Followers

Thursday, August 4, 2011

How are Guineas Not Extinct?

When the eggs under our broody hen went bad I had a problem, OhioFarmGirl told me that it would be best if the hen finished her cycle but how could she without any eggs?  I read over at Razzberry Corner how Lynn took her Guinea hen eggs from the nests and replaced them with plastic eggs full of sand - wha-la!  One fooled hen!


Back when the teen Guineas were growing up I would put them out in the grass enclosed by a chicken wire and netting fence.  One of the larger Guineas would come watch them and I thought it was because he wanted to help the younglings - boy was I wrong.


Here is a picture of mama Guinea the morning after the heavy rains, eggs seemed to be hatching every 10 minutes or so.


They were so cute and she was so protective, this is why I wanted to move the whole lot to the sheep pen, for their own safety.


Unfortunately it was not to be, mama Guinea was very protective and destroyed my entire plan.


The little ones scattered, they could sure move fast for newborns.


Here are the little ones I caught and placed into the coop with the broody hen.


Note the mesh that I placed across the nest box to keep the keets in with the broody hen - once I caught her and fought off the rooster of course.


The hen was much happier having live keets to snuggle with instead of those fake Easter eggs.



Here is the sheep pen space that I had prepared to house Guinea girl and her brood.

Mama hen was more than happy to take over the renovated quarters.


The poor teen Guineas didn't last long in the coop area once Guinea girl returned with four miraculously lucky keets.  Guinea girl and her mate decided the teens had to go, dead or alive - I chose alive.


So I packed them up and they are now living in the gazebo in a dog crate.  Sorry, that picture will have to wait for later.


The four lucky keets try to stay as close to mom and dad as possible, often causing them to get trampled.


Last night Guinea girl spent the night in the coop, leaving the keets who couldn't climb the ramp outside!  Amazingly Guinea boy called them to him underneath the coop and he cuddled them all night long.

Tonight Guinea girl took the keets out of the safety of the coop and into a nearby woodpile, thereby defeating the rationale behind my move of the broody hen and the move of the teens!  Guinea boy is currently sleeping soundly in the coop, what are the Guineas thinking?  I can't believe they aren't extinct in the wild.

7 comments:

  1. This sounds a lot like my group of bad parent geese. They will drive you crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the pictures and can see why you went through all that effort! You have quite a bunch there...great looking flock!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, what a lot of work it is keeping up after all of them. SO glad the hen took the keets! Not always the case. I was thinking the same thing the other day. If guineas are such poor parents, how is it we still have guineas? Of course, mine came from a feed store. I do love guineas!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. They are an odd bunch aren't they? I want to see the picture of them in the gazebo in the dog crate!!

    I've been trying to comment on your blog and for some reason everytime I sign into my google account, it won't let me post my comment. Driving me nuts. I am here and reading, just having problems with google. I'll have to figure it out. :( - Luckybunny

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh for PETE'S sake. Are you getting *any* sleep? What happened to survival of the fittest? What in the world is keeping these guys alive?
    I'm still hope-hope-hoping for a happy (happy = living) ending to all this... then we'll have our BIG party! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Teresa - Its raining today and mama Guinea has here keets out getting wet, bad parent indeed.

    Lana - I really do like the idea of having more Guineas, they really are cute and productive members of the farm.

    Michaela - I was just thinking about what happens next year if some of the mama's manage to hatch their eggs, the woods around here may be overrun with Guineas!

    LuckyBunny - Welcome back! Pictures will be coming soon, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the teens.

    Danni - Looking forward to the BIG PARTY too! Sleep is hard to get but the majority of the Guineas have no hope without my help (I think).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awww, such guinea drama!!! I had heard that guineas are not good parents. They seem to just make bad decisions! I hope the keets with the mama guinea survive! I hope the teenage guineas are ok, too! My teenagers are free today!!!! I'm so worried about them!

    ReplyDelete