly lost his top dog spot in the flock that he’s held for a year, even the most subordinate male started to bully Bruiser. It was as if he was just too sad to fight for his spot anymore, he would just sit hunched over and let the other males peck him. He is better now, and I think that they can get over a loss, but it’s hard on them. Writing this made me want to find a pic of Scout Lemon: this was her as a juvenile last year, the survivor of a snake attack in the coop that killed her hatch mates, and now she’s gone too.

If your guineas enjoy your company, maybe you could spend some extra time with them, giving them treats and helping them feel safe?

Spending time with them is exactly what I did this morning before work. After spending 45 minutes with the boys listening to acoustic guitar, telling them what good boys they are, how pretty they are, and how much I love them... I was finally able to get them to eat and drink.
I just came in from spending time in their enclosure with them. Brought them some delectable weeds, played the music they seem to like, & let them walk around in the rain in their pen. They ate, drank, and chatted. I licked them in there coop with treat mix and extra meal worms. I see they are also trying to reconfigure the order of the remaining flock. One seems to be pushing around another.

Then there is one who is very neutral. They all like him, his name is Zen. He is happy just being. He’s been this way since he hatched. Checking on everyone else. When one of his hatch mates was struggling pipping through he would encourage them resting his head on their egg. Thinking of introducing some other guineafowl to the flock once we get this dog thing and housing situation figured out. We want to build a coop and enclosure elsewhere on our property in the near future. I have 3 of Daisy’s eggs on the counter. I may try to incubate them, plus a friend bought some of our eggs and hatched them. I may buy them back ( she offered lol) I just hope there are more females in that batch.
Thank for sharing information about your flock. It was helpful and the suggestions were spot on.

 

[Kmorrissey]

Spending time with them is exactly what I did this morning before work. After spending 45 minutes with the boys listening to acoustic guitar, telling them what good boys they are, how pretty they are, and how much I love them... I was finally able to get them to eat and drink.
I just came in from spending time in their enclosure with them. Brought them some delectable weeds, played the music they seem to like, & let them walk around in the rain in their pen. They ate, drank, and chatted. I licked them in there coop with treat mix and extra meal worms. I see they are also trying to reconfigure the order of the remaining flock. One seems to be pushing around another.

Then there is one who is very neutral. They all like him, his name is Zen. He is happy just being. He’s been this way since he hatched. Checking on everyone else. When one of his hatch mates was struggling pipping through he would encourage them resting his head on their egg. Thinking of introducing some other guineafowl to the flock once we get this dog thing and housing situation figured out. We want to build a coop and enclosure elsewhere on our property in the near future. I have 3 of Daisy’s eggs on the counter. I may try to incubate them, plus a friend bought some of our eggs and hatched them. I may buy them back ( she offered lol) I just hope there are more females in that batch.
Thank for sharing information about your flock. It was helpful and the suggestions were spot on.

Oh dear lol. That should have said “locked them in there coop”. Below are pics when they were little keets. The one I am holding has an injured leg and lives in the house with us. The others tried to kill him when introducing them all to their parents because he was a threat to the flock. Mama, Clover, noticed his bum leg and chirped at the keets, all but one turned on him. His cage mate tried to protect him from the others. It got ugly. As soon as I picked him up the fighting stopped.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Oh dear lol. That should have said “locked them in there coop”. Below are pics when they were little keets. The one I am holding has an injured leg and lives in the house with us. The others tried to kill him when introducing them all to their parents because he was a threat to the flock. Mama, Clover, noticed his bum leg and chirped at the keets, all but one turned on him. His cage mate tried to protect him from the others. It got ugly. As soon as I picked him up the fighting stopped.

Awww, your guinea flock looks so happy and well-kept! Do you still have your indoor guinea with the bum leg?

 

[Kmorrissey]

Oh dear lol. That should have said “locked them in there coop”. Below are pics when they were little keets. The one I am holding has an injured leg and lives in the house with us. The others tried to kill him when introducing them all to their parents because he was a threat to the flock. Mama, Clover, noticed his bum leg and chirped at the keets, all but one turned on him. His cage mate tried to protect him from the others. It got ugly. As soon as I picked him up the fighting stopped.

Yes and he loves his morning cuddles. Which has evolved into whenever I go into his room cuddles

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Yes and he loves his morning cuddles. Which has evolved into whenever I go into his room cuddles

Sweet! You have a very special relationship with your guineas!

