Showing posts with label guineas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guineas. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Success!
A few weeks ago I noticed my guinea hen wasn't around anymore but the 2 guinea males (guinea roosters? LOL) were. I figured she'd gone off to set a nest somewhere. I have a love hate relationship with the guineas. They love to torment me and I pretty much hate them. Ok, well I hate them 95% of the time. The other 5% they're tolerable. Anyways, I figured I'd try to find the nest, and when that failed I figured I'd wait until she came back with keets. I'd catch the keets and sell them, and them try to catch the adults and sell them as well. I'm a little tired of being woken up at 6:30 on Saturday morning by the alarm call of a guinea who is mad because I haven't fed them yet.
Today I noticed the hen was back and she was standing next to one of the males. He was standing in an odd position. I walked over and when he moved out popped a cute little guinea keet! One little lone keet. I caught him and the hen got very upset with me, so I put him down again. I couldn't bear to take him away, plus I can't really raise a solo keet in a brooder. I know keets don't do well with their parents sometimes, because they're a little more susceptible to cold dewy conditions than chicks are. This little one is going to have to make it on his own though, I just can't catch them all. They're very wily and roost in trees instead of in the coop. I need to figure out some sort of trap.
Maybe when the keet is bigger I can sell them. Maybe.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Animal Updates Week Part 3
So, here are the chickens. Yup. Nothin' much to say about the chickens.
My little Old English Game bantam hen hatched 5 babies several months ago, and I forgot to blog about it. She has 3 babies left, and they're all tiny like her! See them to the left of the black rubber bowl? The two little black pullets are smaller than their mom. The mom is the one at the bottom of the group of 4. The little black and white speckled is a cockerel I believe.
In the above picture, the two white chickens are broilers. I kept the smallest 8 birds back when we processed our last batch in early October. I'm letting them get nice and fat and we'll process them s we need/want them.
Many of the chickens are molting and looking rather pitiful.
And the silly birds prefer drinking out of the sheep trough.
And the guineas continue to be super-freak ninja poultry.
My little Old English Game bantam hen hatched 5 babies several months ago, and I forgot to blog about it. She has 3 babies left, and they're all tiny like her! See them to the left of the black rubber bowl? The two little black pullets are smaller than their mom. The mom is the one at the bottom of the group of 4. The little black and white speckled is a cockerel I believe.
In the above picture, the two white chickens are broilers. I kept the smallest 8 birds back when we processed our last batch in early October. I'm letting them get nice and fat and we'll process them s we need/want them.
Many of the chickens are molting and looking rather pitiful.
And the silly birds prefer drinking out of the sheep trough.
And the guineas continue to be super-freak ninja poultry.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Yard Birds
A former coworker of mine always called chickens yard birds. I guess it's a common term, but he's the only one I know who said it. It give me a small chuckle when I hear it. It doesn't take much to amuse me.
It's been a while since I've done a broiler update , so I wanted to show you a few pictures I took last night. I'm sorry they're slightly blurry, but it was getting dark. These are the broilers I'm raising for my sister. They're now 9 weeks old. They're going to be about 10.5 weeks when they're processed, which is a little older than normal for broilers (who are usually processed between 6 and 8 weeks). Becky is coming for a visit soon, so we wanted to time her visit with their processing date so she can help out. I think I'm more excited about it than she is, but I'm sure she'll do fine.
The broilers are still doing really well, despite their large size. Many people think these Cornish X broilers always get lame or keel over and die at the drop of a hat, but it's really not true if they have proper management. I started letting these birds free range when they were about 4-5 weeks old. I started them in a brooder pen in the barn, then moved them to a 'tractor' when they were 4 weeks (and completely feathered out). I left them in that pen for about a week, then let them free-range- partly because it was so hot out (and I wanted them to have shade in the woods) and partly to keep them strong and healthy, so they could run around and build muscles. I'm also not feeding them 24/7 like some people do. They get fed in the morning and in the afternoons, and they gobble up all the feed and then free-range the rest of the day. I wanted to make sure they didn't grow too fast, since they'll be living longer than they're "supposed to".
I lost a few of them during shipping and 1 day later, and only lost 1 when they were "grown" to what I suspect was a respiratory issue combined with abnormally high temps. I did have a close call with 2 of them when it was over 100* out. They were not doing well at all, so I put them in a bucket of cold water to bring their body temps down. The next day they were fine and I couldn't even tell which ones were sick. Since then, they've all been great!
