Chickens and guineas

Months have gone by, and the chicks and guineas have grown. The Cornish X landed in our freezer. Allison and I butchered most of them by ourselves as Amber was having back trouble and the boys - hmmmm, they were grossing out. It really was funny when Zach was about gagging when he was pulling out some feathers. Plus they had a distraction that day when their friend showed up. So we left them off the hook as they weren't a whole lot of help anyway. But mind you, they won't get out of it the next time we butcher chickens. Smile!

 

It was exciting bringing a few birds outside in May and watching them scratch and eat the way God intended.

 

 

It was high time to get them out of the cramped quarters. We ate our words on this one when we said we'd never raise chicks in a garage. But I put the cart before the horse when I ordered the chicks and we didn't have any living quarters fixed up for them yet.

 

Thankfully, by the end of May, Merv was able to have a nice coop and fenced area built for the birds. We all enjoyed the simplicity of sitting together as a family and watching chickens and guineas.

 

The pullets grew and we anxiously waited for the first eggs.

 

 

These were the first eggs layed in July and two of them are guinea eggs.

 

 

Sadly, by this time, we were having some woes as we noticed a fox for a couple nights in a row. We did get one, but then we saw another one a couple of nights later. We never did trap or kill that one and haven't seen it around.  

 

Then we noticed guineas going missing. We had no idea what it was. A fox didn't seem likely as they usually cut off heads and do mass murders in one night. Could it be vultures? There were piles of feathers here and there then we go for days where we'd stay with the same count. What was getting the guineas and why not the chickens?

 

Our answer was solved on August 19 when Merv's parents were here helping us with our new house and slept in the unfinished house. That Sunday morning Dad looked out the window and saw two dogs licking at some remains and more feathers strewn about. We learned it was our dear neighbor friend's pets.A dog is a dog and you can't change that. It was rather disappointing to learn that it was dogs that were getting our birds. It was the last thing we'd suspected.  Our neighbors are so nice about everything and they have said they want to replace them.

 

Some members of our family liked the guineas, were intrigued with their habits and stupidity while others hated them and now relish the quiet. Currently, we've got two left. We still have all the chickens and rooster which is a miracle. Maybe the guineas did save the chickens.

 

We're now in the stage where we get between 12-14 eggs a day and sometimes the cleaning piles up. We sure are enjoying our own fresh eggs and not having to buy them at the supermarket. What a difference in taste!