Mamma chicken has been doing a great job of taking care of the five guinea keets since they were slipped under her one evening a few weeks ago. She only had two chicks of her own so I figured she could handle it.
They all started out in the mini-coop and just this past week we have been letting them free range. It is funny to see the keets flying and mamma chasing after them; "Who taught you to do that? You all had better stay closer to me ya hear!"
She tucks everyone away nicely every evening when I go out to milk and all I have to do is shut their door for the evening. I figure I will give her a few more weeks in the mini-coop and then move her and her clan to the main coop so they can get adjusted before Winter sets in. The guineas have to learn that the coop means safety or else I will lose them to predators over the Winter.
She's a beauty, I hope she has good luck keeping them safe!
ReplyDeleteMary Ann - I need her to do a good job just to keep the replacement level of guineas up!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I certainly know what you mean about keeping the guinea levels up. We were doing so bad, ours got down to 5 and I assumed we'd lose these 5 this summer. Meanwhile we continued to kill foxes who came into our front and back yards. We had so many fox it was crazy. But then, magically, the foxes stopped coming, and no guineas have been killed in a while! Meanwhile, in a moment of craziness, I got those 18 guinea keets.... Now I'm going to have wayyyy too many guineas this winter!
ReplyDeleteLynn - Foxes would cause chaos here in the numbers that you have to deal with. I figure with the 5 keats mamma chicken has I should be OK through the Winter.
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