Today I released the "infant" guineas and their mama guinea from the pen. The infants are 6 weeks old today. I still call them the infants to keep track of them. They're not infants, they are the size of a bluejay. They can fly fine. We have so many guineas, it gets confusing.
We have 5 adult male guineas and 1 adult female. The female has 17 keets by her side. All babies from those 5 boys.
We also have 10 "teenage" guineas, raised earlier this year from guinea eggs we found out in the woods, all babies from those adult guineas. The teenagers were adopted out to chicken hens when they were still eggs, and chickens raised them until they were big enough to go free. The adult guineas don't accept the teenagers, and still chase them. The teens still think they are chickens and would love to be penned up in the chicken pen with the other chickens. I don't know why the adult guineas don't like the teen guineas. Next spring when the adult males are looking for mates they will forget that they don't like them, I bet.
We wondered if the 5 adult male guineas would accept the infants into their little flock. Sure enough, they did. They treat them just like their own babies. And the babies love the adults males, going to them, being fed by them, one big happy family. The mama guinea loves her 5 boyfriends and is happy to be free with them again. One of them was her mate, but I can't tell which right now, they are all hanging close to her and her keets.
So now the adult males are busy with their new family and have stopped chasing the teenage guineas. The teens are kinda bored and started chasing the outside cats for fun. I'm betting the cats will keep their distance from the infant guineas, and from all the guineas, in fact.
It's chaos here. We never expected to have this many guineas running free around our house!
Showing posts with label Guineas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guineas. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Guinea hen and keets leave the coop!
Three weeks ago we found our sole guinea hen hatched 17 guinea keets in the woods. We captured them all and locked them up in our chick coop. Yeah, we had Brahma chicks and their adopted mama hen in there, they got pushed out to the general chicken population to make room for the infant keets!
And so we watched as the keets grew. The keets learned that humans brought food, the mama hen learned to hate humans less, but she still hated being cooped up. The private chick pen was reinforced around all sides with netting, as it was just chain link fencing, and the keets were tiny enough to walk right thru a chain link fence.
And then the big day came - it was time to let the keets out of the coop and into the chick pen.
The little sliding door has been closed the last 3 weeks.
The chickens are watching through the fence going into the big chicken pen. Everyone knows that something exciting is going to happen!
Here come the 6 adult male guineas along the right side of the fence. The adult guineas roam free, they're not penned at all. They know their friend and wife is locked up in that coop. The female guinea used to be a mate to a dark male guinea.
Here are the Brahma chicks watching through the fence - they are white with feathers on their feet and legs. They miss their private pen, but are doing fine mixed in with the other chickens. (By the way, so far I love Brahma's. They are very sweet chicks!)
Late in the evening the female guinea hen went into the coop to sleep. She squeaked a call to the babies to follow. They had a tough time figuring out the ramp to go into the coop, and the mama went in and out a few times to show them. Finally they all went inside except for 1 keet. The sole keet started screaming a panic cry. Mama did not come out for him, she was trying to get the other 16 situated inside. Then the guinea male mate, who was outside the fence, made a squeaky noise, and the keet ran across the pen to him, and huddled up close to the fence trying to get close to him. How amazing that he bonded with his mother's mate so quickly! Possibly it's his own father. I went in and picked up the keet, who started screaming bloody-murder, and put him in the door to be with the family. The mother came charging out, wings up in defensive mode, ready to kill me. When she saw the keet inside she turned to take care of him, and I closed up their door and turned out the light inside and let them sleep. The keets had a big day.
This morning the door was opened and the family is spending a second day out in the pen. They are happy birds. When the keets get bigger I'll let them free. I see the adult guineas will watch out for them, and the babies can fly just fine now, so they'll be able to sleep in the trees with the adults.
And so we watched as the keets grew. The keets learned that humans brought food, the mama hen learned to hate humans less, but she still hated being cooped up. The private chick pen was reinforced around all sides with netting, as it was just chain link fencing, and the keets were tiny enough to walk right thru a chain link fence.
And then the big day came - it was time to let the keets out of the coop and into the chick pen.
The little sliding door has been closed the last 3 weeks.
The chickens are watching through the fence going into the big chicken pen. Everyone knows that something exciting is going to happen!
Here come the 6 adult male guineas along the right side of the fence. The adult guineas roam free, they're not penned at all. They know their friend and wife is locked up in that coop. The female guinea used to be a mate to a dark male guinea.