The bird above is the biggest one. I call him Chickenzilla. He's large and in charge.
My biggest problem with the broilers now is they see me as the "food lady" and they mob me whenever I walk out into the yard! I can hardly walk to feed them because they swarm around me. They also like to peck at my ankles. That hurts!
And they try to follow me when I walk away!
And check out that guinea (on the right)! She's one of the babies I bought at the Auction in April. I wound up getting a male and female. That's lucky!
It's been a while since I've done a broiler update , so I wanted to show you a few pictures I took last night. I'm sorry they're slightly blurry, but it was getting dark. These are the broilers I'm raising for my sister. They're now 9 weeks old. They're going to be about 10.5 weeks when they're processed, which is a little older than normal for broilers (who are usually processed between 6 and 8 weeks). Becky is coming for a visit soon, so we wanted to time her visit with their processing date so she can help out. I think I'm more excited about it than she is, but I'm sure she'll do fine.
The broilers are still doing really well, despite their large size. Many people think these Cornish X broilers always get lame or keel over and die at the drop of a hat, but it's really not true if they have proper management. I started letting these birds free range when they were about 4-5 weeks old. I started them in a brooder pen in the barn, then moved them to a 'tractor' when they were 4 weeks (and completely feathered out). I left them in that pen for about a week, then let them free-range- partly because it was so hot out (and I wanted them to have shade in the woods) and partly to keep them strong and healthy, so they could run around and build muscles. I'm also not feeding them 24/7 like some people do. They get fed in the morning and in the afternoons, and they gobble up all the feed and then free-range the rest of the day. I wanted to make sure they didn't grow too fast, since they'll be living longer than they're "supposed to".
I lost a few of them during shipping and 1 day later, and only lost 1 when they were "grown" to what I suspect was a respiratory issue combined with abnormally high temps. I did have a close call with 2 of them when it was over 100* out. They were not doing well at all, so I put them in a bucket of cold water to bring their body temps down. The next day they were fine and I couldn't even tell which ones were sick. Since then, they've all been great!
The bird above is the biggest one. I call him Chickenzilla. He's large and in charge.
My biggest problem with the broilers now is they see me as the "food lady" and they mob me whenever I walk out into the yard! I can hardly walk to feed them because they swarm around me. They also like to peck at my ankles. That hurts!
And they try to follow me when I walk away!
Oh yeah, and the turkeys are getting big too!! They're starting to strut more now, and the other day I had to break up a fight. They grab each other's wattles and hang on tight! Ouch. And the funniest thing....yesterday when I was screwing the lumber together for the bachelor pen shelter, the screws were making a screaching noise in the wood, and a few of the turkeys gobbled!
And check out that guinea (on the right)! She's one of the babies I bought at the Auction in April. I wound up getting a male and female. That's lucky!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Barnyard Update
It's time for an animal update!
The turkeys are doing really well, even though they don't like the heat. The love being in the tractor and seem to be foraging really well.
Here's a hen with her saddle on. I need to make a few more.
And here's Darla's lamb. She's now 5 days old and filling out nicely!
She likes to explore.
And she's adorable, as most lambs are.
She's even cute when she's scratching her back!
Darla is still a really great mom.
Did I tell you I lost my female guinea? She was sitting on a nest of eggs and something got her. Luckily for me, I stole 2 of her eggs and put them in the incubator about a week before she died. Both eggs hatched and I have them in a brooder with the little chicks now! The male guinea has been feeling a little lonely, so he's been hanging around the turkey tractor with the juvenile guineas I got from the auction. I decided to let those 2 young guineas out so they could be a happy guinea family.
It didn't quite work out though. The young guineas were scared and really wanted back in the tractor. The big guinea got bored and wandered away. After about an hour, I lifted the tractor up so they could scoot back inside. I guess I'll have to try again later!
The broilers are now almost 5 weeks old and growing like, well, broilers! They're outside now and doing fairly well. I tell ya, a few of them are real porkers!
Here are the chicks from my last hatch! I was hoping to sell them, but I never got any response from my craigslist ad. I'll just keep them for a while and try selling them when they're almost laying. You can see the 2 baby guineas down there...they're gray and in the center of the picture.
