OK, I know what you’re thinking: That’s not a mystery! You let your precious 7 week old keets out into the big bad world, and 2 of them were eaten. Oh man, just writing this is giving me anxiety about my daughter leaving for college next year...
7 week old keets have been free ranging with mama Welch for a week. Guineas are all well trained to roost in their coop that has an auto door that shuts at dark. I needed to work Friday evening so thought they would be ok getting in without me. I got home at about an hour after dark and went to the guinea coop for a head count: 14 adults, one big juvenile, and 5 keets!!! Recount three times, look in corners, two keets are definitely missing. Recruited help (daughter mentioned above) to look for them and some sign of what had happened. I know what to look for by now: a pile of feathers from where the bird was grabbed. Eventually I was looking alone, for several hours. No feather piles, but a few fresh feathers from multiple keets (unique colors so I knew that they had made it into the coop) around the guinea coop.
Since the coop appeared to be the center of whatever action there was, I focused my light on the trees around the coop and... I spotted a keet! It was roosting on an exposed branch, 20 feet over the coop! Grabbed my long suffering DD and planned to knock keet off with a 20 ft pole then track it flight to the ground and net it. Keet had other plans and very neatly flew into the next tree. Huh, pretty coordinated and aware... Tried again and again keet outsmarted us and flew to a taller and leafier tree. We couldn’t even find the keet again but while looking.... there’s the other missing keet, in the tall leafy tree! Left them to it and came out just after dawn to see both keets on the ground wanting into the guinea coop.
I locked guineas up yesterday, but we are entering another heat wave so I want to let them out today... I am trying to imagine scenarios that would explain what happened. 1) Predator attacks and misses. Keets scatter and don’t make it home before dark. Makes sense except that I think an attack at the coop near dark would spook the adults, and they would not enter coop to roost. If it hadn’t been near dark, I don’t think keets would have stayed in trees as they still follow mom closely. 2) Guinea aggression at dusk scares keets and a couple fly into trees, gets dark too quickly to make it back down. This would explain why the rest of the flock all got into the coop to roost... With the exception of ritualized male chasing, I’ve not seen the keets or other birds respond to aggression with anything other than flapping and running. Flying into trees seems like more of a predator response...
What do you think???
7 week old keets have been free ranging with mama Welch for a week. Guineas are all well trained to roost in their coop that has an auto door that shuts at dark. I needed to work Friday evening so thought they would be ok getting in without me. I got home at about an hour after dark and went to the guinea coop for a head count: 14 adults, one big juvenile, and 5 keets!!! Recount three times, look in corners, two keets are definitely missing. Recruited help (daughter mentioned above) to look for them and some sign of what had happened. I know what to look for by now: a pile of feathers from where the bird was grabbed. Eventually I was looking alone, for several hours. No feather piles, but a few fresh feathers from multiple keets (unique colors so I knew that they had made it into the coop) around the guinea coop.
Since the coop appeared to be the center of whatever action there was, I focused my light on the trees around the coop and... I spotted a keet! It was roosting on an exposed branch, 20 feet over the coop! Grabbed my long suffering DD and planned to knock keet off with a 20 ft pole then track it flight to the ground and net it. Keet had other plans and very neatly flew into the next tree. Huh, pretty coordinated and aware... Tried again and again keet outsmarted us and flew to a taller and leafier tree. We couldn’t even find the keet again but while looking.... there’s the other missing keet, in the tall leafy tree! Left them to it and came out just after dawn to see both keets on the ground wanting into the guinea coop.
I locked guineas up yesterday, but we are entering another heat wave so I want to let them out today... I am trying to imagine scenarios that would explain what happened. 1) Predator attacks and misses. Keets scatter and don’t make it home before dark. Makes sense except that I think an attack at the coop near dark would spook the adults, and they would not enter coop to roost. If it hadn’t been near dark, I don’t think keets would have stayed in trees as they still follow mom closely. 2) Guinea aggression at dusk scares keets and a couple fly into trees, gets dark too quickly to make it back down. This would explain why the rest of the flock all got into the coop to roost... With the exception of ritualized male chasing, I’ve not seen the keets or other birds respond to aggression with anything other than flapping and running. Flying into trees seems like more of a predator response...
What do you think???
