Undocumented Immigrants

Last Thursday I had a few undocumented immigrants sneak onto my farm. I offered them sanctuary, but probably due fear of being deported if discovered, they moved on. Perhaps looking for a better place to live unnoticed? 

What the heck am I talking about?    ....  Guinea hens! 

Above, hiding in the shadows, I spied three vigilant Guinea hens sneaking up the road. On edge and leery of my truck, I slowly drove by them. In the distance you can see my entrance gate. Pulling through, I left it open as an invitation to the birds. 

Hours went by and I forgot about them until I heard a racket right outside my front door. I caught one of our farm cats, Crookshank (above), heading over to check out the intruders. The cat caused the G hens to spook and break out into a loud racket. If you've ever heard a Guinea hen, you know how loud that can be. And it's quite a distinctive alarm noise. In fact, I'd love to have it as my phone's ringtone. It surely would turn heads in a crowd, don't ya think? 

Ok, now there's four birds. I was quite surprised to see that they came all the way up to the house. I offered them birdseed, but they weren't impressed. I threw about some torn up bread, which they also said "no thank you" to. So I let them be to see what would develop. 

That night they slept in a tree by the chicken pen. In the morning before I left for Maui for three days, I saw a group of FIVE Guinea hens cruising around the front pasture area. I bid them goodbye as I left and wished them luck, but first left numerous piles of birdseed here and there. 

I was hoping they would stay. I hadn't the foggiest idea where they came from, but most likely they had been ditched on the road. It's a common enough occurance here. I didn't know of any neighbor having Guinea hens. But when I returned home on Monday, they were gone. Moved on. Hopefully they found a place that suited them.