The newest residents of Old Vines are four pearl guinea keets. Male? Female? Who knows. They're loud and proud and have the hooky-spooks much moreso than any of the chicken chicks. Cute, though, and boy are they tiny. And to show how busy we are here, we've had these birds a week and I haven't posted about them until now!
In other bird news, our big chickens have been released on parole every afternoon when the kid comes home from school. They are so bored in their chicken run; they just sit under the lilac bush and hold court, not letting the younger chicks come near the food or water bowl. (Definite pecking order evident here, and that's why there's now a second feed station in the pen.) So they are happy to walk the grounds again, and either I or the Australian cattle dog are not far away if the hawk makes a return. The dog is really great with them, and knows they are her charges.
The new plan is to let all the chickens and guineas out for part of the day. That should happen around mid-summer. Guineas are pretty territorial (actually, most people have them because they're pretty good watchdogs), so between 8 chickens and 4 guineas, that's a lot of eyes on the sky should danger swoop down. Better than three sets of eyes, certainly.
2 comments:
adorable!!
Very cute. I let my chickens run free in the evening when I get home when I am outside and the dogs are out. Hawks will fly over but are definitely discouraged. Can't wait to see them all grown up.
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