Guinea's can't get stuck in trees? Can they?

[smcjoj3]

Ok, don't laugh at me! But my stupid Guinea is really high up in a Southern Pine and won't.stop.SCREAMING.
I wouldn't mind so much, but we recently moved to a 'neighborhood' (ok now you can laugh - who has Guinea's in a n'hood?!) and I think I am slowly but surely burning bridges on all sides of me! He can fly down right?

 

[AlienChick]

Guineas in the "hood!"

WHAT were you thinking???!

Well, the good news is the guinea will eventually come down.

The bad news is it'll probably scream for a bit longer till it decides to make its way down.


As far as the neighbors go . . . can you

.

 

[BritinMO]

Not laughing AT you - but laughing WITH YOU! Oh boy - loved reading this! Yes, he can fly down, but it will be on his terms when he decides to do that unless you want to waste endless hours encouraging flight with carefully aimed small sticks, a hose pipe aimed at him, talking to him nicely and offering treats, or cursing and swearing at him - all will be ignored........................yup - as far as the neighbors are concerned, hope they just understand.........

Keep us updated - PLEASE!!!

 

[KrisH]

I feel your pain. We are new to guineas too, our first free range episode went something like this..

The guinea flew over the fence into the dog AKA back yard. put the dogs in the house and began to try to corral the escapee. (Lesson 1, Dont do that)

while attempting to capture said guinea I approached too fast, so the guinea flew up to the porch. that is when lesson 2 started. (when you reach up to catch an escaped guinea they will fly to a higher place)

Having not learned lesson 2 I went to the garage and got the ladder to climb on the roof. (lesson 2 continued as the guinea flew up to the top of the chimney.

Still learning lesson 2 I got a step ladder to get to the top of the chimney.

Apparently the guinea felt i needed further humiliation and flew WAY up into a nearby oak tree where due to a lack of a 75 foot ladder or bucket truck said escapee guinea spent it's first night outside alone in a tree WAY above the house.

What i'm saying is they CAN and WILL fly when they are good and ready, not before unless you try to capture them.

RobertH

I have learned lesson 2 totally.

Not laughing AT you - but laughing WITH YOU! Oh boy - loved reading this! Yes, he can fly down, but it will be on his terms when he decides to do that unless you want to waste endless hours encouraging flight with carefully aimed small sticks, a hose pipe aimed at him, talking to him nicely and offering treats, or cursing and swearing at him - all will be ignored........................yup - as far as the neighbors are concerned, hope they just understand.........

Keep us updated - PLEASE!!!

 

[BritinMO]

I'm now thankfully (or not so thankfully) nearly 2 years into sharing my life with Guineas, every day they do something to make me laugh, I never ever anticipated what a source of amusement (and frustration at times) they would be when I bought my one day old keets home, I just thought they would eat a few ticks

You'll find that once they get used to free ranging, if one does go up a tree or onto a building, the best way to get it down is to make it THINK its missing out on something exciting. Throw the rest of the flock some treats well away from the escapee, and it will soon come down - well it should do..................but then it might not!

 

[Watchingtheweas]

So all four of ours went up into a tree yesterday and have been there ever since. Bribery and coaxing hasn't worked.

Any idea how long they can stay up there before they dehydrate/starve/freeze to death?

And are they intelligent enough to come down on their own before that?

 

[WYNot]

So all four of ours went up into a tree yesterday and have been there ever since. Bribery and coaxing hasn't worked.

Any idea how long they can stay up there before they dehydrate/starve/freeze to death?

And are they intelligent enough to come down on their own before that?

In theory, yes they are... in theory.

 

[WiChickenFarm]

Any suggestions to get them down, especially with below zero wind chills overnight? Had a nice winter day, so let the chickens and Guineas out. Chickens weren't very interested, but all 12 Guineas were. Managed to get 6 back in, lost one to the neighbor's dog (landed on the wrong side of the fence and couldn't figure out how to fly back over) and remaining 5 are in the trees for night #2. If they have frozen by morning and haven't starved yet, any tricks to try? I know they don't like the snow, so put boards down in front of the coop to land on. We left lights on in and around the coop before and after dusk tonight with no luck. They are entertaining birds, but frustrating at the moment!

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

As other mentioned, treats and long poles seem to work best...It's not easy when they're being stubborn, though.

We had an ice storm a few weeks back, and one of our guineas decided it was the perfect night to roost on top of the loafing shed instead of in it. She survived the night, but we found her frozen to the roof the next morning, just out of our reach. I spent my morning standing on top of an ice covered dog house holding a pool pole with a hair dryer duck taped to it, blowing warm air to melt the ice. It was laughable, but it worked. She flew off into a tree. Stayed in the tree most of the day, but finally came down when we threw some hen scratch down. She had some feathers yanked off her chest from the experience - enough that she bled a little, but she survived, and now about two weeks later, you'd never even realize she'd been through such an ordeal.

Guineas are remarkably resilient creatures.

 

[WiChickenFarm]

Update to our Guineas... it took a week, but we got them all back in the coop. We put food on the landing of the kids' swing set and some then stayed there as it got dark and borrowed a fishing net from the neighbor to capture them. Got a few more out of a second story window when they were on the roof below it.

We'll wait until much warmer weather to try that again. They definitely are hearty birds! One seemed to have frozen feet, but is walking fine now. Otherwise, no sign of spending multiple nights in below zero weather in trees.