Remember my blog post on November 11, 2020 about Fred, our Mr. guinea? Click on this link to read his story…. “Fred“.
Fred become a beloved friend around the farm. Every day we looked to make sure he was still with us and at supper we talked about his antics. . We would find him running around the chicken house, feeding in the cow troughs, sitting on a hay bale, scurrying across the chicken house roof or exploring the fields around the barn. One day when Gene was loading calves on the trailer to take to market, Fred went fussing to the loading area and thought he had to get in the mix. He was not a help! Another day our employee, Tim, was running the chain saw behind the store and it was not long until we heard Fred back there just a fussing up a storm. He was not impressed with the chain saw. Fred had a lot of personality; it was loud and quirky but also unique and endearing. I am not a fan of guineas but I became a fan of Fred.
Last fall Red sleeked into the scene. He was the most beautiful, healthy, velvety red fox we had ever seen. It was kind of neat to see him passing through. He was huge, about the size of a German Shepherd dog. He would watch him stroll through our yard early in the morning. He was spotted in the woods during hunting season. We would see him running through the pasture or hunkered down in the grass. We all knew it was Red when we saw him, there was none like him.
I started worrying about Fred. We knew Fred was always on the move and very quick, but he also let it be known where he was at with his constant chatter. At first Red didn’t appear to be concerned with Fred, it seemed he was just passing through on bigger and better hunts.
This winter, especially the past several weeks, Red has become very brazen. He is leery of humans but also doesn’t seem to mind being close by and started hanging out around the barns. We would spot him on the hillside right behind the chicken house, just chilling out as if watching Fred. I became more and more concerned. Every day we made sure Fred was still around but didn’t really know what to do to protect him.
On Friday, February 12, Fred was running around and I warned him about Red. Friday night it snowed. On Saturday morning there was several inches of snow on the ground. All was still and eerily quiet on the farm. There was no good morning squawk from Fred.. I missed him but figured he was hunkered down in one of the barns. By the day’s end, we realized none of us had seen Fred.
Fred has not been seen since. There is a little pile of feathers by the chicken house door.
We have now determined that Red is calling this home. We are pretty sure we know where he is hiding out and it is just behind the chicken house. This evening he was running around the barns when Gene was getting hay for the cows and laid down in the middle of the driveway to watch. This is beginning to not feel to good.
Several days ago he was laying in the field along the driveway just surveying the landscape and looking straight at Tim’s cats.
There is circumstantial evidence….big bad Red, did you eat Fred?
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