Rescued guinea set free

[KirbyH]

So my guinea, Popeye, that I raised from a hatchling has been set free. She has a boyfriend but he is lousy about teaching her the ways of the guinea fowl. She goes off on her own, sometimes he follows, sometimes not. This morning the flock who roosts next door came over—no Popeye. She had roosted with them last night so I assumed she’d stayed around the house then I heard a female guinea calling loudly from the other side of our deer fencing. There was no way she could get around it so I picked her up and put her on the other side where the flock was. Her boyfriend caught up with her but she acts mostly as if she doesn’t care and heads off by herself. I fear she’s going to be picked off by a predator if she goes it alone. Is there any way she can be convinced to stay with the flock? Is it just a matter of time?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

How are they accepting her? Do they run her off or let her stay around them?

 

[KirbyH]

Nobody runs her off. Nobody attacks her. The two boys who stick around her aren’t attacked either. The flock has maybe three acres they roam and I see very little fighting. I sometimes think they regard her as a juvenile and that gives her some immunity but really these guys get along. She’s being cooped up with some chickens and guineas tonight so we’ll see how that goes. My problem with her is she doesn’t have certain instinctual reactions in situations where she needs them.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Nobody runs her off. Nobody attacks her. The two boys who stick around her aren’t attacked either. The flock has maybe three acres they roam and I see very little fighting. I sometimes think they regard her as a juvenile and that gives her some immunity but really these guys get along. She’s being cooped up with some chickens and guineas tonight so we’ll see how that goes. My problem with her is she doesn’t have certain instinctual reactions in situations where she needs them.

My guineas bicker quite a bit and constantly chase after the lowest ranking girls, so that’s great that yours doesn’t need to deal with that! I would guess that it will take her awhile to learn to behave like the rest of the flock guineas. Sounds like she’s on the right track with a nice flock though, and she’s lucky she has you looking out for her!

 

[KirbyH]

Help! How do I get this bird to fly over fences and away from danger? She’s going to be killed if she can’t adapt.

 

[R2elk]

Help! How do I get this bird to fly over fences and away from danger? She’s going to be killed if she can’t adapt.

Guineas are notorious for flying over fences and then forgetting how they got over them in the first place. A top rail can be helpful as they look at it as a convenient perch.

 

[KirbyH]

Guineas are notorious for flying over fences and then forgetting how they got over them in the first place. A top rail can be helpful as they look at it as a convenient perch.

Can I toss her over? I know that sounds weird but I was thinking if she got airborne once she might do it again. The perch sounds great but I don’t own one of the fences. She‘s done so well in every other aspect.

 

[R2elk]

Can I toss her over? I know that sounds weird but I was thinking if she got airborne once she might do it again. The perch sounds great but I don’t own one of the fences. She‘s done so well in every other aspect.

That might teach it that it knows how to fly but it won't cure the problem.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Can I toss her over? I know that sounds weird but I was thinking if she got airborne once she might do it again. The perch sounds great but I don’t own one of the fences. She‘s done so well in every other aspect.

Mine learn by being motivated to get over the fence, usually by fear, unless it’s one of my few smarter guineas. For my dog yard, I’ve trained my beagle to run at the guineas with intent; that sends them flying over the fence and they learn a valuable lesson (see dog running at you = fly up). If you are on your own, you need to figure out something that scares her enough to trigger flight, and you’ll probably need to do it repeatedly until she gets it on her own. Since she is so tame, you’ll need a rapidly snapping/ flapping bag, or flag, or something like that; I think the flapping has a wing-like, flying predator vibe. I use a black plastic trash bag and add a running towards the bird motion if needed. If you don’t want to scare her yourself, maybe another person would be willing to be the scare-er. Free-ranging guineas need to develop a robust rapid flight response.

 

[KirbyH]

That might teach it that it knows how to fly but it won't cure the problem.

I have a fenced area where she could live if I clipped her wings. Have you ever done such a thing? Her guinea friends could come and go but she would be grounded. I’ve clipped chicken wings ( one wing only) and as long as I keep the wing clipped the chicken is grounded. Guineas fly a lot better than chickens but I would think this would work. I am looking into a farm animal rescue also.