Guinea Hens

Yes, the subject for this morning is guinea hens.   What in the world????   From our reading we discovered they were imported from Africa and they integrate beautifully with our hens....just another part of the flock.    We didn't raise them for their egg laying capability and we certainly have no intention of eating them.   So, why did we raise them?

Because they protect the rest of the flock.   We have enough natural predators of our chickens that we felt the need to take some proactive measures to protect our girls.  The female guineas make these squawking cries at a fevered pitch that warn the rest of the girls if a predator is approaching.   Unfortunately, they also just squawk to hear their own voices.   Loudly.   Continuously.  All.  Day.  Long.   That's one of the reasons we have the Chicken Castle(A.K.A. the chicken coop) at the far end of our land...as far away from the house as possible so we don't have to listen to them.

And, boy, can they ever fly high......when frightened, they will launch up 20-30 feet into the highest branches of the surrounding oak trees without struggling one single bit.   Eventually they'll come back down and all 4 of them will run up and down outside the electric fence, trying in vain to figure out how to get back in with the rest of the flock.  

Did I mention yet how dumb these birds are?    They will lay eggs out in the woods, and abandon the nest......yup, they just sorta forget they laid eggs that need attention and warmth from their mama in order to hatch.   And they can spend endless amounts of energy trying to get back inside the fence, completely forgetting they were able to deftly fly out by themselves and could just as easily fly back inside the fence.   If they only tried.   Really?   How hard is it?

When Joel goes down to the coop to close it up for the night, invariably the 4 guineas will be pacing outside the fence and seem collectively relieved when he turns off the power to the fence and pulls back one section of the fence that gains them free access to their pasture inside the fence.   Really.   Dumb.   Birds.

But I think they're beautiful.   Their itty bitty heads are a light robin's egg blue in sharp contrast to the black feathers with perfect white polka dots that cover the remaining part of their overly huge bodies. 

See?   Aren't their feathers really pretty?    I haven't come up with a use for them yet, but I'm thinking there is some kind of cool craft where I could make use of these little pretties.   Just think.   God created those perfect little white dots on each and every black feather.   Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
I'll let you know if I create something with them in the future. 

Meanwhile, the egg production in the coop is really ramping up.   Yesterday we collected 10 eggs!   As the hens lay more consistently, the size of each of the eggs is getting larger, slowly but surely.    Once the eggs are generally the same size, we will start selling them.   It's exciting that we already have several people asking when our eggs will be ready for them to purchase.   Maybe now I can pay off our tractor.   giggle......yeah, right.

In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our new found treasure as we cook up our very own eggs each morning.   How do you like my egg skelter?    Yeah, I didn't know what a skelter was either until I saw this one in a catalog.   You add the freshest eggs at the top of the skelter and the oldest eggs roll down to the bottom where you use them first.   And did you know that fresh eggs don't need to be refrigerated?   I know!   How cool is that?

Just sayin' we are having too much fun with all these new discoveries.   And now you know about guinea hens.   Wait till you come to visit and hear them squawk with your own ears.   It's a sound you won't soon forget.

Getting our chicken on,
Debbie