I'll do an updated carden post soon, but I wanted to show you this picture of the zucchini and squash I got. This is 2 harvests worth. I skipped a day picking, and you can see how they got overgrown. I'll have to be more diligent!
The turkeys are doing really well, even though they don't like the heat. The love being in the tractor and seem to be foraging really well.
Here's a hen with her saddle on. I need to make a few more.
And here's Darla's lamb. She's now 5 days old and filling out nicely!
She likes to explore.
And she's adorable, as most lambs are.
She's even cute when she's scratching her back!
Darla is still a really great mom.
Did I tell you I lost my female guinea? She was sitting on a nest of eggs and something got her. Luckily for me, I stole 2 of her eggs and put them in the incubator about a week before she died. Both eggs hatched and I have them in a brooder with the little chicks now! The male guinea has been feeling a little lonely, so he's been hanging around the turkey tractor with the juvenile guineas I got from the auction. I decided to let those 2 young guineas out so they could be a happy guinea family.
It didn't quite work out though. The young guineas were scared and really wanted back in the tractor. The big guinea got bored and wandered away. After about an hour, I lifted the tractor up so they could scoot back inside. I guess I'll have to try again later!
The broilers are now almost 5 weeks old and growing like, well, broilers! They're outside now and doing fairly well. I tell ya, a few of them are real porkers!
Here are the chicks from my last hatch! I was hoping to sell them, but I never got any response from my craigslist ad. I'll just keep them for a while and try selling them when they're almost laying. You can see the 2 baby guineas down there...they're gray and in the center of the picture.
I'll do an updated carden post soon, but I wanted to show you this picture of the zucchini and squash I got. This is 2 harvests worth. I skipped a day picking, and you can see how they got overgrown. I'll have to be more diligent!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Random Post
Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?
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This morning I was on the computer (in the basement) and looked over and saw the male guinea watching me. Freaked me out a bit at first when I realized there was something in the window!
And here's the latest baby bunny picture! This was taken on Saturday. Those little buggers sure do grow fast!
I haven't forgotten about my Katie-Do list. It's hot as you-know-what out there. I'm doing inside stuff instead. The kitchen is very clean! And I think I'll sew some today. It's been a while since I've sewn anything.
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This morning I was on the computer (in the basement) and looked over and saw the male guinea watching me. Freaked me out a bit at first when I realized there was something in the window!
And here's the latest baby bunny picture! This was taken on Saturday. Those little buggers sure do grow fast!
I haven't forgotten about my Katie-Do list. It's hot as you-know-what out there. I'm doing inside stuff instead. The kitchen is very clean! And I think I'll sew some today. It's been a while since I've sewn anything.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Plucky Poultry
First off, I have no idea why the text is being underlined, and I have no idea how to stop it. Blogger sometimes does this to me and I'm not sure why. Does anyone know?
He or she is from an egg laid by my black cochin bantam hen. I'm not sure who the father is. Wanda loves this little chick. She decided to abandon the rest of the other eggs to take care of her chick. I put the eggs in the incubator, but I'm not sure if they'll make it or not.
Devin decided he wanted to name the chick Darkus. So here's Darkus!
In other news, I needed to build a chick brooder pen. I found some extra trim pieces my dad left me so I decided to use that. I built a frame for 4 panels that could be attached together to form the pen. I wanted to be able to disassemble it when it wasn't in use.
Then I used the green plastic "poultry fence" that I've had laying around to cover the frame of the pen.
I set up the panels inside the kennel because I didn't want the goat kids to jump on it. It works perfectly! I made it low enough so I could step over it. Total cost: $0!! Sweet.
Here are the chicks that my friend Becca hatched. Four of them are from her flock, and the rest are from mine.
They're getting big!
Wednesday I received my order of turkeys from Meyer Hatchery. I ordered 15 broad-breasted bronze and 5 broad-breasted white turkeys. I'll be keeping about 8 to raise for us and other family members, and the rest will be sold.
I also got two guinea keets. I went to an auction last week to sell some of my roosters. My friend Becca met me there, but she left a few minutes before me so she wasn't there to stop me from buying anything! I blame her. :-) Just kidding.
Devin named the light colored one "Lightening" and Kylee named the dark one "Tylee" after a boy in her class.
