Animals
Remember just 4 weeks ago when the guinea chicks arrived.....just hatched and so very tiny? Well, here they are one month later. They have grown like weeds and already have a youthful version of their "buckwheat" call. Two dozen of the original 30 remain. (We had an unfortunate escape attempt a couple of weeks ago and lost a few to the woods!)
I have started them on their training regimen now. Each evening the light in their house goes on for an hour and they are given a yummy treat of white millet (reported to be a favorite amongst guineas). Shortly thereafter, they climb their roosting ladder and fall asleep for the night. I am hoping that learning this evening routine will encourage their nightly return to the house to roost after they are let out to free range during the day. This is several months away from now, but I don't think it is ever too early to start to train them to this pattern. If all goes well, we may be able to keep these sweet birds from becoming owl prey in the future.
It seems like so much of life on the farm is trial and error....hopefully this trial will have a happy ending!
- 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...
- Baby Steps
I have come to the conclusion that guinea fowl are not the sharpest tools in the shed. It seems to take forever for them to learn new behavior. Our 24 keets are now large enough to safely go out into their yard and not be able to escape through the fencing....
- The Babies Have Arrived
At 5:30 this morning the phone rang. It was my friendly Postmaster calling to say that I had a package arrive....and it was "cheeping". I hopped in the car and drove to the Post Office...arriving at 5:45 AM and was handed my cheeping package. Carefully...
- 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
We Are Teenagers Now
Remember just 4 weeks ago when the guinea chicks arrived.....just hatched and so very tiny? Well, here they are one month later. They have grown like weeds and already have a youthful version of their "buckwheat" call. Two dozen of the original 30 remain. (We had an unfortunate escape attempt a couple of weeks ago and lost a few to the woods!)
I have started them on their training regimen now. Each evening the light in their house goes on for an hour and they are given a yummy treat of white millet (reported to be a favorite amongst guineas). Shortly thereafter, they climb their roosting ladder and fall asleep for the night. I am hoping that learning this evening routine will encourage their nightly return to the house to roost after they are let out to free range during the day. This is several months away from now, but I don't think it is ever too early to start to train them to this pattern. If all goes well, we may be able to keep these sweet birds from becoming owl prey in the future.
It seems like so much of life on the farm is trial and error....hopefully this trial will have a happy ending!
- 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...
- Baby Steps
I have come to the conclusion that guinea fowl are not the sharpest tools in the shed. It seems to take forever for them to learn new behavior. Our 24 keets are now large enough to safely go out into their yard and not be able to escape through the fencing....
- The Babies Have Arrived
At 5:30 this morning the phone rang. It was my friendly Postmaster calling to say that I had a package arrive....and it was "cheeping". I hopped in the car and drove to the Post Office...arriving at 5:45 AM and was handed my cheeping package. Carefully...
- 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...