Missing Guinea

[PeepsCA]

Bummer mrb, it's definitely not looking good for your missing Guinea

The "bird napping" (if that's what happened) may not have been that traumatic to the rest of the flock, or left a very lasting impression, so they've already forgotten about it. Sorry for your loss..

My Hen showed back up, luckily. She was present for the AM "roll call" and treats, no missing feathers or any visible wounds etc and seems to be sticking around with the rest of her flock every time I check on them, business as usual... so who knows where she was. Maybe she had gotten on the back side of my fence line or something. If that's where she was I'm surprised she survived... it's predator central and very brushy outside my perimeter fence.

 

[mrbstephens]

Still no sign of her at all. Nothing. Not a feather.

 

[PeepsCA]

What color is the missing bird? And was it a Hen?

 

[mrbstephens]

A french hen. Probably a pearl gray.

 

[JLeigh]

I was so hoping for a happy ending. Unfortunately most of us have had unhappy endings from time to time. Bummer.

 

[PeepsCA]

Before my 10 acres was perimeter fenced the Hens in my full-time free range flock were always the first to get picked off, and I'd always lose some Hens in the off season too, when they weren't wandering off far from the flock and laying/nesting. It's almost like the predators catch the scent of the Hens and hone in on them easier or something. The reason I asked about the color is because light colored birds can sometimes get picked off easier too (either sex)... but IME, once a predator has honed in on a food source I don't think they have much of a preference about the sex or color, and will just pluck whatever color from the tree they can, or pounce on whichever bird flies down from their roosting spot first

Sorry again for your loss... you might want to pen the birds and set some traps.

 

[mrbstephens]

Thanks for you replies! They do free range, but they get locked in a house for the night. Whatever got her, took her in the day light. I don't have a fenced yard and most of where I live is wooded. I knew when I got them that there would be a chance that's I'd loose them to predators, but we have a terrible tick problem here and figured it was worth it if they were helping control the population.

 

[JLeigh]

I think we all lose some eventually. It's tough. My daytime predators are mainly hawks. I have a bunch of nocturnal nasties, though - raccoons, opossums, owls. I also coop my birds at night which helps a lot. Keeps them safer, but nothing is 100%,

 

[mrbstephens]

Well, the guinea showed up dead on my neighbors deck today. They noticed it this morning and brought it to me. Now I'm trying to figure out what happened. It had a deep laceration near the neck. Like it was sliced with a knife. There was very little blood, like a couple of drops.

 

[PeepsCA]

How weird. Any possibility that the bird cut itself on sharp metal somewhere? (The metal carports/sheds I have do have some pretty sharp edges).
Do the neighbors have a dog? If so the bird may have bled out somewhere well hidden and the dog may have found it, cleaned up all the blood and brought the bird onto the deck (a large cat could even do this, tho a French Guinea is pretty good sized)... but who knows what really happened. At least now you know a fox didn't nab it and that you don't have an immediate predator threat to the rest of your flock to worry about.