On Friday morning I kept the guinea door closed and removed the outside enclosure. At approximately 9am I opened the guinea door and they got their first taste of being free. The key to success would be whether they returned to roost inside that night.
Thankfully they stayed relatively close to the barn the first day. They love to get up on the octagons. I was a little worried they would try to stay out inside the octagons for the night.
Late in the day I went out to see where they were and could hear them squawking up a storm down by the barn pond. I went down and found them underneath a large red cedar where the branches go all the way to the ground. I’m guessing they found alot of bugs or other things to eat in there.
Sunset is around 7:30pm so I went to find them about 6:45 and again they were down by the barn pond. I found 2 long sticks and gently got them moving back up to the barn. While they were still on the move I went in and put the meal worm treats in their feeder. Finally right about sunset they went back into the coop and I quickly activated the door to close them in. Success!
During the rest of the weekend they seemed to range further out, always circling back to the barn. The dog flushed them when they got up to the house, but that didn’t seem to phase them too much as they got right back together in a group down by the barn. Below is a shot of them about 200 yards away from the barn following a small stream along the corn field. Seems like it would be a prime area for a fox to snatch one, but so far no casualties.
Coming right up to the house. 
About 200 yds away
