Then there were eight - nine
Last night when I yoohooed Galahad and crew in to the open greenhouse door, I was horrified. Only eight keets came with him! He did his doorway pause, and satisfied, he went in and they proceeded to shuttle up to their perch. But! You’re missing two! Where are they?!
A white and a grey one were missing. I came upon the grey one hunched in the weeds nearby. Immediately I knew he was hurt, and when I tried to coach him to the door, he demonstrated a limp on the right side, and more alarmingly, deliberately avoided the greenhouse door, instead fleeing from me and then settling down in a hen tent. Alright, I thought, I’ll get him from there later when the sun goes down. Guineas are super dopey after dark.
That’s terrible! They were doing so well, how can two be lost in one day? At least this one with the lower body injury can be saved. I just need to get him inside and into rehab. It’s been awhile since there’s been a rehab bird in the house.
After dark, no guinea! Gone. I flashlight searched for quite a while. Vanished. That’s it for him, I thought. A raccoon showed up two days ago. I hoped to maybe see him come out of the woods in the morning.
This morning, no keet. This afternoon, no keet. Now there is a family of Galahad +8. No keet all day.
Until close up time! There he was, hunched near the healthy flock.
I got the bird catching hoop net and pursued. He was limping even harder than the previous day, but still gave me a good chase, and the rest witnessed up close the whole capture and disentangling and removal, so I wasn’t sure Galahad would ever trust me again, but so far so good.
I carried the hurt keet home and stuck his head in a hat, so I could inspect his injury. He laid there perfectly still for a long and thorough palpating, and continued to lay there long past the inspection.
I just live in this hat now.
I couldn’t find anything wrong! No bone breaks or skin breaks – it’s a mystery. But perhaps, like Sprout, it will show up later with swelling.
Now the keet is in an Ikea EKET organizational solution (lidded felt box), sans hat, with victuals and electrolytes. Finally silent after mounting a thumping, pecking, escape attempt. I know, it’s super weird to be in a box in the house, and guineas really really hate being contained in anything, but it’s for your own good! Drink your aspirin water!