You mentioned Guinea hens. In my family, anyone with a birthday could specify the food for the birthday dinner. One year, my mom’s sister said she wanted a Guinea hen for dinner. So she showed up with a live bird in her car trunk and my mom didn’t know what to do with it, but she knew a local farmer. He solved the problem with a hatchet and a tree stump. The headless bird ran around for a while, still squawking. I was a kid then, and I got to watch the entire event, I found it fascinating, but my mom refused to watch!
Is it possible she wanted Cornish hen? (That would be funny!) How did the guinea hen taste?