Here are the Brahma chicks watching through the fence - they are white with feathers on their feet and legs. They miss their private pen, but are doing fine mixed in with the other chickens. (By the way, so far I love Brahma's. They are very sweet chicks!)
Randy opens the little sliding door...
Mama guinea hen is cautious at first.
And then out she comes!
She tells the babies it's ok to come out.
They aren't too sure about this new big world.
And then the keets come flying out, all excited! They have been learning to fly inside the coop, and have been roosting in the coop rafters the past few days.
Yesterday the keets were scared of their new surroundings. They mostly stayed huddled in a group.
The Brahma chicks are checking out the keets through the fence.
The male guineas were very excited to see the female again. They stayed close to the guinea pen all afternoon. One of the males, the former mate, especially stayed near. The mama guinea was so happy to be able to put her head up close to his, and they made all sorts of squeaks. The male guineas all seem very supportive of the keets. I think they would take care of them in the wild.
Late in the evening the female guinea hen went into the coop to sleep. She squeaked a call to the babies to follow. They had a tough time figuring out the ramp to go into the coop, and the mama went in and out a few times to show them. Finally they all went inside except for 1 keet. The sole keet started screaming a panic cry. Mama did not come out for him, she was trying to get the other 16 situated inside. Then the guinea male mate, who was outside the fence, made a squeaky noise, and the keet ran across the pen to him, and huddled up close to the fence trying to get close to him. How amazing that he bonded with his mother's mate so quickly! Possibly it's his own father. I went in and picked up the keet, who started screaming bloody-murder, and put him in the door to be with the family. The mother came charging out, wings up in defensive mode, ready to kill me. When she saw the keet inside she turned to take care of him, and I closed up their door and turned out the light inside and let them sleep. The keets had a big day.
This morning the door was opened and the family is spending a second day out in the pen. They are happy birds. When the keets get bigger I'll let them free. I see the adult guineas will watch out for them, and the babies can fly just fine now, so they'll be able to sleep in the trees with the adults.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Guinea keets born in the woods!
Our guinea keets are about 2 months old now and ready to be set free. They live with the chickens in the chicken pen and roost at night in the trres in the chicken pen. One day 3 weeks ago we let them free outside, but that very day a fox attacked the guineas and killed one of the adult females. The young guineas were just a few yards away and they wouldn't know what to do if a fox attacked them, they'd be easy to kill. That day my husband wasn't home, I ran outside armed with my gun and chased the fox off and found the adult guinea he attacked. She was still alive but died soon from her injuries. I was mad and searched for the fox, but couldn't find him. I thought possibly the fox would return for food, it never got to eat the guinea it killed, and I didn't have all day to stay outside and protect the birds. So that day I herded the baby guineas back into the chicken pen to protect them. I didn't want one of them to die. I buried the dead guinea in our pet cemetery.
That left us with 6 adult male guineas. Just 6 left. One by one they've all been disappearing. We always search for the bodies when one disappears. Only once we didn't find a body - a female disappeared and we found no body, no feathers showing a kill site, nothing. We always wonder if a female goes broody. If they sit overnight on the nest in the woods there's a very good chance they'll be killed overnight by a fox or owl. Anyway, about a week ago Randy swore he saw the missing female guinea with the 6 males. He said he counted them many times, there was an extra bird. But later in the day she was gone. Just yesterday he and I went out hunting for a guinea nest, or for signs of a previous guinea nest. Nothing. He figured he must have miscounted the guineas that one day.
Today, the female showed up in the field------with 17 or 18 newborn guinea keets!!!!
The newborns evidently just hatched overnight and mama was walking around in the heat of an open field. The babies could hardly walk. Guineas are known to not be good mamas. We've always raised our guineas keets by chicken hens, because chickens are better protectors. We always take guinea eggs and place them under a broody chicken hen, the chicken never knows that the babies are guineas.
How very exciting - this is the first time one of our guineas has survived sitting 28 days to hatch a clutch of eggs. In the past females tried this and always were killed during the first few nights. Amazing. We found the nest, it was well hidden. We walked right by it yesterday and missed it!
And so, we have newborn baby keets again. It's not a good time of the year for keets - it will be cold soon. I think it will be too cold for them to spend nights outside in Oct. But who knows. First things first...