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That's all for now. I'll try to do a post later today about the mammals on the property. Right now I need to go be a productive member of society. :)
As you may know, Wanda has been broody for several months now. She's had a few unsuccessful attempts at hatching chicks. Finally her hard work paid off...sort-of. She had been sitting on 10 eggs that were due to hatch this weekend, (May 2nd.). Oh look, no more underlining. What the heck? Anyway, two of the eggs started hatching early (on day 17 instead of day 21). One of the chicks never made it out of the shell. The other one hatched! I've heard that bantam chicks hatch early, and this is definitely a bantam.
He or she is from an egg laid by my black cochin bantam hen. I'm not sure who the father is. Wanda loves this little chick. She decided to abandon the rest of the other eggs to take care of her chick. I put the eggs in the incubator, but I'm not sure if they'll make it or not.
Devin decided he wanted to name the chick Darkus. So here's Darkus!
In other news, I needed to build a chick brooder pen. I found some extra trim pieces my dad left me so I decided to use that. I built a frame for 4 panels that could be attached together to form the pen. I wanted to be able to disassemble it when it wasn't in use.
Then I used the green plastic "poultry fence" that I've had laying around to cover the frame of the pen.
I set up the panels inside the kennel because I didn't want the goat kids to jump on it. It works perfectly! I made it low enough so I could step over it. Total cost: $0!! Sweet.
Here are the chicks that my friend Becca hatched. Four of them are from her flock, and the rest are from mine.
They're getting big!
Wednesday I received my order of turkeys from Meyer Hatchery. I ordered 15 broad-breasted bronze and 5 broad-breasted white turkeys. I'll be keeping about 8 to raise for us and other family members, and the rest will be sold.
I also got two guinea keets. I went to an auction last week to sell some of my roosters. My friend Becca met me there, but she left a few minutes before me so she wasn't there to stop me from buying anything! I blame her. :-) Just kidding.
Devin named the light colored one "Lightening" and Kylee named the dark one "Tylee" after a boy in her class.
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That's all for now. I'll try to do a post later today about the mammals on the property. Right now I need to go be a productive member of society. :)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
What a whacky day.
Today was one of those days where things just don't seem to go right. I was on my way to work, and almost there, when I spied an accident up ahead. I was pretty close to it, but couldn't see anything other than a tandem-trailer tractor trailer facing the wrong way off the side of the highway. Oops. It must have happened shortly before I got there, because they hadn't yet started diverting traffic and there were still rescue vehicles arriving.
My normal commute to work is an easy one. Not one stop sign or stop light. Seriously. The majority of my commute involves driving down a strip of highway (2 lanes in each direction, separated by a median). This highway is a major route of travel for a lot of tractor trailers, so it's not unusual to see an accident involving one. Traffic sat still for over an hour. I was frustrated because I thought about going in to work the other way, but decided on the usual route. AND, I'd left my book at home because I didn't think I'd get a chance to read it. Darn! I did wonder though, if I'd been on time and not 10 minutes late like I was, would I have seen it? Or worse, been in it? Who knows.
So, the finally ended up turning traffic around and we drove the wrong way on the highway to the next intersection, which of course was already jam packed from them diverting all of the highway traffic. I saw my coworker sitting in traffic (I'd sent her a text earlier to warn her of the accident). I called her and we both decided to go farther back up the highway and take back roads to avoid the traffic. I finally got to work about an hour and a half after I should have.
Once I sat down at my desk, I realized today we were supposed to send in the snack for Kylee's preschool class. CRAP! They don't have snack until the afternoon, but I didn't want the teacher to worry there wouldn't be a snack, so I told my coworkers I'd be back and left to go to the grocery store. I got a box of Wheatables crackers (with whole wheat) and a bag of grapes. That's a big decision, you know. If I send in a healthy snack, would they like it? Would the teachers think "oh, this parent is strict and never lets kids have anything good". If I sent in a "yummy" sweet snack, would the teachers think we didn't care about health? Geeze Louise!
I finally left the school (which is much closer to home than it is to work) and thought, you know, I might as well just stay home now! So I did. And the farm next to us is spreading chicken litter on his fields. Ew. It smells just awful. It makes cow manure smell like perfume. Hopefully it'll fade in a day or two.
Oh yeah, and I had my camera with me this morning, so I snapped some pictures of traffic and the accident, but the camera is at work. On my desk. I also took a few garden pictures last night, but I can't show you. And the wedding pictures from the weekend are also in the camera. So, I have one picture to show you.
