Half of my guinea flock has disappeared in one go

[SuiladMellon]

Hi guys, so I have a flock of 23 guinea fowl that just turned a year old a couple of days ago, and well... half the flock has suddenly disappeared without a trace, and I'm really not sure what to do!

Yesterday morning we let them out like usual to free range, then when I went up around noon to do some work with our horses I noticed there were only 12 guineas in the usual pastures where they spend most of their day. I didn't think much of it at the time because I thought the rest might just be off in the tall grass where I couldn't see them. Well, come 5pm-ish there's still only 12 guineas, which is definitely not normal, as usually they all start to make their way back to the field in front of the coop around this time. Uh oh. We spent the next 3 hours scouring the entirety of our 100 acre property for the other 11 guineas until it got too dark to see, with no luck. Not so much as a buck-wheat to be heard. First thing this morning we did another search, and still turned up nothing. I decided to let the 12 that we still had out for a few hours of supervised free ranging before the rain set in, in hopes that maybe their roaming around making noise might draw in the missing ones. When I put them up again & counted there were 13, so at least one guinea made a reappearance today from somewhere, but still no sign of the others.

I am just sick with worry right now for them... they've never done anything like this before, they always come back every night to the coop to get their treats like we trained them to, and we've been free ranging them full time for the entire fall and winter with no issues. What could have happened that would cause them to suddenly just completely disappear off the face of the planet like this? Some of my favorite guineas are among the ones missing, including my sweet little bob-tailed guinea that I all but hand raised... I will be heartbroken to lose so many in one go. Is there any chance they will come back?

 

[R2elk]

Hi guys, so I have a flock of 23 guinea fowl that just turned a year old a couple of days ago, and well... half the flock has suddenly disappeared without a trace, and I'm really not sure what to do!

Yesterday morning we let them out like usual to free range, then when I went up around noon to do some work with our horses I noticed there were only 12 guineas in the usual pastures where they spend most of their day. I didn't think much of it at the time because I thought the rest might just be off in the tall grass where I couldn't see them. Well, come 5pm-ish there's still only 12 guineas, which is definitely not normal, as usually they all start to make their way back to the field in front of the coop around this time. Uh oh. We spent the next 3 hours scouring the entirety of our 100 acre property for the other 11 guineas until it got too dark to see, with no luck. Not so much as a buck-wheat to be heard. First thing this morning we did another search, and still turned up nothing. I decided to let the 12 that we still had out for a few hours of supervised free ranging before the rain set in, in hopes that maybe their roaming around making noise might draw in the missing ones. When I put them up again & counted there were 13, so at least one guinea made a reappearance today from somewhere, but still no sign of the others.

I am just sick with worry right now for them... they've never done anything like this before, they always come back every night to the coop to get their treats like we trained them to, and we've been free ranging them full time for the entire fall and winter with no issues. What could have happened that would cause them to suddenly just completely disappear off the face of the planet like this? Some of my favorite guineas are among the ones missing, including my sweet little bob-tailed guinea that I all but hand raised... I will be heartbroken to lose so many in one go. Is there any chance they will come back?

There is a slight chance that some might eventually make it back.

My guess is some dogs ran them off. There is no telling how far they were chased or how many were killed.

Sorry for your losses.

 

[SuiladMellon]

There is a slight chance that some might eventually make it back.

My guess is some dogs ran them off. There is no telling how far they were chased or how many were killed.

Sorry for your losses.

Ohh no, my poor babies! The one guinea that showed up this morning was missing a big chunk of tail feathers and was quite shaken up, so I think you might be on to something. Ugh, that makes me so angry! Well... I will keep searching for the others, if there is even a small chance some of them survived & are still out there, I can't bring myself to give up on them :c and I will warn my neighbors who have free range flocks to be on the lookout

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ohh no, my poor babies! The one guinea that showed up this morning was missing a big chunk of tail feathers and was quite shaken up, so I think you might be on to something. Ugh, that makes me so angry! Well... I will keep searching for the others, if there is even a small chance some of them survived & are still out there, I can't bring myself to give up on them :c and I will warn my neighbors who have free range flocks to be on the lookout

12 missing guineas? Too many for something to have carried off in one day. Look around for clues like big clumps of feathers that could indicate a predator grabbed a bird. If you can’t find feather clumps/bodies or only find one or two, it’s likely something spooked the rest of the birds and they flew off. Try recording your remaining guineas on your phone, then walk around playing the recording and listen for an answer. I’d also keep the rest cooped for a bit if possible since you don’t know what you’re dealing with. Can you set up game cameras?

