We went to the city yesterday and came back with a wonderful surprise. We’ve been looking for guineas for almost two months, but nobody ever had them. So yesterday, when we finally found some, we bought all they had! There are 17 small babies and three larger ones (plus we got five little chicks, as they’ll stay nice and warm with this horde).
We had 6 guineas before, but they all got eaten by coyotes, and we’ve been sorely missing them. Guineas are wonderful birds. They can fly, are super smart, and eat grasshoppers and other bugs without scratching up your garden. Plus they would go hiking with us, which was kind of fun. They are also much hardier than chickens, as they are more alert and can fly from predators. The problem we had with our last batch is that they are vulnerable when they roost, and that’s when the coyotes got them. With this batch, we plan to get them used to roosting in the barn, which will be safe, and then they can free-range in the day as our number one bug patrol.
[flickr_set id=”72157627532956200″]When we got home last night, we went and gathered a can of grasshoppers from the garden. There has been a recent explosion of the pesky bugs and in the evening they crawl to the top of the plants to roost. Being young and sleepy, they are slow and very easy to catch, so we gathered a bunch. The guineas went crazy for them. They all ate til they could barely move, even the little chicks! Then they snuggled up together and went to sleep.
We’re very happy to have guineas back on our homestead.Can’t wait to see them installed in the barn.
The flickr slideshow I put in these blogs doesn’t include the videos, which kind of sucks. There’s a couple of videos here of our new little dinosaurs, if you want to checks them out.
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