We have babies!

[R2elk]

There are the shiny cds people hang… I could try that though I’ve always been a little skeptical. The guineas are using the coop roofs as lookout stations and I’m not sure whether the CDs would disrupt them too…

I know that when CDs were popular, people would hang them at eye level for a guinea to deter them from going places they didn't want them to go. Whether or not it continued to work once they got used to them is something I do not know.

 

[Sydney65]

know that when CDs were popular, people would hang them at eye level for a guinea to deter them from going places they didn't want them to go. Whether or not it continued to work once they got used to them is something I do not know.

I shall line the non fenced fence row with cds now. Lol

 

[Sydney65]

Neighbor was complaining about wrens on porch - it's been crazy this yr. I told her abtbthem and she offered to get me some, but I declined, bc like you, not sure how they'd react. Rosie stood outside the coop chattering for an hr the other day bc I moved the water jug.

I forgot to say - even though we're all scattered about- the ppl who bought Rosie's keets both were doing what I've been doing via eggs, coping w/the loss of their flocks in one fell swoop. Both said fox, both left w/one guinea out of flocks 4-5x bigger than mine. Like me, never an issue until this year. Makes me wonder if the population is up or food is that scarce. I know some live in areas where wild life is out the back door, but not typical in this area. I mean, they exist, but don't want anything to do with us.
Since we've never actually seen one,it's kind of hard to hunt it, so we set a trap tonight with tuna in it. Probably wake up to the mother of all raccoons trapped-and if so that'll be a first for the yr. But we want this one.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

So I did manage to let the keets and Welch out - what a circus! They all used the pop door, so the keets had to learn to use the door, be outside for the first time, contend with their grumpy flock, and deal with a high alert predator situation. I took some pics by the door of their first steps outside, then some of their exploration.

I knew that the flock is tense and on high alert, but that doesn’t begin to cover how freaked out they are. They are very aware and alert. I took a pic of them outside the chicken coop at dusk, looking quite wary. Throwing the keets into their tightly controlled, stressed out formation led to all sorts of disagreements and disarray. The flock couldn’t decide on where the keets should be (In the middle, surrounded by flock? On the fringes, where low ranked birds go? Off somewhere else entirely, so the flock doesn’t need to worry about them?), whether they should drive off the keets/Welch, whether to stay near the coop etc. Several birds beat up poor Welch and chased her off. That created fresh chaos as the keets then ended up with the p-d off adults who didn’t know what to do with all of these suddenly upset and peeping keets (upset because mom has just been driven off). Several members of the flock seemed to want to help but only seemed capable of pecking the keets with no other form of communication.

The current dominant male, Victor, was just plain mean, pecking both keets and Welch; these keets are going to end up despising light colored guineas! The usual keet “Aunt”, Lemon Pie, repeatedly pecked keets and drove off Welch. Chaos. Overall though the keets seemed okay, so I’m hoping no serious harm was done. I do think that this outing resulted in some kind of acknowledgment from the flock that the keets are a part of the flock, and Welch is starting to work out her flock issues, so I’m going to pretend like this was all a success…

At one point, some kind of very quiet alarm went out and every guinea stood up tall and statue still and quiet. Welch made some soft call to the keets, and every keet immediately dove under cover and went completely still, even closing their eyes. The pic where Welch looks like she is standing alone is actually her with 10 keets that just vanished into low scrub - it was impressive how fast and thoroughly the keets hid! I had noticed how quiet the flock has been in general; there were no alarm calls or other sounds. They seem to be operating on stealth mode for this hawk threat.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I forgot to say - even though we're all scattered about- the ppl who bought Rosie's keets both were doing what I've been doing via eggs, coping w/the loss of their flocks in one fell swoop. Both said fox, both left w/one guinea out of flocks 4-5x bigger than mine. Like me, never an issue until this year. Makes me wonder if the population is up or food is that scarce. I know some live in areas where wild life is out the back door, but not typical in this area. I mean, they exist, but don't want anything to do with us.
Since we've never actually seen one,it's kind of hard to hunt it, so we set a trap tonight with tuna in it. Probably wake up to the mother of all raccoons trapped-and if so that'll be a first for the yr. But we want this one.

I am very sorry about your losses, Sydney, and I can see where you are keen to eliminate your predators. Foxes seem to be the bane of poultry keepers everywhere!

