So, is there anything that can be done?

[Bettacreek]

The boyfriend's pap has birds (yippie!), including chooks, guineas and peafowl. They also have TICKS galore! Unfortunately, the birds are all penned up, because of the predators. They have bear, hoot owls, hawks, etc. The birds of prey will kill the guineas, rip the heads off, and let them lay, then move on to the next guinea. They don't eat them, just kill them. The bears really tear into the peafowl. They killed five of them while they were free-ranging. They finally decided to keep them penned all of the time. There's a protective netting and electric wire over/around the pen, but, they'd like to let them free-range. Any hints or tips to let these guys free-range? The guineas would certainly be a good solution to the major tick problem. (I had 15 on one leg after tromping about half a mile through the woods.)

 

[gumpsgirl]

If they have that many predator issues, I don't see anyway around that. You can't do anything to remove hawks, it is illegal. I've heard and read about people hanging things like cd's in the trees to help scare or deter the hawks, but you cannot physically do anything to move them. I think, I'm not positive, but think that hoot owls would be illegal to mess with too. You would have to google that to be certain. The bears would be tricky to take care of unless the game warden would help out.

As pretty as it is to see your flock free ranging, I think in this case it's just best to keep them locked in tight. Sorry.

 

[speckledhen]

If he wants them to freerange for tick control, he can let them out at times when he can be out to watch for trouble, or he can get them in large enough numbers and let them reproduce themselves to keep those numbers up, even with predator losses. Guineas are really best to let roam to control bugs. They aren't alot of use penned up, other than to provide lots of noise and during the proper season, eggs.