The guineas normally walk around on the ground during the daytime. In the mornings they pair up and each pair goes to a nest somewhere in the woods to lay eggs. While the female lays, the males sits outside the nest watching over. When they are done, after an hour or so, the pair goes back to home base, which is the chicken coop area. There they meet up with the other guineas and they take off again.
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| Guinea Boy calling for his mate |
Back to the story... The guineas were screaming. They were out in the woods. They were all in trees, not on the ground. That only means that something chased them up in the trees. Something like a fox or other ground animal. I looked around and found all the guineas except Guinea Girl. I searched the ground everywhere in the area for a sign of Guinea Girl. For some dark feathers maybe. I listened for her little squeaky cry. Nothing. I thought maybe she was sitting on a nest somewhere, maybe she would return later. The guineas flew out of the tree and walked around. Guinea Boy started walking frantically, it appeared as if he was looking for his mate.
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| Guinea Boy looking for his mate ~ the others follow him |
I waited about an hour and went back out to look for the guineas. I found some of them them in the same area of the woods where I left them. Guinea Boy was tagging along with the coral blue pair of guineas. His wife was still missing. I followed them for over an hour, through the woods, along the stream, back to the home base, back to the woods again. They didn't mind me tagging along with them. Guinea Boy was crying the entire time. At this time, I couldn't help but notice that in addition to Guinea Girl, two pairs of guineas were not returning to home base. As I followed Guinea Boy's frantic search, he led me to two separate nests where the missing pairs of guineas were laying! He looked in on each nest looking for his mate. She was not there.
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| Still looking |
Guinea Boy showed me two guinea nests! Complete with eggs!!!
I waited till afternoon. All the other guineas checked back in at base camp. Guinea Girl never returned. Guinea Boy has lost his mate. Again. Last May he lost a mate, Guinea Girl's sister. Now we have an uneven number of guineas ~ 4 boys and 3 girls.
Poor Guinea Girl. I hope her death was fast.
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| Still frantically looking |
Stay tuned for news about the nests and the eggs!
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| Guinea Girl |
14 comments:
Oh how sad.....that makes me want to cry for him.....soooo sorry you lost her.....hope he gets a new mate soon! It would kill me to hear him crying for his mate.
I was hoping at the end you were gonna tell me that she returned...
Maybe she will show up tomorrow???
Thanks
Leontien
Very sad, I'm sorry for both of you. These Guineas are really wonderful to be around and I'm sure you will miss her. Hopefully you know where her nest is so you can salvage her eggs.
I am really sorry to hear that you lost Guinea Girl.
I hope, by some miracle, that she will turn up; but as you say, I hope the end was quick.
I am so sorry for the both of them :(( Can you save the eggs at least? Put them in another nest maybe?
How sad (but precious at the same time) to watch Guinea Boy searching aimlessly to his dearly beloved. I'm so sorry these thing happen.
I don't quite understand why the Guineas don't stay in a sheltered location during the night, like the chickens do.
I'm so sorry, hopefully her eggs will hatch.
Such a sad thing to happen. I hope the culprit doesn't come back. It always makes me sad to hear of things like this.
I hate to see them looking for a missing or dead mate. Breaks my heart. Nice that your guineas have paired up like that. Hope he gets a new mate soon.
Niece - It was sad to see him crying and looking for her.
Leontien - She still hasn't returned.
Chai Chai - Yes, I was able to find 2 of her eggs! Only 2!
LindaG - I can only hope that in a month she will show up with 20 little babies walking behind her. But I doubt it. Guinea Boy would have known where she was and wouldn't have been searching like he was.
Sandra - Yes, I did save the eggs! I will post about the eggs in my very next post!!! :)
CAGrammy - The guineas like to roost in trees at night. They are more wild than chickens. They can fly like a bird if they want, but they like to walk on the ground during the day.
Ratty - I heard fox kits right outside my kitchen the other day. Sadly, that means the culprit WILL come back.
Terry - Thanks. It's sad because now all the other guineas pair up and lay eggs in the mornings, but Guinea Boy is alone.
Debbie- We will have to look into getting another adult female guinea...
~Lynn
How sad. I am so sorry. Nature can be so cruel sometimes.
So sorry to hear it. I hate when birds just disappear, like they've been abducted by aliens.
Fox kits means more mouths to feed. If you could hear them so close to the house, maybe the den is closer than you think?
Oh dear I am so sorry to hear this most familiar story. I will offer you a little bit of hope. My hen Gladys was carried off by a fox early one morning, I searched high and low and no evidence of her was to be found. By six that evening I had given up all hope, however, there she was tucked up beside the vegetable garden. She was hurt, but after a week in the house with TLC and antibiotics she recovered and is as good as new! I do hope your guinea girl returns!
Oh no, I'm so sorry Lynn. Your guineas are so beautiful! I hate losing one of the flock. Hugs to you and poor Guinea Boy who is missing his mate.
Sorry for the lost guinea. Do the guineas mate for life, or do they switch every mating season? Maybe you will have to buy a new female for him and hope they get along!
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