The keets were easy pickings for hawks, blackbirds, jays, any bird that would want a snack. There was a hawk nest not too far away from where they were standing when we found them. Plus, there's that fox. Just 2 days ago I saw the fox in the field, he was hunting the adult guineas. We didn't think the keets or their mama would make it through the day today, not to mention the night tonight. And so, for their own safety, the keets and mama were collected and placed in the chicken coop, in the chick/keet/infirmary side. We had a brood of chicks (chickens) and their mama hen in that coop/pen, and so they got pushed out into their own pen and are not allowed inside the coop right now, the little sliding coop door is closed locking them outside.
The mama guinea was not too happy about being caught and placed in a coop. We made it pitch black in there until she calms down. All the babies tucked themselves under her wings. They all needed to cool down, all the keets were overheated after being in the blazing heat of the field. The mama guinea hen needed to calm down.
Later today we'll put the mama hen and her chicks in the pen with the adult chickens. They'll have to manage with the adult chickens. A friend gave us some pure-bred Brahma eggs to hatch. We are going to split the babies with them after they're big enough to be on their own. I wasn't too keen on raising chicks to give away, and I'm not a big fan of the Brahma breed. They're large birds. But my husband made the deal when I was away on travel for work. The real problem with the Brahma chicks is their feathered feet - the other chickens peck the chicks' feathered feet. None of our other chickens have feathered feet, and I guess our chickens don't understand it. But the Brahma chicks are getting big now. And the guinea mama and newborn keets definitely need the protection of their own coop right now.
And so we now have teenage guineas living with the adult chickens, and newborn guineas with their mama guinea hen, and young Brahma chicks and their mama hen. Things are kinda hectic here at Razzberry Corner these days.
Happy Labor Day to all!
That left us with 6 adult male guineas. Just 6 left. One by one they've all been disappearing. We always search for the bodies when one disappears. Only once we didn't find a body - a female disappeared and we found no body, no feathers showing a kill site, nothing. We always wonder if a female goes broody. If they sit overnight on the nest in the woods there's a very good chance they'll be killed overnight by a fox or owl. Anyway, about a week ago Randy swore he saw the missing female guinea with the 6 males. He said he counted them many times, there was an extra bird. But later in the day she was gone. Just yesterday he and I went out hunting for a guinea nest, or for signs of a previous guinea nest. Nothing. He figured he must have miscounted the guineas that one day.
Today, the female showed up in the field------with 17 or 18 newborn guinea keets!!!!
The newborns evidently just hatched overnight and mama was walking around in the heat of an open field. The babies could hardly walk. Guineas are known to not be good mamas. We've always raised our guineas keets by chicken hens, because chickens are better protectors. We always take guinea eggs and place them under a broody chicken hen, the chicken never knows that the babies are guineas.
How very exciting - this is the first time one of our guineas has survived sitting 28 days to hatch a clutch of eggs. In the past females tried this and always were killed during the first few nights. Amazing. We found the nest, it was well hidden. We walked right by it yesterday and missed it!
And so, we have newborn baby keets again. It's not a good time of the year for keets - it will be cold soon. I think it will be too cold for them to spend nights outside in Oct. But who knows. First things first...
The keets were easy pickings for hawks, blackbirds, jays, any bird that would want a snack. There was a hawk nest not too far away from where they were standing when we found them. Plus, there's that fox. Just 2 days ago I saw the fox in the field, he was hunting the adult guineas. We didn't think the keets or their mama would make it through the day today, not to mention the night tonight. And so, for their own safety, the keets and mama were collected and placed in the chicken coop, in the chick/keet/infirmary side. We had a brood of chicks (chickens) and their mama hen in that coop/pen, and so they got pushed out into their own pen and are not allowed inside the coop right now, the little sliding coop door is closed locking them outside.
The mama guinea was not too happy about being caught and placed in a coop. We made it pitch black in there until she calms down. All the babies tucked themselves under her wings. They all needed to cool down, all the keets were overheated after being in the blazing heat of the field. The mama guinea hen needed to calm down.
Later today we'll put the mama hen and her chicks in the pen with the adult chickens. They'll have to manage with the adult chickens. A friend gave us some pure-bred Brahma eggs to hatch. We are going to split the babies with them after they're big enough to be on their own. I wasn't too keen on raising chicks to give away, and I'm not a big fan of the Brahma breed. They're large birds. But my husband made the deal when I was away on travel for work. The real problem with the Brahma chicks is their feathered feet - the other chickens peck the chicks' feathered feet. None of our other chickens have feathered feet, and I guess our chickens don't understand it. But the Brahma chicks are getting big now. And the guinea mama and newborn keets definitely need the protection of their own coop right now.
