Leaguinea
Songster
A funny story about free ranging Guineas:
I have a batch of 28 guineas that I hatched out last year. I started to free range them a couple weeks ago. One of the males that is picked on and bullied moved out completely and now resides in the pen of goats
. I know this isn't extremely safe for him but he is happier and less stressed so I have left him there.
The other 27 guineas I was letting out in batches of 6 or 8 each morning and then herding them back in at night.
UNTIL one Tuesday evening I got home from work and 4 had disappeared.
on 100 acres there are a lot of places for them to hide. I searched all the places I could think of but no luck. The next day I only let 4 out hoping that it would encourage the others to come home. When I got home Wednesday evening only the 4 I let out that morning were there. the others had not returned. Very discouraged and upset inside I locked those 4 into their pen and went up to the house to make supper, counting the others as lost for good.
My mom was out working in the flower garden and after getting supper on cooking I went out to talk to her, while we were talking we could hear the coyotes howling and yapping in the bush at the back of our property. We commented on the fact that they were howling this early in the evening usually don't hear them til around midnight or later. Then I heard something else, the sound of a guinea, it was coming from the bush as well. I took off across the hay field (still wearing my office casual dress and sandles)
"I hear a guinea" I shouted over my shoulder to mom in answer to her puzzled "where are you going?" she yelled for my sister and the two of them followed my mad dash across the hay field and scramble down the over grown slope into the bush. I got a quick look at the rebel before he flew further into the overgrown underbrush. I followed the sound of him rustling in the weeds and the occasional peep sound he made. It began to get dark, the mosquitoes were about carrying me away, my mom and sister were complaining and I was getting ready to give up but then I saw him. I pulled out my phone and turned on the light and when he saw the light he slowed down his escaping, I think he wanted to be in that light. I followed him through the brush he would let me get just close enough to grab him then he would dash off again. This continued for probably 10 - 15 minutes. Finally with it being nearly dark in the bush I once again got within grabbing distance of him, this time I shut off the phone light and made a grab for him.. Gotcha! I caught and carried him out of the bush and brought him up to the barn and put him in the pen. So thankful for this rescue but still missing 3.
The next morning (Thursday) I didn't let any of them out to free range. I assumed that the coyotes had gotten the others and tried not to think about it. Coming home from work that evening, driving down our road I see this bird/creature/guinea cross the road in front of my car and wander into my neighbors front yard. The thought going through my head was "no way, you have got to be kidding me, seriously!!!" I quickly pull my car off the road and jump out trying to cut off the guineas path before it gets into my neighbors yard and mixes with her chickens or get killed by her dog, but no way, the thing starts to run all out away from me. So, totally embarrassed, I go to the door and knock and ask "Do you have guineas?" looking at me like I'm crazy (maybe I am) she say "No!", "Than that one is mine. Do you mind if I go in your yard and chase it home?" "Nope, have at it." so there I was, looking like a fool and trying to convince this bird that it could not just decide it liked the house across the road better than its own home. Finally after going back and forth across the yard, around the house, up and down the ditch (once again I am wearing my office clothes) He finally crossed the road and runs straight into the bulrushes in the front field, i get him out of there and than there was the guiding to get him back to the barn. After much instruction he went around the house, through the flower garden, around the pool fence, through the squash patch, through the drive shed and finally into the door of the barn and into the holding pen, where we found #3 of the missing 4 already in there waiting to be let back into his pen. So now I have 3 out of 4 missing birds returned.
So now I go into the house and change into jeans and sweatshirt and my mom and I set out on a walk back the lane to the hay field to see if we can find the last one. we walk and talk and occasionally call for the guinea but no such luck. On our way back up the lane to the house I hear the loud call of a guinea. "Do you hear that?" I ask mom. (she is deaf in one ear due to a surgery and so has a hard time telling where sound is coming from.) Yes she heard it but not sure where it is coming from. I scan the area. There! on the pasture fence behind the barn is a guinea perched, standing tall and yelling loudly. In order to get to it without scaring it my mom went in the bottom of the barn where the goat pen is and I ran around behind the barn. Sure enough this was the 4th guinea that I as missing. I gentle urged him into the barn and back into the pen with all the others. And that night we all slept better.
Now I am building a run to transition them into.
