Mystery of the missing guinea heads

My sis is finding more and more of her guinea fowl dead and their heads missing.

Skunks and coons are known for decapitating chickens and drinking their blood. But, we haven't seen either near the gruesome crime scene, just off Hwy 70 between Madill and Ardmore.

So we are initiating Operation Pole Cat Trap as of today. Before googling, I had no idea about skunk bait. Peanut butter on crackers and crisp fried bacon sound too good to set out as skunk bait. I think we eventually decided on an open tin of sardines for the ease of purchase, cheap and smelly.

Yeah if it is a skunk that we catch, we still have not thought about it far enough ahead to decide what to do with it.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Chupacabra? Or a squatch

when i was stationed in Honduras - the vet techs used to trap/euthanize skunks

they'd put a piece of dried fish in that live animal trap....one would go in - get the death penalty, be removed and others would follow their predecessor without the need of any bait

weird animals

as for the disposition - they had the luxury of the euthanasia drug - but they attached the syringe on the end of a pool cue so they could jab it from a far - there was always a spray though

are you where you can shoot them without moving the trap?

Until you kill what ever it is it will keep coming back until its killed every Guinea ya have

Set up one of those trap cameras to see if you can get a picture of it.

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Originally Posted by Chuck Bao

Yeah if it is a skunk that we catch, we still have not thought about it far enough ahead to decide what to do with it.

Any suggestions or ideas?

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A local pest control guy uses live traps for skunks. After he catches one, he tosses a blanket over it to keep from getting sprayed then submerges the trap to drown the skunk.

Bigfoot

Live trap with a long rope . . . . drag it to a pond and then throw it in. Feed the fish and turtles.

Are these guineas getting it at night? Do they normally roost in trees overnight, or do they go in a pen, etc?

i like the drowning suggestion!

wait......guineas are birds?

i thought this was a cultural reference to some italians you had in your yard

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Originally Posted by cleller

Are these guineas getting it at night?

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I object to the personal nature of that question!

Sincerely,
Guin E. Rooster

Shotgun at medium range, target downwind

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Originally Posted by cleller

Are these guineas getting it at night? Do they normally roost in trees overnight, or do they go in a pen, etc?

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They did roost in the rafters of my granddad's old garage, but some of them may be nesting on the ground. My sis has been walking around with a gun at dawn and dusk to see if she can find the perp. Since that isn't working, we are setting out traps this weekend.

I like the drowning option too.

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Originally Posted by Chuck Bao

They did roost in the rafters of my granddad's old garage, but some of them may be nesting on the ground. My sis has been walking around with a gun at dawn and dusk to see if she can find the perp. Since that isn't working, we are setting out traps this weekend.

I like the drowning option too.

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Hmm. I'm planning to get a few this spring, but don't want them to take to roosting in the barn. We had some as a kid, and they would either go in with the chickens at night, or roost in trees. Noisy things, but looking for greater tick control than our chickens are providing.

Probably an owl.

http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/HawksOwls.asp

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Poultry and other livestock are vulnerable to a wide range of predators. Frequent sightings of hawks and owls near the depredation site may be a clue to the predator involved, but these sightings could be misleading. When a partially eaten carcass is found, it is often difficult to determine the cause of death. In all cases, the remains must be carefully examined. Raptors usually kill only one bird per day. Raptor kills usually have bloody puncture wounds in the back and breast from the bird’s talons. Owls often remove and eat the head and sometimes the neck of their prey. In contrast, mammalian predators such as skunks or raccoons often kill several animals during a night. They will usually tear skin and muscle tissue from the carcass and cut through the feathers of birds with their sharp teeth.

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Devil worshipers...guar. un. teed.

I did not instigate this conversation, but overheard it today. I guy I know was talking about the mortality rate of his old guineas. He said they typically went into a coop with the chickens at night. One night he went out to put them up, and a guinea was roosting on something outside the coop.
He kept trying to shoo the thing into the coop, then realized it was roosting upright, but had no head. He was very perplexed by the affair.

So there's that, too.

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Originally Posted by cleller

I did not instigate this conversation, but overheard it today. I guy I know was talking about the mortality rate of his old guineas. He said they typically went into a coop with the chickens at night. One night he went out to put them up, and a guinea was roosting on something outside the coop.
He kept trying to shoo the thing into the coop, then realized it was roosting upright, but had no head. He was very perplexed by the affair.

So there's that, too.

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That's a bit spooky.

Obviously, a skunk or coon can't do that and I'm not sure that an owl could either. There have been no further decapitations at my grandparent's old homeplace over the last 3-4 days, so maybe it, whatever it is, has moved on to your neck of the woods, cleller.

My neighbor's got a cat that kills and eats the heads off of bunnies and field rats.

so, I'd advise also shooting any cat that crosses your path. Just on spec.

Just sayin'

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Originally Posted by KantoSooner

My neighbor's got a cat that kills and eats the heads off of bunnies and field rats.

so, I'd advise also shooting any cat that crosses your path. Just on spec.

Just sayin'

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We've been pondering this issue. I got it wrong before. The chickens roost in the rafters of the old garage. The guineas roost at the top of a Bois D' Arc tree next to the cattle lot. My sister doesn't have a chicken coop. The theory was that the guineas are really stupid birds and probably came down earlier at dawn and got whacked. But guineas are not easy to catch in any case and for something to tear off one of their heads...well it would make some noise. Early morning walk around the place didn't produce any evidence of something able to tear off their heads. Sardines and the traps were set and we got nothing. There also hasn't been any headless corpses lately either. So there is that.

Dress up like a guinea and see what comes after you. Duh.

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Originally Posted by StoopTroup

Dress up like a guinea and see what comes after you. Duh.

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Yeah, men with nets would come after me if I ran up and down Hwy. 70 between Ardmore and Madill in a bird suit. Thanks for the suggestion, StoopTroup, but I am not yet ready to post on SF from a mental institution.

:pop:

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Originally Posted by Chuck Bao

Yeah, men with nets would come after me if I ran up and down Hwy. 70 between Ardmore and Madill in a bird suit. Thanks for the suggestion, StoopTroup, but I am not yet ready to post on SF from a mental institution.

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It would make for some legendary news and really up the number of folks on the site during the off-season. Plus...we would all get together and either break you out or testify that you are OK.