Guineas.
These two are regulars around here now. I think I forgot to mention that our other guinea, Waldo, is no longer with us. One day one of our friends mentioned seeing a dead chicken on the side of the road near our house, but I knew it had to be him because he didn't show up for breakfast that morning. I went out to see, and sure enough, it was him. He'd been dragged off into the woods. Not sure if he got hit, or if something happened to get him by the road. Poor guy.
The other two are much tamer than he was, and they hang out with the chickens. Every now and then something will spook them and they'll dart, wings up, across the yard to safety. They're very goofy birds. I need names for them! Any suggestions? The bigger of the two is a male, and the violet one is a female. They don't roost in the coop at night. I wish I could catch them and put them in there, but they're just way too fast and flighty.
Hopefully tomorrow will be more normal so I can share my other pictures with you.
My normal commute to work is an easy one. Not one stop sign or stop light. Seriously. The majority of my commute involves driving down a strip of highway (2 lanes in each direction, separated by a median). This highway is a major route of travel for a lot of tractor trailers, so it's not unusual to see an accident involving one. Traffic sat still for over an hour. I was frustrated because I thought about going in to work the other way, but decided on the usual route. AND, I'd left my book at home because I didn't think I'd get a chance to read it. Darn! I did wonder though, if I'd been on time and not 10 minutes late like I was, would I have seen it? Or worse, been in it? Who knows.
So, the finally ended up turning traffic around and we drove the wrong way on the highway to the next intersection, which of course was already jam packed from them diverting all of the highway traffic. I saw my coworker sitting in traffic (I'd sent her a text earlier to warn her of the accident). I called her and we both decided to go farther back up the highway and take back roads to avoid the traffic. I finally got to work about an hour and a half after I should have.
Once I sat down at my desk, I realized today we were supposed to send in the snack for Kylee's preschool class. CRAP! They don't have snack until the afternoon, but I didn't want the teacher to worry there wouldn't be a snack, so I told my coworkers I'd be back and left to go to the grocery store. I got a box of Wheatables crackers (with whole wheat) and a bag of grapes. That's a big decision, you know. If I send in a healthy snack, would they like it? Would the teachers think "oh, this parent is strict and never lets kids have anything good". If I sent in a "yummy" sweet snack, would the teachers think we didn't care about health? Geeze Louise!
I finally left the school (which is much closer to home than it is to work) and thought, you know, I might as well just stay home now! So I did. And the farm next to us is spreading chicken litter on his fields. Ew. It smells just awful. It makes cow manure smell like perfume. Hopefully it'll fade in a day or two.
Oh yeah, and I had my camera with me this morning, so I snapped some pictures of traffic and the accident, but the camera is at work. On my desk. I also took a few garden pictures last night, but I can't show you. And the wedding pictures from the weekend are also in the camera. So, I have one picture to show you.
Guineas.
These two are regulars around here now. I think I forgot to mention that our other guinea, Waldo, is no longer with us. One day one of our friends mentioned seeing a dead chicken on the side of the road near our house, but I knew it had to be him because he didn't show up for breakfast that morning. I went out to see, and sure enough, it was him. He'd been dragged off into the woods. Not sure if he got hit, or if something happened to get him by the road. Poor guy.
The other two are much tamer than he was, and they hang out with the chickens. Every now and then something will spook them and they'll dart, wings up, across the yard to safety. They're very goofy birds. I need names for them! Any suggestions? The bigger of the two is a male, and the violet one is a female. They don't roost in the coop at night. I wish I could catch them and put them in there, but they're just way too fast and flighty.
Hopefully tomorrow will be more normal so I can share my other pictures with you.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Lost......and Found.
This was a weekend for finding things. We spent the weekend working on the fence for the sheep, so yesterday morning I went out and was starting to piddle around the yard (is that right? sounds like I was peeing, but I promise I wasn't). I looked over and guess what I saw?
Waldo!
Mr. I'm-going-to-take-my-new-friends-and-run-away. He and his male buddy were back. I'm not sure where the female is. I hope she's sitting on a nest somewhere in the woods and nothing bad has happened to her.
I'm not sure why the boys came back. I haven't seen them in almost two weeks I guess.
And what did they do? They ate and left. Figures.
They were back again today. I guess they're going to use me for my food now.
