Fly prevention - guinea's arrived

More Guinea entertainment this morning, just as I'm getting ready to go and check on my mob the town Facebook has a post about a certain 2 birds running around the housing estate (that our lane backs onto), it gave everyone something to talk about :p

Good news is they decided to come home after that and are hanging out by the coop, I put a bowl of meal worms (their favourite) out and they were munching away, hopefully if I keep the good food plentiful they will stay long enough so I can catch them!
 
A field just up the road from us has free range Guineas and chickens. They all seem to stay in the field and avoid the local foxes - they aren't penned at night but do get fed. Perhaps yours will now have realised where the best food is!
 
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GaryB said:
A field just up the road from us has free range Guineas and chickens. They all seem to stay in the field and avoid the local foxes - they aren't penned at night but do get fed. Perhaps yours will now have realised where the best food is!
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I can but hope! :p
 
I thought they'd gone again as weren't around the Hank hut, but as I walked down the field to put hay out I speid them :) I am very pleased they were doing what I'd hoped, pecking around in the grass and then the muck heap :D
 

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And they're still there! I thought they'd gone this morning, but gave them a shout and heard them calling from the front paddock, next thing they're by the hank hut waiting for breakfast :) I'm going to need to go and get some more mealworms for them!
 
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The guinea's are so funny, they came down with the horses for dinner tonight :) I'm really pleased they are settling in. I had the chance to pen them up last night, I did for about 2 minutes but decided they seem to be staying close now and I don't want them shut in forever so nows as good a time as any.

They seem to be pecking around the track and muck heaps all day, so any less bugs is a good thing. I think I'll be adding to the flock when we can do stuff again :)
 
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Oh darn the pigeons, then youll have the crows soon ive no doubt. Probably the foxes too. I was wondering if they were using the pen to roost in overnight. But with the pen open the foxes will have a field day if they got in there in a confined space.
 
chunky monkey said:
Oh darn the pigeons, then youll have the crows soon ive no doubt. Probably the foxes too. I was wondering if they were using the pen to roost in overnight. But with the pen open the foxes will have a field day if they got in there in a confined space.
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I don't think they are, I've not seen them roosting in there but haven't seen them roosting anywhere, they just appear when I call them. All around the Hank hut is about 50 massive leylandii so I'm hoping they are roosting in those. I think the crows and pheasants have already figured out where to food is so I'm just putting a supplement scoop's worth of seed and mealworms, hopefully enough to keep them close but not enough to feed all the wild birds too.

Eta perhaps a job for tomorrow is removing the top bit of chicken wire, so at least if a fox came they could fly out.
 
Jessey said:
The guinea's are settled in :D they're already pecking around in the dirt eating something :)
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Dan was really interested and stood watching them closely for at least 5 minutes, Hank had a nose too. Jessica is not so impressed, every time they peep or flap she's got eyes on stalks and rounding the boys up :p
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I love guineafowl, their silly voice, I used to have one I got from the RSPCA, she had a deformed foot, we called her Ginny the Ginea and she had many years with us, great character
 
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diplomaticandtactful said:
I love guineafowl, their silly voice, I used to have one I got from the RSPCA, she had a deformed foot, we called her Ginny the Ginea and she had many years with us, great character
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I'd not thought about rehoming from the rspca and the like, definitely something to look into because I'm sure they're not everyone's cup of tea :)
 
chunky monkey said:
Oh darn the pigeons, then youll have the crows soon ive no doubt. Probably the foxes too. I was wondering if they were using the pen to roost in overnight. But with the pen open the foxes will have a field day if they got in there in a confined space.
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I took down the remaining chicken wire today so they hopefully have some chance of escape if they get caught in there. I *think* they are roosting in the big leylandii right next to the hank hut, there's certainly a new accumulation of poop below 1 area. I've set the trail camera up inside tonight to check though as we had a big ole hail storm and when I went to feed them before it finished they were on their perch, so I've no idea, hopefully I'll have answers in the morning :)
 
Jessey said:
I took down the remaining chicken wire today so they hopefully have some chance of escape if they get caught in there. I *think* they are roosting in the big leylandii right next to the hank hut, there's certainly a new accumulation of poop below 1 area. I've set the trail camera up inside tonight to check though as we had a big ole hail storm and when I went to feed them before it finished they were on their perch, so I've no idea, hopefully I'll have answers in the morning :)
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They didn't roost in the hank hut, they hung out in there a little after dinner but were gone before dark and didn't come back until after sun up (forgot to turn the time stamp on the camera)
 
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