Yellow Alert

Two weeks ago a mini-jumbo (young Jumbo Guinea) disappeared. A week before another guinea had disappeared -- one of the first of eight.

You know the show "Click and Clack" on PBS radio? You know how they laugh? "Ha ha ha ha haaaah"? Sounds more like "Quack quack quack quack quaaaack" to me. And so two of the Pekin females I rescued were called Click and Clack.

Clack disappeared last Saturday, right from under Kerrie's and my nose, not more than 30 feet from us. Something jumped out from the bushes, grabbed the duck, and disappeared as fast as it appeared. Didn't see it. Don't know what it was. But it was fast, and hungry, considering it was mid-day.

I grabbed my .22 pistol and gave chase. Way too late. Stupid late. No feathers, no blood, nothing. No poison oak either, though I brushed up against tons of it. Phew.

We recently acquired two African Geese. Ping and Pong are their names. Females. Pate, our African gander, would have had an enjoyable next year. BUT. But. They disappeared. No feathers, no blood, no signs whatsoever. That was yesterday, Tuesday.

Long-time readers will remember "Cannibal" the Muscovy. He was chowing down on all the other muscovies at the time, thus the name. He became food today. To something. No way to know right now.

The birds are going into lockdown now. This Saturday I will let them all out, to hopefully one hungry animal that will not be shy at trying to take another. I'll be on the top of the coop with all my guns and rifles and will feed it with a bunch of high-velocity lead when it tries to take another.