And so we now have teenage guineas living with the adult chickens, and newborn guineas with their mama guinea hen, and young Brahma chicks and their mama hen. Things are kinda hectic here at Razzberry Corner these days.
Happy Labor Day to all!
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Guinea keets raised by chickens - photos
Who doesn't love keets! Our keets are growing up. They still live with their chicken mama hens. The black hen is named Katie and has 5 keets. The red hen is named Doritos and has 7 keets. The keets are flying now, and roosting up high in the chicken coop.
Here are some pictures of the adult guineas, the birth parents of the keets. The photos are terrible quality, taken with my phone and emailed to myself- sorry! :(
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Guinea Keets have Hatched
I don't have any pictures ready for this post, but I'm not going to wait for pics. If I wait to take a photo, the post just wont get posted. Sorry. There will be pics in the future!
A little over 28 days ago I found a guinea nest in the woods. Our guineas free range and it's near impossible to find a nest. I collected 6 eggs the first day, and put 2 fake eggs in the nest in return. Then the next 2 days I collected 3 eggs each day, for a grand total of 12 eggs. I was so excited.
I wasn't thinking about guinea eggs for breakfast - - -NO! I was thinking about new guinea keets!!! Our guinea flock is always fighting foxes, hawks, owls, eagles, you name it. The guineas always lose. We do our best to fight along with the guineas, so I guess it's the guinea/human team against the fox/hawk/owl/eagle team. We've lost 2 guineas in 2014. Our beautiful pure white girl was recently killed by a bird, either a hawk, owl or eagle. She was the last pure white guinea. And a dark brown guinea girl was killed by a fox. We have 7 light grey colored ones and 3 dark brown guineas left. I like to get keets every year or two to keep the guinea flock going.
So - back to the eggs. I always, always have broody (chicken) hens. I don't know why my hens always go broody. So, 3 weeks ago, I had a red sex link named Doritos and a black Ameracauna mix named Katie that were broody, so I divided up the eggs between them. And in the last few days, the guinea keets have hatched! They are sooooo cute! Keets are much more active than chicks. They are running all over the coop already.
Katie has 5 keets - 4 grey and 1 pure white! :) Yeah, another pure white one!
Doritos has 7 keets - 3 dark brown, 3 light grey and 1 that's pure white with brown spots/patches!! Of course I like the spotted one best, because it's unique. One egg didn't hatch, We broke it open and saw it was not developed at all, it was nasty rotten egg. I don't know what happened to that one.
We setup half the coop as a baby coop, and divided it in half again so each mama hen has her own private area with her own babies. The mama hens don't realize the babies aren't even chickens, they are both very happy with their babies. They worked hard sitting on those eggs for 28 days!
I will get some keet pics soon.
A little over 28 days ago I found a guinea nest in the woods. Our guineas free range and it's near impossible to find a nest. I collected 6 eggs the first day, and put 2 fake eggs in the nest in return. Then the next 2 days I collected 3 eggs each day, for a grand total of 12 eggs. I was so excited.
I wasn't thinking about guinea eggs for breakfast - - -NO! I was thinking about new guinea keets!!! Our guinea flock is always fighting foxes, hawks, owls, eagles, you name it. The guineas always lose. We do our best to fight along with the guineas, so I guess it's the guinea/human team against the fox/hawk/owl/eagle team. We've lost 2 guineas in 2014. Our beautiful pure white girl was recently killed by a bird, either a hawk, owl or eagle. She was the last pure white guinea. And a dark brown guinea girl was killed by a fox. We have 7 light grey colored ones and 3 dark brown guineas left. I like to get keets every year or two to keep the guinea flock going.
So - back to the eggs. I always, always have broody (chicken) hens. I don't know why my hens always go broody. So, 3 weeks ago, I had a red sex link named Doritos and a black Ameracauna mix named Katie that were broody, so I divided up the eggs between them. And in the last few days, the guinea keets have hatched! They are sooooo cute! Keets are much more active than chicks. They are running all over the coop already.
Katie has 5 keets - 4 grey and 1 pure white! :) Yeah, another pure white one!
Doritos has 7 keets - 3 dark brown, 3 light grey and 1 that's pure white with brown spots/patches!! Of course I like the spotted one best, because it's unique. One egg didn't hatch, We broke it open and saw it was not developed at all, it was nasty rotten egg. I don't know what happened to that one.
