Guineas and snakes

[robin416]

Day before yesterday I was in the Guinea coop doing stuff, several of the birds were in there with me. Then a couple of them did the discussion thing and when I looked there was a black snake curled in the corner of the coop. They never made a move on it, just talked.

 

[racuda]

I found a small snake in the compost pile the other day. I tossed it toward a group of Guineas. They encircled it, peering at it, and then just walked away.

 

[fishman65]

Last week i heard the guineas go nuts and start jumping around in a circle, I have seen them do this before and knew exactly what they were doing, they had found a snake and had to check it out, once again they had found and alerted me to a copperhead snake in the grass. after helping them take care of the snake they all got a big scoop of scratch and scrambled eggs. Proper pay for a job well done. I have never seen them kill a snake but they are real good at harassing snakes to the point that they just want to leave and not come back.

 

[keet factory]

Guineas can be taught to kill snakes, it just takes some time. Young flocks will typically just chatter at a snake and harass it, but the older birds will kill a snake, especially if it is on the small side.

My guineas learned to run down the large desert lizards in my back 2, becoming so efficient that the lizards are now done extinct. It is a shame because the lizards were cool to have around and were beneficial. They could crawl under boards and plywood piles and eat the insects.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

I have seen ours chase them but never attack a snake. The noise they make does drive them off.

Steve

 

[txchickie]

Ours will scream and circle/surround a snake (and armadillos, as I found out yesterday

), but haven't killed one yet. They've pecked and harrassed, but that's it.

We have rattlesnakes GALORE around here, but the guineas do a good job of running them off or at least alerting us to them.

 

[BoogieBug]

I have seen ours chase them but never attack a snake. The noise they make does drive them off.
Steve

This is interesting. I wonder if that's why my guineas suddenly started squawking at dusk. They turned 11 weeks old on Monday, and yesterday evening, they started making a ruckus. When I go outside to check on them, they are not distressed... just standing there clucking up a storm! Maybe they're warding off a snake?!! Hmmmm...