We have 35 acres in northeast TN and 99.9999% of the time, my guineas stay on my property. They also go to my neighbors property next door which is no problem, she loves them because they take care of her tick problem as well.
Anyway, yesterday as my husband was going down our driveway to get the mail and get our grandson off the schoolbus, some of our guineas went down with him. Three were ahead of him he said and they were waiting down by the mailbox for him, he was approximately 20 feet behind them. All the sudden he heard, before he saw, a red pickup truck gun its engine and then saw the guy aim right for my guineas! They were on our property, not in the road but close enough to the road where he could have hit them. They spooked, my husband yelled, then came running to the house for his shotgun. (He was furious!) He never got the license plate of the guy. My husband was fuming all night long.
Today, I went to leave and was driving down our driveway (its 200 feet long) and I see our neighbor coming running up it as I'm nearing the end. I parked and got out of the car, not really listening to what he was saying because in the road I saw a circle of my guineas around something in the road....as one of them moved, I saw it was one of my guineas. I ran, picked him up, but he was dead. My neighbor was telling me that someone in a red pickup truck came around the curve and he said, "I sweared he sped up when he saw your goonie birds! Two was able to get away but this one weren't fast enough." It was the same guy from yesterday! I know it!
I had tears pouring down my face because I felt like I didn't protect them and I should have. I live in a rural area and literally we get 10 cars a day on our street. That's it.
Here's the remarkable thing, though. The rest of the guineas were circled around the dead one. There was one inside the circle, pecking at the dead one, trying to get it up. The circle of them were loud, noisy...until I picked him up. When I started to walk up the driveway in tears, (I left my car where it was), the whole flock of them followed behind me, quietly. Not a sound out of one of them. We have 29 remaining guineas. When I got by our barn, I sat down crying and yelled for my husband. The guineas all circled around us. My husband came running and at first just saw the blood all over me and thought I was hurt. Then saw the guinea.
We walked up to where we bury our pets and the flock followed us. I sat on the ground while my husband dug a hole and every single guinea came over to me, checked out their friend and then moved aside. We buried him, and the flock who never ever stays together, have been one cohesive unit since. And there's not been a sound from them since. It's the quietest day on our farm ever.
Some people think that guineas are stupid or scatter brained but what I saw today was remarkable and beautiful. I'm so saddened by the loss of my "Goonie bird" but the scene of the other guineas mourning the loss of one of their own is burned into my brain and its one that I will cherish. So think what you will about how nuts guineas are...but they really are remarkable birds.
~Laurie~ who is one less guinea tonight
Anyway, yesterday as my husband was going down our driveway to get the mail and get our grandson off the schoolbus, some of our guineas went down with him. Three were ahead of him he said and they were waiting down by the mailbox for him, he was approximately 20 feet behind them. All the sudden he heard, before he saw, a red pickup truck gun its engine and then saw the guy aim right for my guineas! They were on our property, not in the road but close enough to the road where he could have hit them. They spooked, my husband yelled, then came running to the house for his shotgun. (He was furious!) He never got the license plate of the guy. My husband was fuming all night long.
Today, I went to leave and was driving down our driveway (its 200 feet long) and I see our neighbor coming running up it as I'm nearing the end. I parked and got out of the car, not really listening to what he was saying because in the road I saw a circle of my guineas around something in the road....as one of them moved, I saw it was one of my guineas. I ran, picked him up, but he was dead. My neighbor was telling me that someone in a red pickup truck came around the curve and he said, "I sweared he sped up when he saw your goonie birds! Two was able to get away but this one weren't fast enough." It was the same guy from yesterday! I know it!
I had tears pouring down my face because I felt like I didn't protect them and I should have. I live in a rural area and literally we get 10 cars a day on our street. That's it.
Here's the remarkable thing, though. The rest of the guineas were circled around the dead one. There was one inside the circle, pecking at the dead one, trying to get it up. The circle of them were loud, noisy...until I picked him up. When I started to walk up the driveway in tears, (I left my car where it was), the whole flock of them followed behind me, quietly. Not a sound out of one of them. We have 29 remaining guineas. When I got by our barn, I sat down crying and yelled for my husband. The guineas all circled around us. My husband came running and at first just saw the blood all over me and thought I was hurt. Then saw the guinea.
We walked up to where we bury our pets and the flock followed us. I sat on the ground while my husband dug a hole and every single guinea came over to me, checked out their friend and then moved aside. We buried him, and the flock who never ever stays together, have been one cohesive unit since. And there's not been a sound from them since. It's the quietest day on our farm ever.
Some people think that guineas are stupid or scatter brained but what I saw today was remarkable and beautiful. I'm so saddened by the loss of my "Goonie bird" but the scene of the other guineas mourning the loss of one of their own is burned into my brain and its one that I will cherish. So think what you will about how nuts guineas are...but they really are remarkable birds.
~Laurie~ who is one less guinea tonight
