Hi Steve All the advise above sound pretty good. Molting is a good possibility. Also were you there when he caught them. We use a leg catch for our chickens and turkeys when we catch them to sell but the Guineas are a different story. Feathers get left behind every time with them. Another thought besides the molting. possibly lice came with them. Try some Sevin dust especially if there is a lot of the vent and tail fluff showing. If itÂs the actual tail feathers it can still be lice. ItÂs probably pretty cold in NJ and the Rhodes are a heavy bird that will fluctuate a lot in the winter but will continue to lay. After the girls are settled in if they still arenÂt laying as much as you think they should (and remember they will back off substantially in the winter) then try some red pepper flakes sprinkled free choice on their feed ration. It gets the blood moving and warms them up and also helps with internal parasites. Hope you have buyers lined up for the Spring. Mike

Cute little guy!! Guess GS can dig worms & feed him, he may end up pretty tame!! Year my DH died I heard a cooing 1 morning, i went out & looked in orange tree finally got a ladder & this dove just sat there & I was about a ft. away. I went out every day & talked to her told her she would have better luck next year cause a handful of long pine needles is not a nest, eggs would fall to the ground,she almost acted like she understood & would cock her head & coo. Finally there was a lot of noise out back so I ran to window to see. 2 adult doves showing their 2 little ones the finer points of taking their 1st bath, it was a noisy affair in the perfect birdbath, a plastic Parsons table flipped up side down & legs removed & filled with water & on over 100degree days I added a tray of ice cubes. Birds had a good time. That dove was much smarter than me but I still don't know where those eggs were & why I didn't hear them until they left the nest. I never saw an adult leave the nest either. They are around now but have never nested in my yard again. Guess they knew I needed a distraction from my loss. Jan

I have a hummingbird nest precariosly balanced but sticking way out of an established ficus pemalia plant that has engulfed my column by my main entrance. I have several feeders and the hummers are always feeding. Recently I watched one buzz me and continuously return to her nest right there. We had a freak cold storm out of Alaska coming with freezing rain and strong winds. I know the nest is too exposed to survive it. I wanted to help protect it a little and I was able to install and umbrella in such a way as to protect the nest without ever having to touch it. Momma hummer was doing her due diligence to ward me off but I was done very quickly and still saw her. She did go back to the nest but when I checked on it later she wasnt there. I was very relieved to be buzzed by her the next morning but I havent seen her sit on the nest and now I havent seen her the rest of the day or evening. I am devestated that in trying to subtly protect the nest that i caused her to abandon it. Especially since she has dealt with my constant in and out of the front door the last two weeks. Will she be back? Did I cause her to leave? Input is greatly appreciated.

I had an interesting situation at our house. Bought a flower planter and left it on our front porch about chest high off the porch. I saw a bird's nest appear a couple weeks later but never saw a bird so I tossed the nest into the bushes to mulch. Then I saw the flowers were trampled and looked to see why and found 3 Robin's eggs in the flower bed. I used utensils to retrieve the nest from the bushes and carefully laid the 3 eggs into the nest. All the while the mama Robin was squawking at me. I checked and saw the bird returned to the nest and was doing some tidying up. Then low and behold she reclaimed the nest. Later that same day I saw 4 eggs as she apparently had one in reserve. She is nesting nicely now and we can't wait to see her little hatchlings come to life. I did handle the nest by hand at first when I tossed it but who knows if the bird cared. It makes sense that birds don't have a sense of smell.