To Catch a Wild Guinea Fowl

The other day I noticed Guinea Boy was limping.  I mentioned it to Randy, who also said he noticed it.  He said he had unsuccessfully tried to catch Guinea Boy for the past few nights when he roosted in the pine tree ~ it appeared a small string was caught up on his feet and was limiting his walking, causing him to limp.  We guessed it had only been caught on his feet for around 3 days, based on pictures I took of the guineas.

Guinea Boy before the string got on his feet

So I made it my mission to catch Guinea Boy and remove the string.  It was a Saturday, the weather was warm, I figured this would only take about 30 min or less and then I could get back to my weekend chores.  Randy was busy working around the property with one of his friends, so I didn't bother them.  I figured I'd casually mention to Randy that evening that I removed the string from Guinea Boy's feet after all was said and done.

I armed myself with a couple large dark colored bath towels to throw over the bird when I caught him and a fishing net on a long pole that we use sometimes to chase the young chickens out of the pine tree when they follow the guineas up to roost.  The pole was long and awkward, about 20 feet long.  I marched up to the guineas, put the heavy towels around my neck/shoulders, and awkwardly maneuvered the fishnet towards the guinea flock.  They all took one look at me, screamed bloody murder, and took off running through the woods.  Guinea Boy still limped and had to make small steps, but he was very, very fast!  The chase was on!

Fishing net on 20 foot pole

I ran after them with the net in the air.  When I finally made it to them, they screamed some more and flew away into the woods.  I watched their direction, and worked my way through the woods towards them.  The net got caught on all the branches, I had to maneuver the long pole around trees, making my progress slow.  The towels were hot and heavy around my shoulders.  I passed through thickets of rose vines, which snagged on me and scratched my arms and even my legs through my pants.  I tried to avoid the poison ivy that was everywhere.  

An hour later, I wasn't making any headway. I was still following the flock every time they flew away. Guinea Boy was getting slower with his walking, his legs appeared to be tiring, but his wings were strong, and when he took to the air he flew long distances, easily leaving me behind. I chased the flock into the deep woods, thinking they wouldn't be able to fly in heavy branches and would have to run. Guinea Boy was slowing, separating from the flock when it ran. I had to cross two small historic wire fences, halfway knocked down by deer over the years. I used the towels to put over the fences while I climbed over. The towels came in handy, finally. I didn't want to leave them in the woods even though I hated carrying them.

Another hour of pursuit went on.  I would work my way up to the flock, they would run/fly.  Guinea Boy knew he was tiring of running, so he mostly flew.  He would leave the flock and fly out of my sight, then I'd have to track him through the woods, listening to his chirping.  I knew his call, he sounds different than even the other male guineas.  His voice is deeper than theirs.  He knew all my noise ~ crunching loudly through the dry leaves on the ground around the trees, dragging a long pole behind or above my head, weaving it through the tree branches, cursing when a thorn tore across my arm or ripped my shirt.  He started hiding in the woods and learned to be quiet so I had a really hard time finding his hiding spot.

Another 30 minutes passed.  Guinea Boy was tiring, his walking was very limited now.  He relied mostly on flying, and when he flew he left me in his dust.  I almost caught him many times, throwing the towels over him, just to have him slip away.  I maneuvered the net over him several times, but he snuck out.  Once I had him in my hands, but lost him.  Finally exhausted, I made my way towards the house and found Randy and his friend, asking for help, telling them of my adventures.  I was worn out, sweating, hair going in every direction, scratches all over, pants torn, covered in ticks (I forgot to spray beforehand!).  I figured they could help to corner Guinea Boy.  I led them right to the bird's hiding spot in the woods  ~ he was hidden under a wild thicket of rose bushes with huge thorns everywhere. 

And to my dismay, Randy's friend walked right up to Guinea Boy, disregarded the thorns tearing at his arms and clothes, and he reached down and picked up the tired bird.  I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, feeling foolish.  He made it look so simple!  He didn't even use the towel to throw over the bird, just used his hands.

Guinea Boy this morning with the white guinea hen

Guinea Boy had a horrible string wrapped tightly around both his feet with about 4 inches of play so he could walk.  It was so sad.  He would have eventually died if we didn't remove it.  It was a very long string, wrapping around and around his feet dozens of times.  One toe was just about severed off already, the string was so tight.  I had to cut it off with my small nail scissors ~ it was so tight on his toes no other scissors could cut it.  I hope the bird doesn't lose that one toe.  The guinea flock followed us when we caught their leader and stood around while we worked on his feet.  Then we released him and he limped away with them just as if nothing happened.  Now, a week later, he is no longer limping.  I walked up to about 3 feet from him this morning, and all toes were intact and looked fine.

Good luck, Guinea Boy.