 

[Sydney65]

This has been a rough year. A series of events dwindled the flock. Each loss affected someone, but not everyone. One cont returning to her sister's nest site for 2 months. Mates wandered around looking & calling.
Two males fought constantly, I found one in the corner one morning. Months later I was outside playing videos on my phone. The other male, who's mate had been disappeared from my yard in broad daylight about a month earlier, was near by when I played clips of the original crew.
When he heard the call of his old sparing mate,his head popped up and he frantically started running around, calling. He ran behind me to look through the window to see if he was in the house, jump on my shoulder.. There was no mistaking his search. When he couldn't find him, he came back,sat next to me, "chirping" is too cheerful of a word.
By then I was down to 3 of my original 3 yr olds, and 26 keets. Life had changed, & my 2 boys took active part in minding the keets.
Mama has this thing about taking the keets in the cornfield. That was why I had played the clips that day,trying to get her to come back.
Another day, a sudden storm, 29 went in the field, only 18 came out, leaving Mama alone to raise what is left of her brood. I've sold 3 of the older keets since then,so she has 14.
She doesn't really have time to be "depressed", but she has definitely changed. She doesn't come when I call anymore, I can pick her up and she'll sit on my lap, but "flock dynamics" have been blown to kingdom come, & it shows.
When Nugget's mate dissapeared, Mama was on her nest. He began sitting with her every day, staring at her. She wasn't his mate, & her mate was still here. But it was like he had to stare at her to make sure she didn't disappear.-and that's how she is now with her remaining keets.
If you hatch- Mama has no interest in anyone's babies but her own, & my brooder is inside. I would put it infront of the patio door, and my boys would come to the door to watch the keets.
When the keets moved outside, Mama was on the nest. The boys adopted the keets and parented them. It was adorable- and they were good at it.
When hers hatched, both took part with their care as well. I have no doubt that whatever happened, they were trying to defend the keets with them.
- I tell you about that as a way to incorporate the newbies into the flock. If they decide to adopt them, it's a lot easier.

 

[Kmorrissey]

Thank you for this. I am so sorry to hear of your flock losses. It makes you wonder about scientific studies when you hear statements about animals not grieving their losses. Pretty sure they must have been studying pet rocks.
Last summer we acquired the parent pair or they acquired us. Ironically they wandered into our backyard a week after I found a tick on the back of my leg. I thought to myself when I found the tick, "Darn it's too bad the neighbor's free-range chickens are gone. They really used to keep the ticks in check." A week later these 2 white guineafowls show up out of nowhere. We posted signs, Facebook posted on the local lost and found animal page, no one claimed them. So Doug & Clover became ours living in neighbor A's empty coop. They taught me a lot. The first was figuring out if they were male or female. It took me a while but they were a mated pair. So after a month, we thought why not hatch their eggs. She was never great about staying on the nest long enough to incubate the eggs even though Doug would sit or stand by her. He started to get aggressive with her as she was very demanding when sitting. (She would be all pecked up and bleeding at times) So I collected some and incubated them. 5 successfully hatched.
Our brooder was a large box in the spare room, when they were old enough we built a cage inside the coop. You can sort of see it in the pic above. The birds on the step are Doug and Clover. The keets were separated from them probably longer than necessary but by the time we took the barrier down they were all well acquainted and had no nasty fights. They were all happy to finally be able to roam in the coop freely. Doug and Clover taught them how to behave, how to walk with me, (and if they got crazy I put them back in the pen only walking Doug and Clover for a couple of days. So they had to watch with their little beaks pressed against the fence LOL) I only had to do that once. Daddy, Doug, kept everyone in line and I am certain he died defending them from neighbor B's dog. Mama Clover was the flock matriarch. At the moment we are all taking a deep breath trying to figure out what to do is next. I am truly considering buying the keets from the eggs my hens laid.
I will have her record a video of them and then I will take it in the coop to see how the boys react. It may be what they need.

 

[R2elk]

It makes you wonder about scientific studies when you hear statements about animals not grieving their losses. Pretty sure they must have been studying pet rocks.

Anyone who really knows animals knows that animals grieve. Guineas and turkeys both can suffer depression severe enough to cause their deaths.

Any studies done that claim otherwise can only have been done by people that were trying to prove their preconceived theories and either failed to use a valid method (how do you measure grief or depression?) or ignored the results that were disproving their theories.