I honestly have no idea, Sue, LOL! This property has always seemed to hold happy peaceful life on it ever since I bought & built my house & little hobby farm on it......I see that evidence more & more especially at times when I look out and see wild whitetail deer grazing in it's pastures right along with my horses. I will always uphold it's being that way (it's an awesome feeling to see & be a part of!) :-). Don't know if it makes a difference that I treat & regard all life forms as equal and always will - will shoo off a critter that might seem preditory before taking out a gun & just automatically killing it, and for some reason they never do come back again. LOL, people freak out at watching a hawk circling above actually "listen" to me when I tell it to go & keep going to better "hunting grounds" for it and leave this one alone, and it does, whether it was eyeballing up my chickens or just some small mice or other ground creatures here.
The *only* time my Guineas "freak out" & get noisy at all is if something out of the every day ordinary happens - otherwise you don't even know they're here (except for the females' occasional poo-tawk'ing sounds). I was told that's the way they'd be, and that has rang very true. LOL, I've watched them out freeranging with the chickens in the pastures when a stray cat has wandering in - cat must come around (unharmfully) a bit more than I know, because the Guineas never sounded an alert to it's being there, but, LOL - when it would meander a bit too close (whatever "too close" is to Guineas, <G>) to where they & the chickens were "grazing", there'd be 3 or 4 of the Guineas silently "waddle"-running it back off a few feet again. Sometimes I wish they wouldn't 'cause it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a good mousing barn-cat here, but I guess the Guineas will "choose" the right one at the right time for that, LOL. For now, they make halfway decent mousers themselves.......people think they're stupid animals, but I've watched them know where a mouse is going to come into the coop (and when, for that matter - when I feed! <G>) and a couple of them will be standing just watching for it to instead of coming over to eat right away. And it's hysterical to watch the ensuing game of "tag" (I want it too!!!) that happens when they do catch one!! :-)
I guess observing, respecting, and allowing all the different forms of lives in your life instead of trying to mentally human-conform them to what *you* want & expect them to be is what makes the difference. Animals are the survivalists of the world, humans aren't. Animals accept & adapt to changes to live - only humans deny & try to force changes to be what *they* want.
Kate in WI
<< Posted by: "wildliferescue29" wildliferescue29@yahoo.com wildliferescue29
Hi Kate
This is impressive indeed. I too have had guineas for years but in spite of a large chicken house with plenty of room, when locked up with the chickens, there's ALWAYS trouble.
Guineas are so flighty and will freak out and commence to screeching if a mosquito flys by, this makes the other birds nervous not to mention the dust storms they create with their dashing about like crack heads.
What's your secret?!
Sue
WLR >> 