Would it work to put a perimeter fence around where you want your guineas to free range? Someone on here did that with improved fox control, just by making it harder for them. Was that @My2butterflies ? If you had a perimeter fence, you could even consider a livestock guardian animal of some kind…

 

[Sydney65]

I have heard of skunks killing turkeys for other people. The ones here were content to steal eggs or eat newly hatched poults. They were also dining on the layer feed.

......it's like you predict what happens next. in live trap. Really BIG skunk. But I can't imagine that being my culprit, to totally disappear 2 grown males and 8 keets?

 

[R2elk]

......it's like you predict what happens next. in live trap. Really BIG skunk. But I can't imagine that being my culprit, to totally disappear 2 grown males and 8 keets?

At least one person I know has had skunks kill broody turkey hens.

I add one capful of Clorox to my bath water. Be careful to not add too much Clorox as the hot water can cause chlorine gas to be released. It does an excellent job of removing the skunk smell. I dealt with skunk #12 this morning.

 

[Sydney65]

At least one person I know has had skunks kill broody turkey hens.

I add one capful of Clorox to my bath water. It does an excellent job of removing the skunk smell. I dealt with skunk #12 this morning.

And do what with them, though? There were no bodies, no feathers here, nor blood. I think it was the fox I read buries them?
Eek- we didn't get that close. He came up on the cage from behind the apple tree & let his revolver do the rest. A bit of aroma to the air, but no one was sprayed. I did use tomato juice on a dog once, though.

 

[R2elk]

And do what with them, though? There were no bodies, no feathers here, nor blood. I think it was the fox I read buries them?
Eek- we didn't get that close. He came up on the cage from behind the apple tree & let his revolver do the rest. A bit of aroma to the air, but no one was sprayed. I did use tomato juice on a dog once, though.

Fox may carry them off but in the end, they eat the whole thing. Skunk will eat the whole thing but it may take them more than one meal.

I shoot the skunk in the trap and start spraying a bout a 15% hydrogen peroxide solution. Most of the skunks I get are upwind of the house and I want rid of the aroma as quickly as possible. I immediately bury the skunk and continue spraying anywhere I smell the odor.

I only wear a pair of pants and a pair of boots when dealing with skunks. I leave the boots outside and immediately wash with pants with Clorox and detergent. I follow that with my Clorox bath.

If you don't have strong H2O2 available, a 50% solution of Clorox can be used.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

One month update: we still have the same 10 keets! I’ve taken to calling the runty pastel “Lil Bit” or similar as it’s still smaller than its siblings. I ended up using four days of high dose (0.024%) amprolium in water, followed by two weeks of low dose (0.006%) in water, then two days of vitamins and probiotics in water. Lil Bit flies well and is usually in the thick of things, so seems to be doing as well as I could have hoped for. I’m trying to inset pics next to text, so we will see how this goes! Lil Bit next to normal sized Violet keet:

Dad Hamlet has gotten much better with the keets. All of the adults are somewhat involved with them when free ranging, Hamlet included. Hamlet is maybe just a little more involved than the other adults, like here where he led most of the keets back into the coop for a snack break then supervised:

Hamlet’s brother, Splash, has also been surprisingly great with the keets. They often snuggle next to him at night during our really crazy roosting situation with the adults reverting to mean behavior to keets. I try to intervene but I probably just increase the chaos…. Splash is the pied PG helping direct the keets into the coop:

Starla, aka Slate, has been the surprise nanny to the group. She follows the keets around and rides herd on any stragglers. She doesn’t seem to communicate very well, she just pecks them when they aren’t where she wants or if she thinks they’re in danger. She thinks I’m dangerous, so if I’m around trying to take pics, then she’s pecking at the keets.

At this point, I think I have two royal purples, one pied RP, one pinto RP, two white, two Violet, one pastel, and one I’m not sure about. The mystery keet has wavy head lines, so semi-pearled and first looked like coral blue and then like Violet to me as a young keet. Now it’s general feather pattern seems similar to the RPs, but it’s base color is more cinnamon. Maybe it’s chocolate? Mystery keet is in the middle of this pic, just in front of a RP keet.

Today was the first day that I just opened the pop door first thing in the morning and hoped for the best. Other days I herded the adults out in the morning and kept keets and Welch in. That was getting more and more difficult as keets blended in with all adults, so separating was very difficult. Plus, when I let them out in the afternoon, Welch had to refight her battles with the flock - not fun for her or the keets! Learning to use the pop door has been hard for the keets and I’m worried one will get stuck outside, but they are getting better at using it instead of running around to the other side of the coop and staring through the wire there…

We have the possibility of severe weather this afternoon and evening. Hoping keets all get in the coop and that we all stay safe!