We setup half the coop as a baby coop, and divided it in half again so each mama hen has her own private area with her own babies. The mama hens don't realize the babies aren't even chickens, they are both very happy with their babies. They worked hard sitting on those eggs for 28 days!
I will get some keet pics soon.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Snow and Chickens and Guineas
We got our first big snowstorm of 2014 already, as has much of the country! We only got maybe 3 - 4 inches of snow. It sure looks pretty, but with the wind it is cold outside!
This is the guinea roosting pine. It's a huge pine that sits above the chicken coop. The guineas will not come down out of the tree today. I was worried that they were frozen, but they don't appear to be. The song birds live through snowstorms, why wouldn't a guinea fowl? But I worry still.
I found the guineas up in the tree snuggled up and singing quietly. Do you see them in the below photo?
They light colored guineas stand out in the green of the pine.
Our chickens hate snow and cold and refuse to go out from their coop. We have heat lamps and heaters in the coop, and put the waterer in the coop, trying to keep it from freezing. This morning the water had ice in it but wasn't frozen solid. I tell you, it's cold out there! I don't blame the chickens for wanting to stay inside!
In the below photo is Doritos, the red sex link in upper left. Bottom left is Charlotte, who's a senior lady- she's one of the original chicks from 4 years ago. The big bird in the center front is Big Bonnie, the former shelter hen, and Muffin the lead rooster is behind her. The two white leghorns are named Pringles. We have four Pringles - I can't tell them apart so they all were named Pringles.
From left: Doritos, Ruffles, another Doritos, Zoner, Freckles, part of Little Muff (son of Muffin). Little Muff will step up and be our lead rooster when Muff Sr. passes away. Muff Sr. is getting older. The black bird you can barely see in the front is Holly, daughter of Muffin.
When chickens are all penned up in a coop bad things are sure to happen. They get bored and start picking on each other. The younger birds are usually lower in the pecking order, literally. This morning I went out to check on the birds and found one of the Pringles had a bloody head. Red blood splattered all over a white bird just asks for the others to continually peck at her.
I brought Pringles in and bathed her head. She didn't mind. She loved to look at herself in the mirror - she was amazed by her reflection. I washed her head then blowed dried her. I went over her whole body with the blow drier - my birds always LOVE to be blow dried. The problem was that her comb had been bitten and had bled all over her white feathers. The comb was fine, it had already stopped bleeding. But the other birds had pecked her bloody head and made bruises on the left side of her head near her ear. If I hadn't separated her they could have pecked her till she had a big open wound. The photos were taken post-bath.
Luckily I got to her in time and she was fine. I returned Pringles to the broody hen coop, where we have two broody hens sitting on eggs. Pringles needed a break from the other hens. She loved having a coop mostly to herself - the broody hens just sit ont heir nests and don't move much, leaving Pringles the run of the coop. Later today I'll return her to the regular chicken coop.
I hope everyone enjoys the snow and keeps an eye on their chickens in their coops! Stay warm!
This is the guinea roosting pine. It's a huge pine that sits above the chicken coop. The guineas will not come down out of the tree today. I was worried that they were frozen, but they don't appear to be. The song birds live through snowstorms, why wouldn't a guinea fowl? But I worry still.
I found the guineas up in the tree snuggled up and singing quietly. Do you see them in the below photo?
They light colored guineas stand out in the green of the pine.
Our chickens hate snow and cold and refuse to go out from their coop. We have heat lamps and heaters in the coop, and put the waterer in the coop, trying to keep it from freezing. This morning the water had ice in it but wasn't frozen solid. I tell you, it's cold out there! I don't blame the chickens for wanting to stay inside!
In the below photo is Doritos, the red sex link in upper left. Bottom left is Charlotte, who's a senior lady- she's one of the original chicks from 4 years ago. The big bird in the center front is Big Bonnie, the former shelter hen, and Muffin the lead rooster is behind her. The two white leghorns are named Pringles. We have four Pringles - I can't tell them apart so they all were named Pringles.
From left: Doritos, Ruffles, another Doritos, Zoner, Freckles, part of Little Muff (son of Muffin). Little Muff will step up and be our lead rooster when Muff Sr. passes away. Muff Sr. is getting older. The black bird you can barely see in the front is Holly, daughter of Muffin.