We spent a lot of time yesterday clearing brush from the fence line. Turns out one whole side is lined with cherry trees. Cherry tree leaves are toxic to sheep once they're wilted. Fresh and totally dry leaves are fine, but wilted ones are bad. We took out as many trees as we could, but there are still some on one side. Luckily, it won't be a problem winter through late summer, as long as we don't get any major wind that blows leaves/limbs down. I'll just have to be careful to keep the leaves out of the pen once they start falling.
Know what else I found this weekend? Eggs. Lots.of.eggs.
First I found this nest in the metal shed. We haven't put the floor in the shed yet, so I guess some chickens thought it was a great place to make a nest. I found 6 eggs on Saturday, and another one today.
Then I found a few more eggs in the garage today. This make-shift nest is in the water trough that is currently holding electrical supplies for the garage.
Then I hit the motherload. We were putting up the fence behind the chicken coop, and I looked underneath the coop because I thought I saw an egg peeking out. I stooped down to look and what did I find? At least 25 eggs!
Here's where they were getting under the coop.
Here are the eggs I found! I'm not sure that I'll use them, because some of them are probably 2 weeks old and it's been very hot out.
My friend Lindsay is bringing some nest boxes that she's not using anymore, so hopefully next weekend we'll have the egg-hiding habit broken.
The sheep pen is almost done. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow!
Waldo!
Mr. I'm-going-to-take-my-new-friends-and-run-away. He and his male buddy were back. I'm not sure where the female is. I hope she's sitting on a nest somewhere in the woods and nothing bad has happened to her.
I'm not sure why the boys came back. I haven't seen them in almost two weeks I guess.
And what did they do? They ate and left. Figures.
They were back again today. I guess they're going to use me for my food now.
We spent a lot of time yesterday clearing brush from the fence line. Turns out one whole side is lined with cherry trees. Cherry tree leaves are toxic to sheep once they're wilted. Fresh and totally dry leaves are fine, but wilted ones are bad. We took out as many trees as we could, but there are still some on one side. Luckily, it won't be a problem winter through late summer, as long as we don't get any major wind that blows leaves/limbs down. I'll just have to be careful to keep the leaves out of the pen once they start falling.
Know what else I found this weekend? Eggs. Lots.of.eggs.
First I found this nest in the metal shed. We haven't put the floor in the shed yet, so I guess some chickens thought it was a great place to make a nest. I found 6 eggs on Saturday, and another one today.
Then I found a few more eggs in the garage today. This make-shift nest is in the water trough that is currently holding electrical supplies for the garage.
Then I hit the motherload. We were putting up the fence behind the chicken coop, and I looked underneath the coop because I thought I saw an egg peeking out. I stooped down to look and what did I find? At least 25 eggs!
Here's where they were getting under the coop.
Here are the eggs I found! I'm not sure that I'll use them, because some of them are probably 2 weeks old and it's been very hot out.
My friend Lindsay is bringing some nest boxes that she's not using anymore, so hopefully next weekend we'll have the egg-hiding habit broken.
The sheep pen is almost done. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Now there are three.
Shortly after we got Waldo, the guinea, I posted an ad on our local Craigslist for a guinea hen so he could have a companion. A week or so went by (maybe it wasn't that long, but I'm not the most patient person), and I figured nobody was interested in selling me a guinea hen. Monday morning I got an email from a lady not far from us who said she had lots of guineas! I called her and we chatted for a few minutes. I was telling her about my chickens, and I asked her if she was interested in trading anything for the guinea hen. She mentioned she'd like one of my buff orpington roosters as a trade (which by the way, all of those buff orpingtons turned out to be roosters!). I love trading!
We met her last night and she was very nice and had a TON of guineas. What a funny scene...guineas running all around and making funny noises! She even had a bunch of baby guinea keets....so cute! I decided I'd like two of the guineas, since she had pretty colored ones, so she managed to catch two for me.
Guineas are very hard to tell male from female, so you really have to listen to their voices because they make different sounds. A male makes a one-syllable sound, and a female makes a two-syllable sound. Males also have slightly larger combs on their faces.
I suspect the darker of these two guineas is a male, but I haven't had much of a chance to listen to him yet. If he is a male, that's ok. I think they'll all get along fine. I was mainly concerned with having at least 2 guineas so they wouldn't be lonely.
