Attack of the guinea fowl!

via this shop
My horseback riding trainer includes among her menagerie 18 rescue dogs, 30-something horses, an attack goose named Lucy, two ducks, two chickens, one insanely angry rooster and three guinea fowl.  I would have never guessed that the birds would be the territorial and mean ones out of that bunch.

I pulled up to the barn on Sunday morning and parked my car in a patch of green grass.  On returning a few hours later to dump my equipment in the trunk, I heard a faint rustling coming from the other side of my car.

Cluck cluck?

One of the guinea fowl popped its skinny head around my bumper.  It slowly and carefully started picking its way through the grass toward me.  I ignored it, dropped off my gear and went to go chat up my trainer about her upcoming nuptials.

After saying my goodbyes, jumping in the car and pulling out of my "parking spot", I noticed three grey globs in my rearview and side mirrors.  All three guinea fowl were stalking my car very closely.  I slowed to a crawl to avoid accidentally running one of them over but they stuck close, surrounding the vehicle.  One on each side and one in the back, prancing alongside.  When I hit the gravel road, I accelerated to shake them off, more afraid than anything of guinea roadkill.  That is, until I noticed they were sprinting flat out beside me and squawking bloody murder.
  
During the time I left my car unattended, they had either become really good friends or mortal enemies with it.  They chased me a quarter of a mile all the way to the gate.

Come to find out, guinea fowl are better to keep around your property than attack dogs.  They will squawk and bawk their heads off if a stranger or unfamiliar animal comes on to the property.  Guineas will also kill snakes.  There are coyotes near my trainer's farm and you can count on the guinea fowl to sound the alarm without fail.  They can also run at a pretty good clip and escape becoming dinner, or roadkill in my case, quite easily.  
If you've ever run away from a bird, you know how silly it feels.  To try and escape one by car is downright embarrassing.

Comments

  1. haha, that story is hilarious :)

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  2. OMG Rooth- this post just made me lol. But, is it true? All of the facts you list at then end. They are so much more in the aesthetic dept than attack dogs...

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  3. LOL I'm cracking up. But, where can I find one? I can use a replacement watch dog. hahaha

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  4. This is such a funny situation to have found yourself in! I would never have guessed that about guinea fowl either. A friend of mine, who is one of the bravest people I know, is terrified of birds! It's her phobia. Wonder if she's ever met a guinea hen!!

    Loulou

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  5. Ahaha, escorted off the property by guard birds. That's a first. I've never encountered guinea fowl. When I Googled images of them, I got everything from newborns to roasted. :)

    Your trainer must have a good sized property to accommodate so many animals. It sounds like a nice place to visit. I used to really enjoy going to the farm where my dad grew up--a little less on the days that involved hard labor (like hauling water from the little creek to nourish our huge veggie garden). Walks in the fall were my favorites.

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  6. dang talk about fierce!
    Oh and please join my giveaway over here: http://www.robotsintrouble.com/2012/07/giveaway-20-gift-card-to-skincarerx.html

    -Abby

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  7. hahahahah, this is such an awesome story Rooth! Very funny and memorable. ^^
    I never would have thought guinea fowl would be so ferocious! Granted, I never even heard of them until this post, but they look cute...! Reminds me a little bit of turkeys. Ah, looks can be deceiving I suppose. XD
    ♥ xixia | thisisxixia.com

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  8. This story is full of win. Scary fowls are scary. They seemed to, indeed, have imprinted on your vehicle. Strange, but not entirely unheard of for avians. Ducks and geese apparently do it quite often.

    Also, horseback riding. Equestrian style or cowboy style (afterall, we ARE Texans. Reasonable question, I think)?

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  9. You had me at attack goose! haha. Well actually in Singapore, we used to have an attack chicken. It was ferocious, and even the dogs were terrified of it

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  10. Nice story... I'll have to share it with my son who has five dogs right now... He'll definitely go get some attach goose right away.

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  11. Sorry... that's supposed to be attack not attach... my bad, from my last comment.

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  12. Great story, well told. Sometimes you wonder what animals are thinking and how they perceive the world...

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  13. How interesting. I don't like birds much, so that would have been a freak out moment for me. But, it's quite interesting that they are so territorial! xx

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  14. great story :)

    have a nice day

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  15. Hahahaa, that's pretty funny!

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  16. LOL. I reckon I would've freaked out myself,
    Ronnie xo

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  17. Such a cute story! And, I never knew that about guinea fowl. I don't know if its essential information but it might make for good dinner chatter!! BTW, M. read that series you recommended a few years back and she said it was really good! Thanks for that. She is very excited about U.T. and will get together with her new roommate soon for lunch. She is nervous too, though, she is very much a happy homebody here so she is a little nervous about the "social" energy that will be required. I can't wait to get this transition over with as a Mom so I can stop worrying.

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  18. Lol! That is hilarious! I had to run from geese on a couple of occasions on a friends farm ;)

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  19. hahah this story is hysterical. I guess I should get a guinea fowl to guard my apartment :)

    Sheinside GIVEAWAY

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  20. wow..that is one full house!! And the story is so funny..thanks for the laughs! Hope you are having a wonderful day!
    -Jyoti
    Style-Delights Blog
    Style-Delights on Bloglovin

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  21. You must also tell us about the attack goose Lucy!

    P.S. Come join the Blogging Besties Swap, live on my blog today! Make a new friend and get fun goodies in the mail!

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  22. Attack fowl . . . it's always fun and games until they set in after you. Eek!

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  23. Haha! I think birds are just mean in general. My dad has chickens and the poor dog is even afraid of the baby chicks!

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  24. That is strange that they are like better than having a guard dog! I am terrified of birds, I was attacked my a pigeon when I was like 11 in Pennsylvania... and I haven't ever recovered. this sounds like a nightmare to me!

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  25. Ha! I can attest to the squawking for sure - we have a small flock of wild guinea hens that live on our neighborhood, and man are they noisy at 6 am! Funny looking though, so they provide some good entertainment every now and then.

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  26. LMAO...this would happen only to you, Auntie Rooth:P

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  27. :DDDD


    I'd love if you visited my blog at Missingsparkles.com.
    Let me know, if you would like to follow each other on Blogger and/or Bloglovin and Facebook. :)

    ♥,
    Minna

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  28. Hi! Great blog!! Hope you visit mine!!

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  29. ha, that is so random :)

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  30. hey, your blog is great! please come visit my blog and let me know if you want us to follow each other...
    kisses
    www.petitgraphie.blogspot.com

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  31. Oh my how fuuuunnny! Hmm, better than attack dogs huh :)

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