When chickens are all penned up in a coop bad things are sure to happen. They get bored and start picking on each other. The younger birds are usually lower in the pecking order, literally. This morning I went out to check on the birds and found one of the Pringles had a bloody head. Red blood splattered all over a white bird just asks for the others to continually peck at her.
I brought Pringles in and bathed her head. She didn't mind. She loved to look at herself in the mirror - she was amazed by her reflection. I washed her head then blowed dried her. I went over her whole body with the blow drier - my birds always LOVE to be blow dried. The problem was that her comb had been bitten and had bled all over her white feathers. The comb was fine, it had already stopped bleeding. But the other birds had pecked her bloody head and made bruises on the left side of her head near her ear. If I hadn't separated her they could have pecked her till she had a big open wound. The photos were taken post-bath.
Luckily I got to her in time and she was fine. I returned Pringles to the broody hen coop, where we have two broody hens sitting on eggs. Pringles needed a break from the other hens. She loved having a coop mostly to herself - the broody hens just sit ont heir nests and don't move much, leaving Pringles the run of the coop. Later today I'll return her to the regular chicken coop.
I hope everyone enjoys the snow and keeps an eye on their chickens in their coops! Stay warm!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Yummm - Warm Water!
Thanksgiving week is upon us!
Yesterday I went out to feed the birds their grains/feed. The guineas are starving now, I have to feed them since there's no bugs around for them to find on their own. As soon as I walk outside they come running to me. I give them chicken food, plus they love scratch grain. Their special treat is bread. They love them some bread. We buy cheap white bread for their bread treat.
As I was filling the chicken feeders I realized all the chicken waterers were frozen. It was about 11 degrees F out yesterday with the wind chill. It was bitter cold. Odd - because last Friday it was 64 degrees F. This weather... Anyway, it was about 8am, the chickens had not been without water for long. But they all told me they were going to DIE of thirst. When I looked at the waterer and kicked it (lightly!) with my boot to attempt to determine how deep the ice was, the chickens all attempted to peck it, too. They were telling me they might die of thirst since their waterer appeared to be not providing water when they demanded. Chickens can be very demanding. You don't know these things unless you have chickens.
I made sure the heat lamps were running inside the coops and lugged the 2 waterers inside the 2 coops and put them under the lamps. I can't open the waterers, Randy really closes them tight. If I could open them I would have lugged boiling water out in buckets and dumped it on top of the frozen water. Because I was paying attention to the waterers, the chickens were, too. They watch everything I do and have to be involved. Too involved. They always are under my feat, reaching into my pockets to see what I have in there, wanting to be sitting on my lap if I'm squatting down.
Muffin remembered his fight with me from Saturday - he's a smart bird. He immediately stood up to me and fluffed his neck.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked.
I ignored him, I was busy moving the frozen waterer.
"I'm gonna kick your @#!" Muffin hollered at me.
He attacked my calf with his spurs when my back was turned. Damn bird. I ignored him, luckily I had rubber boots on that went up to the knees. I swung the waterer around so it was between he and I. He realized I wasn't in the mood to fight and stopped with his fight. Hmmm, if I show no fear, but ignore him, he stops before he gets too worked up. I'll have to remember that.
Once I got the waterers inside the coop the chickens continually attempted to drink the frozen water. So I had to setup 2 additional waterers for them, inside the coop under the heat lamps. I lugged warm water out to the coop in buckets and dumped it into the new waterers in front of the chickens. Luckily we have extra waterers. You'd think the chickens had not had a drink in days - everyone gathered around the water gulping and holding their beaks in the air to swallow. Over and over they gulped. Muffin came and clucked his call for food to ensure all the hens knew to come and partake. Ahhh, warm water for the chickens. Steam was coming off the water since it was so cold out, although the water wasn't that hot. I should have put some tea in their water and we all could have had a tea break. I went inside and had some hot tea myself.
It's the simple things that we give thanks for here at Razzberry Corner.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Yesterday I went out to feed the birds their grains/feed. The guineas are starving now, I have to feed them since there's no bugs around for them to find on their own. As soon as I walk outside they come running to me. I give them chicken food, plus they love scratch grain. Their special treat is bread. They love them some bread. We buy cheap white bread for their bread treat.
