Animals
- So You Think You Might Want Guineas....
I often get comments from readers who think they might like guineas.While guineas are interesting to look at,and are quite comical to watch,they are also quite boisterous!(a quality that makes them a good "watch-bird" for a farm) I would suggest that...
- Boarding School
Remember that early morning in May that I took a trip to the Post Office to pick up my 30 baby guineas?Well, those guineas are adolescents now.And are now attending Boarding School. (Here is Gus, Headmaster of the BeeHaven Birdbrain Academy.) Yes, that's...
- 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...
- 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
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 truth is this: guineas are untrainable. I don't care that the only "expert" on the subject claims that they can be trained with white millet. I beg to differ. After weeks of giving my guineas a white millet treat at bedtime, this past Saturday night the flock never came home to roost. We had really thought that we had been successful, because up until Saturday, most of them returned to their house nightly.
For some reason, though, they decided to stay out Saturday night; and Sunday morning we were met with this scene.....8 times over........
Sadly, Hubbs found two of the birds paralyzed and barely alive. Euthanizing them was the only thing he could do....a really difficult task, for which I am truly grateful. A cloud of sadness followed us the rest of the day. Only one of my original light colored guineas remains and only a handful of the pearl guineas that I have been raising since July.
Last night, only 5 guineas were present in the house at bedtime.
I have come to the conclusion that there are just too many predators for these not-so-intelligent, comical birds to be able to free range on our farm. Unfortunately, keeping them locked up all of the time hardly seems right, either. I guess only the strong survive...at least for a little while.
So, sadly, no more guineas for Bee Haven Acres....the heartache is too great.
PS....thanks for listening to my sad tale....I am so sorry that I could not write a happy one today. But, as I have always said...."There's always tomorrow!"
- So You Think You Might Want Guineas....
I often get comments from readers who think they might like guineas.While guineas are interesting to look at,and are quite comical to watch,they are also quite boisterous!(a quality that makes them a good "watch-bird" for a farm) I would suggest that...
- Boarding School
Remember that early morning in May that I took a trip to the Post Office to pick up my 30 baby guineas?Well, those guineas are adolescents now.And are now attending Boarding School. (Here is Gus, Headmaster of the BeeHaven Birdbrain Academy.) Yes, that's...
- 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...
- 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...