Neighbors don't appreciate guineas.

COUNTRYSIDE: I am in need of some back-up and my family at COUNTRYSIDE is my first choice in this particular matter. I am a single, homesteading grandmother, raising my 14 year-old granddaughter. I have a beautiful 15 acre farm in mid-Michigan. The long, cold winters are prompting me to sell out and move further south to the Missouri/Arkansas area.

I am having some very disturbing conflicts with the neighbor who lives across the road from me. We have been neighbors for 10 years. It has been a struggle for me from the very beginning. The new conflict involves my guinea flock, which I have had here for nine years. I currently have a small flock of 11, nine of which are hatchlings from last spring. I have no idea how old the other two roosters are, but they have always been allowed to run around the property to keep the bug population under control. I have always allowed them into the garden and had to teach them just how delicious the tomato worms were. They are a funny and friendly part of the homestead, and are seldom out of sight or earshot. If I am working out in the yard or garden, they flock around me just to make sure that if I find a crawly goodie for them, that they are there to snatch it up and tease the rest by running on their tiptoes all around the yard.

Last week the neighbor hollered across the yard as I was getting my mail, "Keep your guineas home. They are eating all my strawberries!" I found this fact really hard to digest since they had never bothered my strawberries. I tried to explain that they were probably eating the bugs off her strawberries and the robins and blackbirds were the real culprits. The following day, an Animal Control officer showed up to say that my animals were damaging the neighbor's property and that I would be held liable for the damage and loss. When I tried to talk to my neighbor, no one would answer the door when I knocked. The next day my "No-Spray" sign was pulled up from the ground and thrown near my flower bed by my driveway. Hmm ...

The next day an officer from the local sheriff's department came to ask why I couldn't keep my chickens in my yard? My chickens have a fenced-in area and are never allowed to run because they can be very damaging to any and all flower and vegetable gardens. He informed me that he didn't even know what a guinea was, which left the door wide open for a guinea lesson. We talked for a very long time and he left very satisfied with the information I had given him. He went over to the neighbor's home to talk to her and I promised to wait for him to leave before I went over to try to explain about the purpose of the guinea flock here on the homestead. I seem to recall having made the same explanation when they had asked what the birds were years before.

When I saw the deputy leave, I walked over with a bag full of stones that I had painted red and used for years in my own strawberry patch to discourage the robins and blackbirds. What do you know, she wasn't there again! I delivered the message to her adult daughter and gave her my precious "strawberry stones."

The next day, I saw the woman at the gas station and told her that I had a book that she may find very interesting. I had highlighted every phrase about their eating habits and would gladly bring it over to her to read. She rudely told me that she was going to call the Department of Natural Resources the next Monday. I am still waiting for their visit.

I would like to know if anyone has ever had a problem with their guineas damaging their strawberries. I know that it may look like they are eating the berries, but from my experience with these beloved birds is that they are just doing their job as "bug-catchers."--D'Yani Walks Far, Brant, MI; [e-mail]