As I was filling the chicken feeders I realized all the chicken waterers were frozen. It was about 11 degrees F out yesterday with the wind chill. It was bitter cold. Odd - because last Friday it was 64 degrees F. This weather... Anyway, it was about 8am, the chickens had not been without water for long. But they all told me they were going to DIE of thirst. When I looked at the waterer and kicked it (lightly!) with my boot to attempt to determine how deep the ice was, the chickens all attempted to peck it, too. They were telling me they might die of thirst since their waterer appeared to be not providing water when they demanded. Chickens can be very demanding. You don't know these things unless you have chickens.
I made sure the heat lamps were running inside the coops and lugged the 2 waterers inside the 2 coops and put them under the lamps. I can't open the waterers, Randy really closes them tight. If I could open them I would have lugged boiling water out in buckets and dumped it on top of the frozen water. Because I was paying attention to the waterers, the chickens were, too. They watch everything I do and have to be involved. Too involved. They always are under my feat, reaching into my pockets to see what I have in there, wanting to be sitting on my lap if I'm squatting down.
Muffin remembered his fight with me from Saturday - he's a smart bird. He immediately stood up to me and fluffed his neck.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked.
I ignored him, I was busy moving the frozen waterer.
"I'm gonna kick your @#!" Muffin hollered at me.
He attacked my calf with his spurs when my back was turned. Damn bird. I ignored him, luckily I had rubber boots on that went up to the knees. I swung the waterer around so it was between he and I. He realized I wasn't in the mood to fight and stopped with his fight. Hmmm, if I show no fear, but ignore him, he stops before he gets too worked up. I'll have to remember that.
Once I got the waterers inside the coop the chickens continually attempted to drink the frozen water. So I had to setup 2 additional waterers for them, inside the coop under the heat lamps. I lugged warm water out to the coop in buckets and dumped it into the new waterers in front of the chickens. Luckily we have extra waterers. You'd think the chickens had not had a drink in days - everyone gathered around the water gulping and holding their beaks in the air to swallow. Over and over they gulped. Muffin came and clucked his call for food to ensure all the hens knew to come and partake. Ahhh, warm water for the chickens. Steam was coming off the water since it was so cold out, although the water wasn't that hot. I should have put some tea in their water and we all could have had a tea break. I went inside and had some hot tea myself.
It's the simple things that we give thanks for here at Razzberry Corner.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Fox Attack
Last night there was yet another fox attack on the guineas. Normally it's a red fox which attacks the birds, but this time it was a grey fox.
The below pictures are of a grey fox and a red fox. They are not the same animals that attacked our guineas. Grey fox are larger than red fox - we were surprised to see one. We have so very many red fox - our guinea flock rarely survives a year with the red fox and hawks around here.
Just so you know, the fox in those photos look so much prettier than the fox around our house. Most of our fox appear to be sickly and have mange and look terrible. These photos actually make fox look cute.
Last night a sickly-looking, stinky grey fox came right up on our back porch, right where I sit on my chair out there. He nosed around, then went around the front of the house and started hunting the guineas which were in the front yard. We saw the fox on the back porch and watched as the fox picked out an unsuspecting guinea for his dinner. The guineas never even saw the fox - such stupid birds.
The fox didn't survive the hunt. We are allowed to kill a fox that is killing our livestock. All guineas lived to see another day.
The below pictures are of a grey fox and a red fox. They are not the same animals that attacked our guineas. Grey fox are larger than red fox - we were surprised to see one. We have so very many red fox - our guinea flock rarely survives a year with the red fox and hawks around here.
Just so you know, the fox in those photos look so much prettier than the fox around our house. Most of our fox appear to be sickly and have mange and look terrible. These photos actually make fox look cute.
Last night a sickly-looking, stinky grey fox came right up on our back porch, right where I sit on my chair out there. He nosed around, then went around the front of the house and started hunting the guineas which were in the front yard. We saw the fox on the back porch and watched as the fox picked out an unsuspecting guinea for his dinner. The guineas never even saw the fox - such stupid birds.
The fox didn't survive the hunt. We are allowed to kill a fox that is killing our livestock. All guineas lived to see another day.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Rain
It has been a rainy week here at Razzberry Corner!
Finally today it stopped raining, but everything is all muddy.
Benjamin and Brindle, the outside cats (they used to be called stray cats, now they are just "outside cats"), are in the process of putting on their winter coats.
The chicken pens are all muddy. Poor birds. I cleaned their coops so they have a clean dry place to go.
The guineas aren't too happy about all the rain, either.
Have a nice weekend!
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