Yesterday the Guinea boy spent the afternoon chasing one of the girls all over the yard, it was really fun to watch. The girl (pictured above) would at times extend her wings and glide across the yard as she ran, it was like a guinea ballet.
The grass is slowly starting to cover the dirt road that was put in last year that allowed the heavy equipment to haul in the dirt base for the sheep barn. The guineas seem to just glide across the grass.
They ran and ran all afternoon, the Royal Guinea boy will be missed by the girl guineas as well as myself.
We are now down to five guineas, they have done a great job of eliminating the ticks so I may need to get a few more to increase the flock.
I am sorry for your loss - your niece finding was surely not a good moment. The videos are awesome --- they are definitely great entertainment. I just got my first set of chickens, but they're in my backyard...we're trying to move to our acreage full-time, also near 10 acres. I hope you do get more guineas, the info about them helping to control ticks is interesting. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the guinea. I finally had to pen my peafowl because they were so easy for the raccoons to pick off.
ReplyDeleteThat is so sad. I know you will miss him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the video, I loved seeing the chase.
Pamela Jo
I'm so sorry that you lost your guinea boy! :( Do you have any other males, are the 5 all females?
ReplyDeleteOur guinea population is dwindling, too. We have 7. Four males and 3 females. And one of the females is limping now, I don't know why. She's been limping for almost a week. It doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it hasn't gotten better, either. We've tried to catch her, but it's impossible.
But in a week, the 25 guinea eggs that are being incubated by chickens should be hatching, so we will be doing much better! We have been candling the eggs, and expect about half of them are viable keets. I hope this last incubation week goes smoothly and they all make it! I think you should collect some guinea eggs!
~Lynn
They do look like they are floating across the grass!
ReplyDeleteThey really do glide. We are getting 6 baby guinea chicks next week. I wish we had grown ones already. The tick population here is out of control!
ReplyDeleteLana - I t is sad how many predators are out there, keep a close eye on your chickens.
ReplyDeleteTeresa - The bad thing about guineas is that they are only about half domesticated, they only go into safe housing at night if they choose to do so.
Pamela - I took the video just hours before the 'accident', they haven't run in the last two days so I'm happy to have got it on video.
Lynn - I read up on incubating and I'm not sure if I want to try that just yet. Those eggs are so hard, I think I will see how yours turn out first.
Autumn - It is like a ballet, they are so graceful.
Michaele - They are great at reducing the tick population, it is like magic. You won't be sorry once they start their patrols.
Gliding indeed! Never really saw that! Sorry about the loss. Maybe soon you find a good replacement boy???
ReplyDeleteLeontien
I'm sorry about the loss of your Guineas :( We have a horrible tick population here, driving us all mad so I see how that's very useful, and they are fun to watch :) Hope you get a few more to replace the ones you've lost.
ReplyDeleteLeontien - I have to see if the local farm store will be getting more keets in this year, if so then I want to pick up a few.
ReplyDeleteLuckybunny - They will help with the ticks, no doubt!