Just had a MAJOR fail. Feeling sad. Need some advice.

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Mixed flock enthusiast said:
Oh how stressful!!! In your shoes, I would be a nervous wreck tonight, but stay calm and don’t beat yourself up; your predators probably won’t find them right away if they took to the trees (I’ve trained ours well enough that if they don’t get in, they roost on the ground by the coop door - talk about sitting ducks!). You have two problems: 1) get them all back in the coop, 2) revise your coop training.

For 1: Can you get your lone guinea into a cage in the coop (with food and water etc) so he can be your bait guinea without escaping? Tomorrow morning, leave him inside, open the door, put treats, food, etc in coop, then wait outside for your guineas to return for their flockmate, food, safety. Depending on how flighty they are, this may need to be a staged enterprise where you catch a few, put into cage, open door, catch some more, etc. Might be all at once or over a few days. If this doesn’t work for some of them, then you have the more difficult trying to net from tree roost approach, so try this first.

For 2: I do also herd mine, but I’m probably nowhere near as good as r2Elk at it, so I don’t really rely on my herding skills. Those are skills best practiced in low stress, low stakes moments... I now have a semi-real fence around their coop, but before that, I made a temporary fence for training. I just used cheap plastic deer fence, push in plastic fence posts, a few landscaping pins to hold the bottom of the fence to the ground, and zip ties. I made a small fenced area around the door (automatic coop door) that I wanted them to learn to use. This doesn’t have to be big, it’s just for training. Simple plastic fencing with more fencing over the top so they don’t fly out. About an hour before dark, I open the coop door and supervise. It took a few days for them to come out; mealworms help. I supervise this because it’s a crappy temporary fence. Once they come out, then as it gets dusk-ish, I encourage them to go in by saying “Time for bed” over and over, then very gently moving my herding stick so that their most direct route away is through the coop door. Careful with the herding pressure - too much and they scatter through the fence! Easy, gentle, slow, small motions until they learn what you’re asking for. Keep this up until they go in, then close the door, no fuss. I repeat multiple times, for about two weeks or until you think it’s a habit. Then open a big section of fence (so it looks familiar), and let them out an hr or two before dusk. I try to keep remaining fence in a funnel shape so I can gently herd stragglers into the funnel - much easier than herding into a coopdoor. Lights in the coop also help, but for me, it’s been the guinea’s love of routine that sinks the deal. Best of luck getting your guineas back!!!
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Thanks so much for your detailed and practical response. I think a fence funnel would be super helpful.
 
Tre3hugger said:
Thank you Red Dog. My best friend in the world happens to be a big red dog lol. Appreciate your kind words.
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:thumbsup
My Red Dog (Australian Cattle Dog) is smarter than most humans and a sweet dog. She's very gentle with the chicks and likes to "herd" when they are in their Run. I need to get some video of it! She will gently work them from one end of the Run to the other. The older chickens love her too and its fun to watch animals as they all get along so well in harmony.

Have a great day, I have a long drive to get back home!
 
reddogmaster2 said:
:thumbsup
My Red Dog (Australian Cattle Dog) is smarter than most humans and a sweet dog. She's very gentle with the chicks and likes to "herd" when they are in their Run. I need to get some video of it! She will gently work them from one end of the Run to the other. The older chickens love her too and its fun to watch animals as they all get along so well in harmony.

Have a great day, I have a long drive to get back home!
Click to expand...
Mine is a red nosed pit mutt. He is a 90 lb lap dog...Have a safe trip! I'll keep updating this thread today.
 
I hope you find them all!

I have a fence around my coop door. It’s only 3ft tall. It was just to semi keep them in when they were 4wks old. A few would fly over, but stay by the fence. I’d open the gate and let them back in. We did this for about a month. Once more and more started flying over the fence we just left the gate open. They got used to us slowly ushering them back into the fenced area, and back into the coop. The fence does act as a funnel of sorts and that makes things so much simpler.
Now they put themselves into the coop every night. Only one refuses to coop up. Number 13 is the low man on the ladder. The others beat him up at night so he’s been staying outside most nights. I feel bad, poor guy.

I do recommend putting a light in your coop. Guineas will not go inside a dark coop. Mine was on a timer but now I only turn it on when I won’t be home till after dark. Its very helpful.
 
You can play clips of Guinea calls on YouTube to get a response so you can tell where they are, and lure them to you.

Having a funnel toward the door helps. I swear mine have a hard time telling how to get in, and having clutter along one side gives them a guide.

For the coop, I use a solar pathway led light. Detach the solar panel and screw it on the outside of the coop, so the light brightens the interior you want them to go in.
 

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