Rest in peace, Dino

Samantha and Dino in happier days

It has been an eventful week.  Today, a mystery has been solved, I'm feeling a tad guilty, and sad, as is my oldest Monkey, and it's a lot quieter around here. 

Guineas and green summer grass.

Quieter, you say?  Well, yes, in a sense.  I know Gunner barks enough to wake the dead, but not apparently enough to awaken a dead Dino the guinea fowl.  Dino was found decapitated in the chicken run, much like Samantha the other guinea who predeceased him by a year or more.  This is odd, because last night, Monkey1 and I discussed leaving Dino out to roost on top of the chicken run, in his usual location.  Keeping him in the coop overnight irritates the chickens, because he doesn't much like them and he picks on them.  I told her to leave him out.  She agreed it would be ok for him to be outside, for it wasn't particularly cold.

Mr GHO is quite displeased! Thank goodness he did not go through the door at the top of the ramp!

How he came to be INSIDE a locked run, made mostly of heavy gauge wire strong enough to house a Serval Cat, became apparent when Monkey1 saw the new resident of the run.  Mr Owl.  Mr Great Horned Owl to be specific.  Mr Owl had crashed into Dino atop the run, some time in the night, and their ensuing roll across the top of the coop run broke loose the stapled chicken wire that seals the coop building to the wire run.  It's always been a weak point, but I didn't realize just how weak.  The combined weight and struggle of Dino and Mr Owl was enough to strip all the staples from the bottom of the chicken wire where it attached to the coop wall.  They then fell into the run, with the wire rebounding into place, preventing Mr Owl from escaping.

Let me OUT, human!

Look at that wingspan!

Beautiful eared owl.

 Dino did not survive.  The owl was trapped in the run.  Monkey1 phoned me in a panic, while I was headed to the mandatory homeschool group semester meeting.  After instructing her to just open the people sized run door, Mr Owl was able to scoot out and fly up to the trees to glare at everyone.  Monkey2 did the needful, recovering the remains from under the coop building, and verifying none of the hens inside the coop, were harmed.  Then they all (Monkeys 1,2,&3) dug a grave atop Mt Weather in back of the shop, and Dino was laid to rest, along side his mate, Samantha.  The similarity in cause of death of both guineas leads me to believe that Samantha was also killed by an owl, and not the raccoon we had first suspected.  It actually makes more sense, if you knew the layout of the backyard.

R.I.P. big guy!

I do plan to allow the Monkeys to get at least a pair of new chicks (hens not guineas) to replace the two we have lost since starting the Great Chicken Adventure.  Maybe even a total of 4, to get us to where I would like the flock size to stabilize.  Provided one of our hens goes broody this spring and we can sneak 4 chicks under her.  Hopefully, the owl's unpleasant experience will make him leave my hens alone from now on!  As to the other events of this week, that will have to wait for another post...

Mr Owl, glaring at us from the trees after his release.