Will guinea alert me if there are predators in the yard?

[Sunny Side Up]

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Yup X2

I have rarely heard any noise from any of my birds during a nighttime raid. They may have made some but I missed it by having the windows closed or something. That classic squawk & fuss due to a predator in the coop during the night seems to be the stuff of cartoons. I wonder if it's because the others are asleep and/or oblivious in the dark, or if it's a means of self-preservation, to keep from being noticed.

It's certainly different in the daytimes, the chickens, geese, and guineas make their trademark calls when they spy predators. My guinea makes a rat-tat-tat-tat sound like a machine gun, when we do hear that sound we'll go out to find the cause. The other day she was firing off and I sent a son out to investigate. He came back inside laughing, telling how he watched our guinea chasing a stray cat out of our yard.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I had a huge red tailed hawk come in yesterday and grab a baby duck and the Guinea ran away with the chickens without making a sound.

Maybe it takes more than one but so far this Guinea is not alerting me.

He does jump up on fence posts and call to me. If I call back to him he comes to where I am working and hangs out. Maybe he is still too new to here since he wandered up only about 4 weeks ago.

 

[ColbyNTX]

You need a flock of guineas! They do pretty well at letting you know if something new is around. They will sometimes let you know there is a new stick in the yard. A single guinea is pretty worthless!

It takes 5 guineas to = 1 brain!

 

[SuperPeacockman]

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Thats weird, I have had male guineas fight adult hawks. Once the hawk is on the ground it is not nearly as dangerous, and the flock of guineas would take care of it (not kill it just peck it a lot). I always think it is interesting how they deal with predators by surrounding them.

 

[perchie.girl]

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Thats weird, I have had male guineas fight adult hawks. Once the hawk is on the ground it is not nearly as dangerous, and the flock of guineas would take care of it (not kill it just peck it a lot). I always think it is interesting how they deal with predators by surrounding them.

My last flock of Guineas was about seven. I had them all escort a coyote off the property Chi Chi ing at him wings up in back head down for charging each one would take a turn charging forward. That coyote kept looking back as if to say.... "This aint Riiiight!!!"

My coop is secure at night though. And the tree they roosted in is a mesquite I could practically grab them by the feet lol. I am hoping this time to encourage an evening meal of millet to get them to come in at night.

 

[Poupoulles]

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truth.

And Mine didnt warn me about the predator that killed five of them in one night, soooooo...

 

[LostMindPleaseFind]

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[1MrsMagoo]

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Maybe since the guinea is new it doesn't feel like your place is its turf yet. I had a hawk attempt to steal a month old runner duckling from its outside play yard the other day; it got attacked by my 3 guineas for its trouble. My hen led the way with a matrix looking ninja attack and the two boys were right behind her. They ran that hawk right to the property line. That being said, I've never had anything break into the coop at night successfully (thank goodness). Something tried digging its way in from the front, but we have 18" of metal roofing buried in a pit all the way around the base of the building so it gave up: Even then it was too far over and would have tunneled into the goats house...boy wouldn't it have been surprised

My aunt always kept a huge goose as her guard animal and never lost a chicken. Of course, nobody but her could get anywhere near the coop without being attacked either. If that thing was out in her yard when you showed up for a visit you just blew the horn and waited in the car till she came out to get you (before the days of cell phones). Otherwise, it was run for your life and hope you didn't trip over her dogs and end up with a very sore bumm from the experience.

 

[Cindlady]

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:/hummm.... good thing i got 5 keets then....

BTW... they are being raised w/ 5 chicks about the same age. I heard this will help them "coop" at night. Is there anything special in the coop I should do to help them want to come in? And is there anything special I should do when I introduce them to the rest of the flock?