Well, our bobcat problems continue. I’m a bit discouraged today - feeling like I’m playing whack a mole with our guinea issues. I finally got the fence up to try to discourage our guineas from getting onto the road, when we had our first bobcat predation of the year. We have a small pond with terribly overgrown briar behind it, where all of our birds love to hang out when it’s hot. We lost birds to a bobcat in that area last year and tried to trap the bobcat with no success.
Let me backup and say that out of our four guinea cocks, only our royal purple, Kingpin, is monogamous. With 12 hens, all other cocks have multiple hen harems. However, Kingpin only had eyes for our pearl grey guinea, Scout Purple. He was so devoted to her: he followed her around everywhere, and would panic if he couldn’t immediately find her. They would forage connected at the hip, with Scout Purple leading the way. TBH, I always thought that they had a Romeo and Juliet vibe: they were so into each other, and didn’t really care so much about the other guineas. They’ve mostly been foraging on their own for the last month or so, though they’d hang out some with the others.
Today, I was sitting on our back porch with my phone, resting after a quick walk, while Kingpin and Scout Purple foraged on the grass of our back yard, about 20 feet from me. I head a commotion, looked over, and saw a bobcat running into the thicket with a guinea. I yelled and gave chase. The cat dropped the bird in the thicket, and she was still alive, but her spine had been severed, and she died quickly. As I was deciding whether to try again with the trap, my DD saw the cat go for another guinea, which got away. So, my son put SP in the trap and set it in the thicket. I’m really hoping that we catch this bold, poultry fixated bobcat.
Poor Kingpin! He was calling and looking so desperately for his mate, wandering through her mass of feathers and into the thicket where the bobcat had dragged her. I finally managed to herd all guineas back into their pen and turn the electricity on, then I left while Kingpin called and called for his doomed Juliet.
Let me backup and say that out of our four guinea cocks, only our royal purple, Kingpin, is monogamous. With 12 hens, all other cocks have multiple hen harems. However, Kingpin only had eyes for our pearl grey guinea, Scout Purple. He was so devoted to her: he followed her around everywhere, and would panic if he couldn’t immediately find her. They would forage connected at the hip, with Scout Purple leading the way. TBH, I always thought that they had a Romeo and Juliet vibe: they were so into each other, and didn’t really care so much about the other guineas. They’ve mostly been foraging on their own for the last month or so, though they’d hang out some with the others.
Today, I was sitting on our back porch with my phone, resting after a quick walk, while Kingpin and Scout Purple foraged on the grass of our back yard, about 20 feet from me. I head a commotion, looked over, and saw a bobcat running into the thicket with a guinea. I yelled and gave chase. The cat dropped the bird in the thicket, and she was still alive, but her spine had been severed, and she died quickly. As I was deciding whether to try again with the trap, my DD saw the cat go for another guinea, which got away. So, my son put SP in the trap and set it in the thicket. I’m really hoping that we catch this bold, poultry fixated bobcat.
Poor Kingpin! He was calling and looking so desperately for his mate, wandering through her mass of feathers and into the thicket where the bobcat had dragged her. I finally managed to herd all guineas back into their pen and turn the electricity on, then I left while Kingpin called and called for his doomed Juliet.