So I went to open the coop this morning and Waldo was hovering right outside the door (he doesn't roost in the coop, he prefers the trees). He heard the two guineas inside, and he was really worked up!
I opened the door and everyone started coming outside. Out comes the first of the guineas and Waldo is trying to find her though the mass (small mass) of poultry in front of him.
We met her last night and she was very nice and had a TON of guineas. What a funny scene...guineas running all around and making funny noises! She even had a bunch of baby guinea keets....so cute! I decided I'd like two of the guineas, since she had pretty colored ones, so she managed to catch two for me.
Guineas are very hard to tell male from female, so you really have to listen to their voices because they make different sounds. A male makes a one-syllable sound, and a female makes a two-syllable sound. Males also have slightly larger combs on their faces.
I suspect the darker of these two guineas is a male, but I haven't had much of a chance to listen to him yet. If he is a male, that's ok. I think they'll all get along fine. I was mainly concerned with having at least 2 guineas so they wouldn't be lonely.
So I went to open the coop this morning and Waldo was hovering right outside the door (he doesn't roost in the coop, he prefers the trees). He heard the two guineas inside, and he was really worked up!
I opened the door and everyone started coming outside. Out comes the first of the guineas and Waldo is trying to find her though the mass (small mass) of poultry in front of him.
Finally he spotted her and he took off!
"Oh my darling, where have you been all my life?!"
Finally the third guinea found them and they all went off together into the clump of trees.
And pardon this blurry picture, but I thought it was funny. Tucker (the cat) loves the chickens. He tries to stalk them, but he never really tries to chase them. He's enamored by them.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The New Kids on the Block
Nope, not the boy band I was in love with in 5th grade. Let me show you the new residents!
Remember that goofy looking guinea? Well, we bought him! David mentioned buying him, and I said, "Really?!" He said, "Sure, we don't have one." He's learning! Haha. So, I bid on him and got him for around $7.50. He was just so ugly but so pretty at the same time. I bid on the female they were selling after him, but she got up to $9 and I chickened ('scuse the pun) out. I am kicking myself now, because I really think he needs a companion. Now I'm searching for a guinea hen.
I also got these 2 little mille fleur bantam roosters. A nice girl at the auction bought a cage of 5 of them for a buck apiece. I asked if she'd like to sell some, and she said sure! So, I got 2 of them. I'm not sure I'm going to keep them. They're so tiny and they got picked on pretty bad last night. Not injured, just pushed around.
David decided we should name the guinea Waldo. Guineas aren't as domesticated as chickens, so he tends to stay far away. Last night he roosted way up high in a tree at the back of the property. I've read that guineas don't always come back to the coop at night like chickens. I think his name fits. Now we can go around saying, "Where's Waldo?"
There were a lot of hens there. Most were sold in groups of 4 or 5. I bought a pen of 5 sex-link hens. They all look the same, so there's only one picture.
I also bid on (and won) a group of 4 buff orpingtons. It's hard to see them well when they're in a cage together. I thought it was 1 roo and 3 hens, but now I'm not sure. I think that's what I got, but I'm kinda wondering if there are actually 3 roos and one hen. It's a little hard to tell. I think it would be easy to tell by now if they were roosters, because they're just about mature. I think I'm just so used to looking at juvenile birds, I'm not used to hens with developed combs/wattles yet.
I know for sure this one is a roo.
And looking at the picture this one definitely looks like a hen. Right?
I spent a lot of time in the garden yesterday. I finally made the trellis for the lima beans. I procrastinate so much, then I do it and wonder why I waited so long to get it done.
I didn't take any pictures during the construction, but I'll explain what I did.
I bought 4 pieces (10' I think) of 1" or 1.5" PVC pipe (now called poles for this purpose). I cut 6' or 7' lengths (can't remember). I cut one end at a 45* angle so it'd be easier to get them in the ground. Then I measured increments up the length of the pole and drilled holes all the way through.
Once the holes were all drilled, I put the poles in the ground using a hand held post driver. This was not as easy as I thought it'd be. The poles kept bending and they actually went in the ground pretty crookedly. Is crookedly a word? It is now!
I used some twine and first ran it horizontally through all the poles, tying the twine around each end pole. Then I cut lengths of twin and ran it vertically, tying the vertical piece around each horizontal piece. Does that make sense?
