Warning - this post contains photos of a dead guinea hen. Turn away if you don't want to see.
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We are still recovering from losing 3 guineas this week. It breaks my heart to see my birds dead. They were such sweet and friendly birds. They didn't deserve to be killed like this.
This is the remains of one of the gray female guineas. Just a bunch of gray polka-dotted feathers. Her body was never found.
The white female guinea girl was killed just feet from our front door. I loved that guinea girl.
The white guinea girl's body was found in the woods. Be believe a fox attacked her and she ran from her attacker and managed to hide under brush where the fox couldn't reach. Smart bird. She died from the terrible injuries already inflicted on her.
This is the white guinea girl. It doesn't bother me to autopsy a bird after it's dead. It's very sad to know that she suffered before dieing.
Anyway, this is her back. The feathers were ripped out, and a big hole was ripped into her back. Ribs were broken. A bite, or multiple bites, with strong jaws did this damage.
This is her belly. Feathers were ripped out. Multiple small bite marks and sharp teeth marks. A bite mark from a small jaw can be seen, leading us to believe it was a fox. Lots of subdermal bleeding.
We've setup a radio playing a talk-radio station outside where the guineas sleep and hang out. We are going to setup live traps. It's tough because we live in the woods. There are other animals here. We can't get rid of all the wild animals. If a fox doesn't kill the guineas, a great horned owl could, or the raccoons that visit us every night. This happens every year here.
On a good note, we still have all those eggs that we collected from our guinea girls...
10 comments:
Hmmmm. Around here we assume fox if the bird disappears and is never seen again. A fox will generally carry off it's kill, especially in the spring when they have kits in the den to feed. But raccoons, possums, and skunks are the killers that rip and tear bodies, pull out feathers, and waste the kill. It makes me so angry that they don't even use all the meat. Of course, owls make me angrier b/c they usually just tear the heads off and leave the rest of the bird. Grrrrrr!
Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com
So sad....being part of the food chain sucks. I always
get upset when the hawks swoop down here to grab another bird or squirrel.
We have had such fox trouble, that if they have babies they do kill for that but I have seen foxes just kill to kill.
We had the fish and game come with traps. We have kit foxes here that are protected and if you hurt one of those, well you won't be seen for a long time. But red foxes kill kits so by calling the fish and game they handle it.
We have had them trap 35 so far. When the population gets so big it gets scary because the damage they do.
I hope you get them.
Aww, poor guinea hens. No wonder they lay so many eggs. There has to be a jillion of them if the species is to survive predators! What makes me the saddest is that they run to the house for help. :-(
You and I are both having big fox problems right now! Poor guinea. It's so upsetting when this happens. Life in the country. :( Have a hug, Lynn. It sucks when we lose our feathered friends.
I'm so sorry . . . is there no way to put them in a protected area for the night?
I lost five young ones a few years ago all to a badger which broke into their run....
same sort of injuries!
so sad
Ya that's true. Why don't you set up a barbed fence or, something that deflects the other animals. Really sorry about your loss. : (
The thing that makes me feel the worst for you and the guineas at your place is that when they are running for their lives they run to your porch for protection, and you are sleeping inside and can't protect them.
I'm so sorry to hear this. I had a weasel eat every duck we owned except for one. It hurt a lot and I felt so helpless.
It is the tough part of farmlife, for sure.
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