I have a batch of 28 guineas that I hatched out last year. I started to free range them a couple weeks ago. One of the males that is picked on and bullied moved out completely and now resides in the pen of goats
. I know this isn't extremely safe for him but he is happier and less stressed so I have left him there.The other 27 guineas I was letting out in batches of 6 or 8 each morning and then herding them back in at night.
UNTIL one Tuesday evening I got home from work and 4 had disappeared.
on 100 acres there are a lot of places for them to hide. I searched all the places I could think of but no luck. The next day I only let 4 out hoping that it would encourage the others to come home. When I got home Wednesday evening only the 4 I let out that morning were there. the others had not returned. Very discouraged and upset inside I locked those 4 into their pen and went up to the house to make supper, counting the others as lost for good.My mom was out working in the flower garden and after getting supper on cooking I went out to talk to her, while we were talking we could hear the coyotes howling and yapping in the bush at the back of our property. We commented on the fact that they were howling this early in the evening usually don't hear them til around midnight or later. Then I heard something else, the sound of a guinea, it was coming from the bush as well. I took off across the hay field (still wearing my office casual dress and sandles)
"I hear a guinea" I shouted over my shoulder to mom in answer to her puzzled "where are you going?" she yelled for my sister and the two of them followed my mad dash across the hay field and scramble down the over grown slope into the bush. I got a quick look at the rebel before he flew further into the overgrown underbrush. I followed the sound of him rustling in the weeds and the occasional peep sound he made. It began to get dark, the mosquitoes were about carrying me away, my mom and sister were complaining and I was getting ready to give up but then I saw him. I pulled out my phone and turned on the light and when he saw the light he slowed down his escaping, I think he wanted to be in that light. I followed him through the brush he would let me get just close enough to grab him then he would dash off again. This continued for probably 10 - 15 minutes. Finally with it being nearly dark in the bush I once again got within grabbing distance of him, this time I shut off the phone light and made a grab for him.. Gotcha! I caught and carried him out of the bush and brought him up to the barn and put him in the pen. So thankful for this rescue but still missing 3.The next morning (Thursday) I didn't let any of them out to free range. I assumed that the coyotes had gotten the others and tried not to think about it. Coming home from work that evening, driving down our road I see this bird/creature/guinea cross the road in front of my car and wander into my neighbors front yard. The thought going through my head was "no way, you have got to be kidding me, seriously!!!" I quickly pull my car off the road and jump out trying to cut off the guineas path before it gets into my neighbors yard and mixes with her chickens or get killed by her dog, but no way, the thing starts to run all out away from me. So, totally embarrassed, I go to the door and knock and ask "Do you have guineas?" looking at me like I'm crazy (maybe I am) she say "No!", "Than that one is mine. Do you mind if I go in your yard and chase it home?" "Nope, have at it." so there I was, looking like a fool and trying to convince this bird that it could not just decide it liked the house across the road better than its own home. Finally after going back and forth across the yard, around the house, up and down the ditch (once again I am wearing my office clothes) He finally crossed the road and runs straight into the bulrushes in the front field, i get him out of there and than there was the guiding to get him back to the barn. After much instruction he went around the house, through the flower garden, around the pool fence, through the squash patch, through the drive shed and finally into the door of the barn and into the holding pen, where we found #3 of the missing 4 already in there waiting to be let back into his pen. So now I have 3 out of 4 missing birds returned.
So now I go into the house and change into jeans and sweatshirt and my mom and I set out on a walk back the lane to the hay field to see if we can find the last one. we walk and talk and occasionally call for the guinea but no such luck. On our way back up the lane to the house I hear the loud call of a guinea. "Do you hear that?" I ask mom. (she is deaf in one ear due to a surgery and so has a hard time telling where sound is coming from.) Yes she heard it but not sure where it is coming from. I scan the area. There! on the pasture fence behind the barn is a guinea perched, standing tall and yelling loudly. In order to get to it without scaring it my mom went in the bottom of the barn where the goat pen is and I ran around behind the barn. Sure enough this was the 4th guinea that I as missing. I gentle urged him into the barn and back into the pen with all the others. And that night we all slept better.
Now I am building a run to transition them into.
Last edited:
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I walk miles in the spring and summer looking for hidden nests and chasing unruly guineas around. 
