This morning our missing guinea fowl flew back into our guinea/chicken pen by himself. He's been on his own for the past 3 months, but today he finally returned home into his old pen.
We never put a roof on the enclosed chicken area, so the guineas can come and go as they please, but the fence is too high for the chickens to fly over. Only the one guinea fowl discovered he could fly and left the flock. The other 2 guineas are females, and they believe they are chickens and have no desire to fly away from their chicken family.
When the guinea fowl returned into the pen he was immediately attacked by the roosters. We believe the guinea is a male. He entered the pen all puffed up, all proud to be home. The roosters took him to be a threat; guess they didn't remember him from 3 months ago. The guinea then flew up to the top of the garage and looked down at the roosters below. The roosters tried to fly up and attack the guinea, but they just could not fly that high.
My husband put the 2 guinea hens out of the chicken pen so they could be with their brother. The boy guinea was so excited to be with his ladies again. The guinea hens only wanted to return to their pen with the chickens. We originally wanted the guineas to be outside the chicken pen, free to wander the yard, so we figured this would be a good time to let them loose.
Eventually the guinea girls were returned to the chicken pen, they just were not happy being free. The "new" guinea is watching from above for now. Eventually we hope he will integrate back into the flock.
I'll keep you posted on his integration!
5 comments:
Wow, I'm really impressed that your prodigal guinea survived for 3 months on his own. They must be a lot more self sufficient than I realized. Robin read a book on guinea fowl before she decided not to get them for now (the noise mainly given our proximity to neighbors), but they sounded quite a bit more "wild" than chickens. This must translated into a much better sense of self-preservation.
UPDATE - The male guinea went into the chicken coop last night & spent the night roosting with the chickens & guinea hens. We always do a nightly head check, making sure everyone returned to the coop, and he was there.
This morning at first daylight when we opened the coop door, everyone went running out. And the roosters starting attacking the new guinea again. He just flew up to the fence and watched the silly roosters acting up below.
I'm with Lee - I can't believe he just took off for 3 months on his own ... and then returned! He must have had some important mission to accomplish - lol.
I'm glad he can get away from those nasty roosters. :-)
That's amazing he survived in the wild for that long. And now he wants to come back home as if nothing has changed! Well, I guess to him they haven't, but to his sisters and the roosters, they have! Good thing he can fly up and away so as not to get beaten up.
Poor Guinea hens being all scared out in the open. I suppose it will be so much for that idea as far as leaving them loose.
Oh I know, maybe you should make a tape and play it at night whipsering in their ears that they are Guineas and not chickens! :)
Poor guinea-guy, not exactly a warm welcome from the rooster-boys, eh? Good luck with the integration.
Post a Comment