Animals
At this point, I can honestly say that their "training" has paid off. For the past week, now, they have routinely returned to their house to roost at sunset.
- Bird Brains
So many times in any given week, I wish I knew more about animal behavior. You would think with as much time as I spend with them,I would understand them better. The dogs are no problem....I understand them perfectly. The horses and goats...don't...
- Bird Tales
If you follow my blog, you will know that Hubbs believes in the trainability of birds. I might add to that "in spite of the untrainable guineas, he still believes!" Last summer we started with 30 guinea keats.We had three old guineas in addition to the...
- Another Sad Tale
It is a good thing that the happy tales way outnumber the sad tales....or this farm life would be unbearable. As a result of too many unhappy guinea tales, I have come to a critical decision.....no more guineas. This past weekend was just too sad. The...
- Tales From The Dark Side
This post is rated: PG (poor guineas)....(some violence is implied) Sadly, today's tale is not as light hearted as usual. We have had a few days of trying times. It's bad enough that Thursday and Friday morning's snow turned into rain that...
- And Then There Were Five
It seems that so much of our life on the farm revolves around our feathered friends...and trying to keep them alive. This week I noticed that our guinea troup is dwindling. We now have only five of our lovely, tick-eating "farm alarms" remaining. This...
Animals
Guinea Update
This past summer's guinea keats are all now full grown and spending their days doing that guinea "thing".
At this point, I can honestly say that their "training" has paid off. For the past week, now, they have routinely returned to their house to roost at sunset.You might remember that we tried training them to return home for a tasty treat of white
millet each evening when the light turned on in their house. At first they were afraid of the millet (something new to them always elicits a fear response), but after about 10 days (this seems like the magic number for guineas) they were obviously delighted at the sight of the treat.
So, now each day the routine is to open their house first thing in the morning.
They eventually all work their way out and about for a day of bug hunting in and around the goat pens. They still have not become terribly adventurous and spend their days no further than 20 yards from their house. The good news is, though, that each evening they make their way back into their house to roost. This affords them the necessary protection from predators at night.
So, I am happy to say that, for now at least, the guineas were trainable. Months and months of training have paid off. But then again, tomorrow IS another day. And for 20 birds with only half a brain amongst them, the future is always tenuous.
For those of you who think you might like to train your guineas....have patience....and don't rest on your laurels.....you never know what tomorrow will bring.
- Bird Brains
So many times in any given week, I wish I knew more about animal behavior. You would think with as much time as I spend with them,I would understand them better. The dogs are no problem....I understand them perfectly. The horses and goats...don't...
- Bird Tales
If you follow my blog, you will know that Hubbs believes in the trainability of birds. I might add to that "in spite of the untrainable guineas, he still believes!" Last summer we started with 30 guinea keats.We had three old guineas in addition to the...
- Another Sad Tale
It is a good thing that the happy tales way outnumber the sad tales....or this farm life would be unbearable. As a result of too many unhappy guinea tales, I have come to a critical decision.....no more guineas. This past weekend was just too sad. The...
- Tales From The Dark Side
This post is rated: PG (poor guineas)....(some violence is implied) Sadly, today's tale is not as light hearted as usual. We have had a few days of trying times. It's bad enough that Thursday and Friday morning's snow turned into rain that...
- And Then There Were Five
It seems that so much of our life on the farm revolves around our feathered friends...and trying to keep them alive. This week I noticed that our guinea troup is dwindling. We now have only five of our lovely, tick-eating "farm alarms" remaining. This...