 

[SuiladMellon]

12 missing guineas? Too many for something to have carried off in one day. Look around for clues like big clumps of feathers that could indicate a predator grabbed a bird. If you can’t find feather clumps/bodies or only find one or two, it’s likely something spooked the rest of the birds and they flew off. Try recording your remaining guineas on your phone, then walk around playing the recording and listen for an answer. I’d also keep the rest cooped for a bit if possible since you don’t know what you’re dealing with. Can you set up game cameras?

I'm planning on taking a long hike through the more heavily forested areas today along the edges of our property to check for any signs of a struggle, so I will give your sound recording idea a try! They are quasi-whistle trained as well, so I will bring that with me too to see if they will respond to it. Unfortunately the wind has been just awful lately so I'm not sure how well the sound will carry, but its worth a try... I desperately hope they were just scared off and not all killed! The weather has been just horrible the last couple of days which has made it very difficult to properly search for them, and I'm praying they've just hunkered down somewhere out of the elements...

I will definitely be keeping the rest of them cooped for a while, there are a couple of my remaining guineas, namely the one missing all his butt feathers and a hen who has suddenly developed a big swelled up area on her abdomen, that I want to keep a close eye on... But, I will also see about breaking out my old game cameras! I've been debating recently about digging one out to set up near the coop anyways, since we've been seeing a lot of wild turkey droppings around there lately... I'll definitely be setting one up now!

 

[SuiladMellon]

Well, it was a productive hike I will say that, but it is not good news I am afraid. I did find the crime scene, there were at least three significant piles of feathers I found way back in the woods all along a gully running down to a nearby creek, & a pile of either dog or coyote poop right next to one of them. So, I guess that answers that question... ugh. But no bodies, so whatever it was ate them or dragged them off somewhere. I will keep looking for any survivors but it isn't looking too good I think... definitely not what I wanted to find :c

Well, on a related note, a good chunk of the missing guineas were my hens, and I'm now down to just 3 girls and 10 boys. Will this gender imbalance cause me problems with the males fighting? I was already dealing with some bullying issues before all this happened, so I really hope this will not make things worse x.x

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well, it was a productive hike I will say that, but it is not good news I am afraid. I did find the crime scene, there were at least three significant piles of feathers I found way back in the woods all along a gully running down to a nearby creek, & a pile of either dog or coyote poop right next to one of them. So, I guess that answers that question... ugh. But no bodies, so whatever it was ate them or dragged them off somewhere. I will keep looking for any survivors but it isn't looking too good I think... definitely not what I wanted to find :c

Well, on a related note, a good chunk of the missing guineas were my hens, and I'm now down to just 3 girls and 10 boys. Will this gender imbalance cause me problems with the males fighting? I was already dealing with some bullying issues before all this happened, so I really hope this will not make things worse x.x

I’m so sorry! A dog usually will leave the bodies or carry one around and play. A coyote, fox or bobcat will carry off what it can for their pups but will also pluck the bird in place to eat the bird and leave a circular pile of feathers. Three dead birds is probably a coyote, fox or dog. In my experience, hawks and bobcats only take one bird at a time. Absence of bodies could mean coyote or fox, or it could be a scavenger found bodies in the night. Look at the scat for size (diameter) and composition. Coyotes, fox, bobcats will leave scat with things like hair (digested rabbits etc), fruit seeds (canine or raccoon). A dog leaves the characteristic dog pile that is smooth and uniform in contents due to a commercial diet. Also look for any tracks nearby if there was recent rain. Take a pick of base of the feather as shear pattern can also point to canine vs feline. Barbs in feather shaft can also give clues. Take some pics of scat and tracks and post here and predators forum. Hopefully the rest figured out that they needed to get out of there and took to trees. Again, I’m so sorry!

