Feathered Friends Overstay Their Welcome

By Kendra Bobowick

Michael and Valerie Giarratano don’t know what to do about the guests that arrived at their Head O’ Meadow home last Friday.

“We can’t shoo them away, they come back; I can’t frighten them away,” Mr Giarratano said about the two guinea hens that began pecking around his house the Friday before Easter. Mrs Giarratano said, “It’s kind of comical but if they are missing, someone might want them back.”

As amusing as the hens have been, the couple is wondering if the hens have owners. “Who is looking for them?” they want to know.

The hens are an unusual sight in the Giarratanos’ neighborhood. “We get turkeys, deer — it’s rural — and then what looked like young turkeys walked through the yard and pecked,” said Mr Giarratano. Living with the hens has been tricky, especially with company invited for Easter two days after the unusual visitors arrived.

“People come in the driveway and [the hens] don’t move,” Mrs Giarratano said.

Her son had a difficult time reaching the house for Easter diner. “They scared my son,” she said. “He threw a sneaker and they hustled around the house and then were back again.”

Referring to this situation as, “The Mystery of the Guinea Hens,” Mr Giarratano asked residents to contact him at 426-9642 if they are missing the dark and light gray birds.

More information about guinea hens is available at guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/ or guineafarm.com/guineas.html. Essentially, guineas are good bug scavengers that will reduce the yard’s tick population, among other backyard critters.