New baby guineas

We were expecting our second shipment from Reich's Poultry yesterday, but since that didn't happen we were fairly certain it would be today. Sure enough, at 7 AM the phone rang and it was the postmistress calling to tell us we had some more chicks. But this time it was guinea keets - 16 of them. Both boys heard the phone ring as they had slept in the living room so that Grandpas could sleep upstairs. They were knocking on our bedroom door before Merv answered the phone, all excited about going along to the post office.

For a minute, I thought of staying home and getting baked oatmeal mixed together but I simply HAD to go along to witness the whole ordeal. And I'm so glad I did. The boys jumped up and down. I captured most of it right here...



but missed the part between the 2 videos where the postmistress said, "Two of you? How PRECIOUS!"

She asked how the other chicks were doing and then said, "Well, you got 16 more according to that box there."




Now that we had the babies, I could get breakfast for our guests and family. Fresh strawberries were a perfect fit with a simple dish of baked oatmeal. We also had canned apples which is one of our favorite things to add with baked oatmeal, and some snitched a cookie with their coffee.

We are a couple days/weeks later with starting our tomato and pepper plants than I'd like to be. But with such a pretty day and having Mom-in-law a perfect teacher here, we worked on that. Actually, the girls took charge while I busied with weeding the flower garden. I never did start my own plants before. It really was great mixing the soils and getting our hands dirty.

Then came a phone call that changed the day for some. Mom's brother-in-law, Merv's uncle, and my Mom's cousin (all the same person - JF) was rushed to the hospital after having chest pains, sweating, and dizziness and in the presence of the doctors he suffered a heart attack. They immediately put a stent in which saved his life. Our life is in the hands of our Father, and we have nothing to say when He spares or takes a life. Today was not the day for John to go to the Father, but he did have a chance to speak to the ambulance crew about the woman at the well when he was so thirsty on his way to the hospital.

The day continued to get warmer and the boys each brought a chick outside to hold. Then they put a couple of them in the trailer cart which had some compost on. The babies found a green blade of grass and tugged and pulled at it....

with the guinea keet eventually swallowing the whole thing. Merv and Dad were also there to witness this. I wonder what all the mama hen tells her babies. Do the chicks and keets try to eat greenery that isn't good for them and she needs to tell them no? Or is eating the right thing a natural instinct?

This intrigued the boys so much they thought it great to bring ALL the 57 babies outside. I don't know if it was a good idea or not. Definately if mama hen would have raised them, they would have been exposed to the outside elements almost immediately. But these were hatched by an incabator.

I don't have answers about this although Dad suggested it is probably best to keep them inside for a little while, yet as it isn't all that warm outside yet. We will follow the wisdom of our elders.

 But we did enjoy this little wonder and drama.

The guinea keets are so little, but they are fast. They are very different from chicks. They have a different 'chickality' and it is very interesting to take note of that. Most of them still have the egg tooth. They definately make a louder noise than the chicks. They have long necks and while sleeping some will interlink necks with another keet.

The girls were taking careful note of the chicks and noticed that two of them had pasted vents. What pasting up, in essence, is an unusually thick and "pasty" manure that gets stuck to the chick's feathers around the vent area. In and of itself, this isn't a problem. However, if left unchecked, it can build on itself throughout a matter of hours and eventually close off the chicks vent entirely. The bird, in this case, will not be able to expel waste properly, and will get basically backed up. When this happens, the chicks will stop eating or drinking, because they are filled up. Chicks that don't drink water at least, don't last long.

All you need to do is take a warm paper towel or washcloth and try to wipe off the dried poop. Or you can carefully pick it off without wetting it. Either way, if you don't get it off the chick will die. After working on the first one with loud squawking, the poop blasted out and the chick seemed more relaxed.

We now know to check the chicks carefully several times a day and keep their bottoms clean. One interesting thing that Allison noted was that this particular chick seemed shy from the very beginning and may have a tendency to get stressed quicker because of it's quiet 'chickenality'.

Again, all this wonder points to the Maker and Creator of ALL things!