So excited to join. Like everyone else I love talking about chickens. I have solved many problems in the past in free ranging my birds and keeping predators out. But I'm totally stumped today. We have a pair of guineas, got them this summer. Three nights ago they decided to stay the night in the trees and they have't come down since. We have about 8 inches of snow on the ground. We tried to chase them down yesterday. Yeah, right. I put dark sheets on the ground and am trying to coax them with food and water. It will be subzero tonight. Will they really commit suicide by not coming back to the nice, warm, not crowded coop?
Hello and welcome from Ohio....so glad you joined. Sounds like you are doing the best you can at this point. Maybe try sweeping the area under the tree if possible. I do that in my chickens pens and it helps. My thought is they will get hungry and come down soon. Best of luck to you
Hello and welcome to BYC I know it's not going to be much fun with the snow and all, but if all else fails I think you should get into that tree and go get them and put them in the coop when it gets dark. I made the mistake once thinking my chickens would be safe high up in a tree. They were not. I found a pile a feathers under the tree early one morning. After a few evenings of physically removing them from the tree and putting them in the coop they got tired of it and went in by themselves. If you can keep an area round the coop snow-free for them they may be happier staying on the ground and sleeping in the coop. Good luck!
We were climbing all over the trees yesterday but they just flew from tree to tree. We have wrangled the guineas before but they are much trickier than chickens. Didn't think about doing it after dark. They would be quieter but maybe not safe for us. I don't get why they suddenly stopped using the coop. They were mostly staying in the coop all day. My husband is going clear the snow from the area they are at which is on the opposite side of the house as the coop. They are about 100 feet from the coop. Thanks for the tips. Keep them coming.
I have found locking my chickens in coop and not letting them out for a week or so reinforces that the coop is home - not the trees. But I understand guineas are a different animal together. Good luck to you and Happy new Year!!
