What killed my guineas?

[SuiladMellon]

Hi guys, I am trying to figure out what killed 10 of my guineas the day before yesterday, & what I need to do about it to protect my remaining guineas. No bodies were left, just piles of feathers, one after the other down a hill through the woods to a steep gully where I think it finally gave up chasing them. I found a pile of scat next to one of the kill sites and I am leaning towards coyote, but I am not sure. I also included some photos of a few of the feather shafts in hopes that might give some clues... any help is much appreciated.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'd guess coyote too. Scat looks too big for a fox.

 

[mowin]

I'm conflicted. Looks like coyote, but most times they poop on a rock, log bare spot or somewhere that is easily seen or prominent. But it looks too big for a fox.

 

[SuiladMellon]

Well... if it is coyotes I think I have an idea of where they might have come from. There is a heavily wooded area between our property and our neighbor on the opposite end of our 100 acre property from where the coop is located, and judging the direction from which the attack began, & that we hear them up that way occasionally, I think that is where they may be holed up. I'm going to be setting up some trail cameras in a few spots so, we'll see what turns up.

Anyways, I'm assuming I can't just leave my birds in for a few days and hope they go away...

 

[mowin]

Well... if it is coyotes I think I have an idea of where they might have come from. There is a heavily wooded area between our property and our neighbor on the opposite end of our 100 acre property from where the coop is located, and judging the direction from which the attack began, & that we hear them up that way occasionally, I think that is where they may be holed up. I'm going to be setting up some trail cameras in a few spots so, we'll see what turns up.

Anyways, I'm assuming I can't just leave my birds in for a few days and hope they go away...

They will always be around and checking to see if they can grab one.

 

[SuiladMellon]

They will always be around and checking to see if they can grab one.

Ugh, that's what I was afraid of. Of course it had to be coyotes...

 

[Percheron chick]

To lose 10 all at once is hard to comprehend. They are such excellent flyers I would of expected them to fly up high into the trees as the first one was grabbed. Hopefully a few will return over the next few days. Keeping the rest penned up will draw any survivors home.

 

[SuiladMellon]

To lose 10 all at once is hard to comprehend. They are such excellent flyers I would of expected them to fly up high into the trees as the first one was grabbed. Hopefully a few will return over the next few days. Keeping the rest penned up will draw any survivors home.

Thats what I would have thought! But given the number of piles of feathers I found, I don't have much hope I'm thinking there must have been more than one coyote or whatever it was to have killed so many of them so quickly...

I *was* originally missing 11 the first night, and then one did show up the next morning outside the coop just in awful shape, missing all of his tail and butt feathers and really shaken up. He's still isn't looking too great, but at least he's eating and drinking again and a little more perky... I have him separated in a wire dog crate in the coop at the moment because some of the other males were picking on him and making things worse >.< keeping them shut in their coop is going to be hard because I have a disproportionate amount of boys now and the bullying and fighting is already starting to get out of hand, but I'll just have to figure out something to make it work I think, until I can get all this resolved *sigh*

 

[Krugerrand]

Thats what I would have thought! But given the number of piles of feathers I found, I don't have much hope I'm thinking there must have been more than one coyote or whatever it was to have killed so many of them so quickly...

I *was* originally missing 11 the first night, and then one did show up the next morning outside the coop just in awful shape, missing all of his tail and butt feathers and really shaken up. He's still isn't looking too great, but at least he's eating and drinking again and a little more perky... I have him separated in a wire dog crate in the coop at the moment because some of the other males were picking on him and making things worse >.< keeping them shut in their coop is going to be hard because I have a disproportionate amount of boys now and the bullying and fighting is already starting to get out of hand, but I'll just have to figure out something to make it work I think, until I can get all this resolved *sigh*

Can you separate the girls to somewhere else?

 

[SuiladMellon]

Can you separate the girls to somewhere else?

Unfortunately I only have the one coop, so don't really have a good place I could move them to at the moment to really separate them x.x I may be able to convert something but it will take me a while to get set up... but I can see about maybe adding some additional line of sight breaks if that might help? I also stuck a mirror in there for them which actually seemed to help a little to keep the more aggressive ones busy having a spat with their own reflections rather than each other lol... tonight it seemed like it wasn't quite so bad with the fighting so, I'm really hoping maybe it will resolve itself given some time... I'm open to any additional suggestions I could implement as well!