Free Birds ...................................

The keets have grown into young adults and this year I'm trying something new with their release.

I've been letting them out during the day , but trying to get them to roost inside at night.


The 4 adult guinea have been busy looking after them and teaching them how to be a guinea.


They stay busy all day long running them back to the underbrush or into the woods.


Sunday night they decided not to come in and roost , so they spent the night in the woods , roosting in the trees. They all survived , thankfully. Tonight , all but one went into roost , I tried to chase it in , but it became spooked and disappeared into the dark and I couldn't find it. I hope it isn't spotted by any predators and makes it through the night.




Many Blessings
JoyceAnn

Around the Farmette Last Week .......................

Last week was a busy one , the week started out with Dh and I cleaning out the dark and dingy basement. I got things organized down there and cleaned out a lot stuff.

On Tuesday Dh made the rows for the garlic and I planted 2 rows on Wednesday. Now I need to get it mulched.


The guinea keets are doing well , they graduated to the chicken coop a couple of weeks ago and have adjusted well. They're starting to get their dots and they're skittish little things , they always huddle up in a corner when I feed and water or try to take a photo (LOL).


I gathered some bark from the shag bark hickory trees the other day when I took the goats for a hike. I've been wanting to try to make some shag bark hickory syrup.



I made a couple of pints on Friday as a test run. I wanted to taste it and see if we liked it before making anymore. I used dark brown sugar that I had on hand when I made this batch , it tasted like molasses when I tasted it the first time. But , after it sit for a couple of days I can taste the hint of it's nutty flavor. I plan to make it a little different next time , I will infuse more bark and add light brown sugar.




~ Many Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

~ 11 Keets ~

Dh and I gathered all the keets up yesterday. It took us an hour , yep they're fast little newborns. He ran them out of the pen and I tried to catch them , boy was it a sight. The keets ran straight out of the holding pen into the goat pen , when I went into the goat pen to try and get them , they ran through the fence into the chicken run , when I went into the chicken run they ran out in the high grass or back to the goat pen (LOL). We finally gave on that idea and I decided we needed a net. So I went to the out building and found 2 butterfly nets , we've never used them to catch butterflies , but they were perfect for capturing keets. We waited for them to come back to the holding pen and scooped them up quickly and put them in a bucket. The adult guineas didn't know what to think , but they didn't attack us. They just ran around trying to keep an eye on the keets. There are 11 little keets , they're doing well. I'll keep them in the house for a couple of weeks , then move them to the chicken coop for a month or so before releasing them with the others. I felt so bad taking them away from their mother , but I knew they wouldn't survive if I didn't. I kept telling the mother guinea , she would be getting them back in a couple of weeks. She did an excellent job of getting them hatched , the mother is one of the guinea keets that were hatched by our chicken last year. Need to get off computer and go clean the aquarium , give them food and fresh water , so they can get settled in for the night.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Goatee and the Proud Mommy Guinea

He's so cute , but he must feel threatened by the kids. Curious J stayed with me yesterday , he's having allergy problems. We walked down to check on the goats and the guinea before lunch.

Goatee started trying to butt at Curious J through the fence. I'm beginning to think I might not be able to keep him around if he continues to be so aggressive. Are bucks always this aggressive , he's only 3 months old , so I'm sure he'll probably get worse. I would love to hear from you goat owners , what do you think ? Is this normal or is he just aggressive ?

Curious J threw him a sunflower stalk over the fence and he decided to ..............................

dance for his lunch (LOL).

Here's the proud Mommy Guinea , if you look closely to the left , you can see a keet. You may need to enlarge photo , the keet blends in well with the grass.

Hope you've had a great day !

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ ~ Tooooo Cute ~ ~

~ Sweet Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

The Guinea eggs are .............

hatching , Saturday 2 of the eggs I placed under the hen hatched. I removed the keets Sunday and put them in with the other 2 , so far they're doing fine. Sunday night I had another guinea that didn't show up to roost , so I thought we had another nest somewhere. Monday morning she was back with the rest of the gang to eat breakfast , but didn't come to roost that night. So Tuesday I tried to watch and see were she went , but she disappeared again when I wasn't looking. Later I decided to check on the other Guinea to see if she was o.k. , as I pulled back an old tire I had placed in front of her nest , I got a big surprise ........... there were 2 guinea sitting on the nest. I tried to get a pic , but the one in front jumped up and headed for the back exit , you can see the backside of her in the pic. The other guinea didn't move , I believe she was the one that had been sitting for so long , she is used to me checking on her everyday. As the pic shows the eggs are spilling out from under the guinea and you can see a baby keet in there too. There are so many eggs I think the Momma guinea called for help to keep the eggs and the baby keet warm. I always thought all the eggs would hatch at one time , but I'm learning that's not the way it happens , they hatch days apart. I'm marking my calendar to see how long the eggs keep hatching.

Update ..... I started this post yesterday , but didn't get to finish it , as I had the 3 youngest grands all day. I went to check on the guinea nest in the afternoon and the baby keet was dead. I plan to take all the eggs as soon as I catch her off the nest again and place them under the hen. It's so much easier to let the the hen hatch them and remove the baby keets from her.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn