For those of you who think my being open to shooting a raccoon in the last post, please let me assure you. Locating it to eliminate it, can be much more difficult than you realize. Since the initial loss of the rooster and three hens from the hen house, in a manner suggestive of raccoon, I am missing another bird. Two nights ago, in silence, I actually heard a loud squalk all the way up at the house, and then silence. The following morning, I found a mass of white feathers outside the barn, and then about twenty feet from there, another mass of white feathers. Then, if one followed the occasional soft abdominal feathers on the ground into the woods, and went another twenty feet or so, there is one more collection of feathers, and then no more. This is apparently where the predator finally broke Snow's neck, and she could fight no more. This attack, incidentally, is much more characteristic of a fox. Snow, was a fairly large guinea fowl, who for some reason on the night in question, was on the ground, rather than up in her perch with her siblings and her mate.
I raised this particular group of guinea fowl from hatchlings and they were excellent at defending themselves once they attained maturity. I have actually seen them in group formation, kill a copperhead snake. It's not pleasant to watch, but I was pleased they could defend themselves. Now there are only six of the original eight that I raised here several years ago.