 

[SuiladMellon]

I’m so sorry! A dog usually will leave the bodies or carry one around and play. A coyote, fox or bobcat will carry off what it can for their pups but will also pluck the bird in place to eat the bird and leave a circular pile of feathers. Three dead birds is probably a coyote, fox or dog. In my experience, hawks and bobcats only take one bird at a time. Absence of bodies could mean coyote or fox, or it could be a scavenger found bodies in the night. Look at the scat for size (diameter) and composition. Coyotes, fox, bobcats will leave scat with things like hair (digested rabbits etc), fruit seeds (canine or raccoon). A dog leaves the characteristic dog pile that is smooth and uniform in contents due to a commercial diet. Also look for any tracks nearby if there was recent rain. Take a pick of base of the feather as shear pattern can also point to canine vs feline. Barbs in feather shaft can also give clues. Take some pics of scat and tracks and post here and predators forum. Hopefully the rest figured out that they needed to get out of there and took to trees. Again, I’m so sorry!

Ahh, I should have taken some pictures while I was there today, I had my phone with me and everything! I wasn't thinking... I'll go back out there tomorrow to get some & try again to rustle up any survivors. Unfortunately it rained pretty heavily this morning before I went out so I'm worried any potential tracks will have been washed away, but I will see if I can turn up anything. The scat and feathers I can definitely do though

 

[SuiladMellon]

Well, I am back & I think I can safely say that no more of my missing guineas will be turning up :c I did a thorough comb of the gorge area and surrounding woods and found quite a few additional piles of feathers ranging up the hill to one of our back pastures that I had missed yesterday, and after doing the math... yeah. I am very sad and angry, but also at least I know they aren't out there lost and alone.

So, now I just need to figure out what did this and how to deal with it and the guineas I have left. I was not able to find any tracks, unfortunately, I think the rain yesterday washed them away, but I did manage to find the pile of scat again & took some photos of a few of the feathers. I hope they are helpful, I wasn't quite sure what to be looking for in regards to the feathers, but these ones stuck out to me. I'll also go ahead and create a post in the predators forum while I'm thinking about it.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well, I am back & I think I can safely say that no more of my missing guineas will be turning up :c I did a thorough comb of the gorge area and surrounding woods and found quite a few additional piles of feathers ranging up the hill to one of our back pastures that I had missed yesterday, and after doing the math... yeah. I am very sad and angry, but also at least I know they aren't out there lost and alone.

So, now I just need to figure out what did this and how to deal with it and the guineas I have left. I was not able to find any tracks, unfortunately, I think the rain yesterday washed them away, but I did manage to find the pile of scat again & took some photos of a few of the feathers. I hope they are helpful, I wasn't quite sure what to be looking for in regards to the feathers, but these ones stuck out to me. I'll also go ahead and create a post in the predators forum while I'm thinking about it.

Gosh I’m sorry! That must be a very painful discovery. I should have asked first where you are located, and what predators you know are around. I’ve been assuming USA, like me. I am going to guess that you had multiple coyotes, a pair or pack. It can be hard to tell coyote, fox, and bobcat scat apart. However, that diameter seems pretty large for a fox, leaving coyote and bobcat. If you broke some apart and found berries, grass, or insect parts then it would be coyote. If some scat is covered, then bobcat is more likely.

https://thfoutdoors.com/trapping/coyote-scat/

However, killing that many free ranging guineas at one time seems more like the work of multiple coyotes. Most guineas don’t get to learn predator evasion from successful adults; they learn as they go. So domestic Guinea flocks are somewhat notorious for standing there as a dog or car decimates the flock. However, I’ve had a fair amount of bobcat attacks on our guineas, and have not lost more than one per day. Bobcats will take out whole chicken flocks, but those are usually after the bobcat gets in the coop, or the chickens are otherwise unable to get away. I think that your guineas would have wised up to a bobcat and flown before losing so many birds. Coyotes and foxes though can take a lot of birds quickly. A pair of coyotes with pups would be motivated to kill as many birds as possible, then feed to pups and cache at their leisure.