After I had the grid strung, I wound the beans around so they could continue climbing. All in all it was fairly simple. The poles were only about $2 each, and the roll of twine was about $2.35, but I've used it for the tomatoes also. Cheap project!
Look! Dirt circles! I wonder if they're similar to crop circles???
Nah. The chickens have really been making themselves at home in the garden. They decided it'd be a great spot for some dust baths.
And I picked all the corn yesterday (which I think I waited too long to pick). The chickens LOVED searching through and picking all the bugs. The little turds also managed to find an ear that I'd opened slightly to check, and they pecked half the kernels off.
AND those winged rodents ate a hole in a perfectly red and beautiful tomato!! On the vine! It's a good thing we'll be getting the fence up soon, because nobody messes with my tomatoes!
But I did get these yesterday morning, courtesy of the red sex-link hens from the auction. Thanks ladies!
Remember that goofy looking guinea? Well, we bought him! David mentioned buying him, and I said, "Really?!" He said, "Sure, we don't have one." He's learning! Haha. So, I bid on him and got him for around $7.50. He was just so ugly but so pretty at the same time. I bid on the female they were selling after him, but she got up to $9 and I chickened ('scuse the pun) out. I am kicking myself now, because I really think he needs a companion. Now I'm searching for a guinea hen.
I also got these 2 little mille fleur bantam roosters. A nice girl at the auction bought a cage of 5 of them for a buck apiece. I asked if she'd like to sell some, and she said sure! So, I got 2 of them. I'm not sure I'm going to keep them. They're so tiny and they got picked on pretty bad last night. Not injured, just pushed around.
David decided we should name the guinea Waldo. Guineas aren't as domesticated as chickens, so he tends to stay far away. Last night he roosted way up high in a tree at the back of the property. I've read that guineas don't always come back to the coop at night like chickens. I think his name fits. Now we can go around saying, "Where's Waldo?"
There were a lot of hens there. Most were sold in groups of 4 or 5. I bought a pen of 5 sex-link hens. They all look the same, so there's only one picture.
I also bid on (and won) a group of 4 buff orpingtons. It's hard to see them well when they're in a cage together. I thought it was 1 roo and 3 hens, but now I'm not sure. I think that's what I got, but I'm kinda wondering if there are actually 3 roos and one hen. It's a little hard to tell. I think it would be easy to tell by now if they were roosters, because they're just about mature. I think I'm just so used to looking at juvenile birds, I'm not used to hens with developed combs/wattles yet.
I know for sure this one is a roo.
And looking at the picture this one definitely looks like a hen. Right?
I spent a lot of time in the garden yesterday. I finally made the trellis for the lima beans. I procrastinate so much, then I do it and wonder why I waited so long to get it done.
I didn't take any pictures during the construction, but I'll explain what I did.
I bought 4 pieces (10' I think) of 1" or 1.5" PVC pipe (now called poles for this purpose). I cut 6' or 7' lengths (can't remember). I cut one end at a 45* angle so it'd be easier to get them in the ground. Then I measured increments up the length of the pole and drilled holes all the way through.
Once the holes were all drilled, I put the poles in the ground using a hand held post driver. This was not as easy as I thought it'd be. The poles kept bending and they actually went in the ground pretty crookedly. Is crookedly a word? It is now!
I used some twine and first ran it horizontally through all the poles, tying the twine around each end pole. Then I cut lengths of twin and ran it vertically, tying the vertical piece around each horizontal piece. Does that make sense?
After I had the grid strung, I wound the beans around so they could continue climbing. All in all it was fairly simple. The poles were only about $2 each, and the roll of twine was about $2.35, but I've used it for the tomatoes also. Cheap project!
Look! Dirt circles! I wonder if they're similar to crop circles???
Nah. The chickens have really been making themselves at home in the garden. They decided it'd be a great spot for some dust baths.
And I picked all the corn yesterday (which I think I waited too long to pick). The chickens LOVED searching through and picking all the bugs. The little turds also managed to find an ear that I'd opened slightly to check, and they pecked half the kernels off.
AND those winged rodents ate a hole in a perfectly red and beautiful tomato!! On the vine! It's a good thing we'll be getting the fence up soon, because nobody messes with my tomatoes!
But I did get these yesterday morning, courtesy of the red sex-link hens from the auction. Thanks ladies!
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