Guinea talk.

[guineapeeps]

Hello everyone. I've been gone for a while and thought I would get back in with the group. I missed everyone. Dmontgomery the snake was scarey. I'm still trying to get rid of the cold chills.

It seems like everyone is either hatching or getting new babies. Mary Jane never did hatch the eggs but she gave it her best try. She sang to the babies and sit for over 30 days and I had to finally take her eggs away. She didn't seem to mind when she come in the coop and they were gone. Spiderman was happy as a lark to have her back by his side. She was getting so skinny and I was worried about her health and Spiderman was so depressed and sad looking all the time.

We had to put cameras up in the yard and I put a baby monitor in the coop. Someone come into our yard and stold 5 ducks and beat two others. One of them we found the next morning and the other one died several days later from the injuries. I don't see how anybody can be that cruel. There was no feathers anywhere and there were no bite marks on the ducks. In the summertime I've always let the ducks stay in the yard at night. We have two dogs that go in and out of the house all night and patrol the yard. That night my husband said he heard the dogs barking alot and went outside and didn't see anything. I think I know who did it he was an exfriend of my grandsons. I hope I find out the truth one day what happened and who did it. Anyway the ducks go into the chicken coop at night now. I went from 15 ducks to 8 ducks. The ducks I have left were almost in shock for a week. No telling what they saw. The chickens always perch in the attic of the coop and the guineas got a new perch right above the table and the ducks stay on the floor of the coop. I have the baby monitor going and I can hear if someone comes into the coop. I can also talk to them. Every night I say goodnight Spiderman and I can hear him answer.

It's nice to be back and the baby guineas are precious I can't wait for Rhonda to get her lavender ones. View attachment 1063789

Pattyhen,
I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to your ducks! I can't believe someone could be so sick to do something that awful! I hope that your able to catch whoever did it. Good luck and let us know if you get any more info!

 

[guineapeeps]

Dies anyone have tips on finding guinea nests? I think I have a broody hen on it, as one is missing... I don't have a thermal imaging camera, either. I need to find it fast!

Sometimes, one of the males will sit and guard the hen on the nest during the day so you might see if you can see one of them hanging out around a specific area. Also, the hens will occasionally make a lot of noise (like a prolonged egg song) even after going broody. I have been able to find some of my guinea nests by listening during the day and following the sound of the hens right to the nest.

 

[guineapeeps]

Back in April I posted one of our RIRs had gone broody and we gave her eggs. A couple days later and 2nd RIR did also. They ended up hatching 15 chicks between them. Then the babies started disappearing. (@pattyhen, stop reading now!)
I assumed a snake was getting them or they were getting lost out freeranging with the moms. 8 ended up surviving but we lost both mother hens to something.
About 2 weeks ago I posted Gertrude the Guinea had a clutch of eggs in her coop nest. She got up to 15 when one of the Golden Comets went broody on them! Gertrude layed a couple more eggs then decided to kick the other hen out and she went broody on them herself. We moved the other hen to a nesting box and gave her some chicken eggs.
Before church last Sunday, I checked Gertrude's nest and there were only 5 eggs! We had already taken out all the bedding and moved everything in the coop searching for the snake but never found it. So I assumed it was back but I couldn't figure out how it ate all those eggs and was able to get back out of the coop. Again moved all the hay and bedding around but found nothing.
Yesterday morning I decided to move some stuff out of the coop in anticipation of TS Cindy, figuring everybody would stay in for the day. I picked up a never used nest box and found it was a little heavy, so I dumped it over to find this.

IMG_0767

• Dmontgomery
• Jun 22, 2017

It was hiding under the hay in a nesting box the whole time. Probably been in there a couple months.

IMG_0771

• Dmontgomery
• Jun 22, 2017
• 2

We counted 7 whole eggs and one crushed.
I doubt any of the remaining guinea eggs will hatch. Gertrude is still sitting on the nest but she gets up several times a day to wander around the property with Gary. Although it's pretty hot here, I think the eggs may have gotten too cooled off to develop. I'm going to ask for an incubator for Christmas.
@pattyhen, I told you not to look.

What kind of snake is that!??

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Hello everyone. I've been gone for a while and thought I would get back in with the group. I missed everyone. Dmontgomery the snake was scarey. I'm still trying to get rid of the cold chills.

It seems like everyone is either hatching or getting new babies. Mary Jane never did hatch the eggs but she gave it her best try. She sang to the babies and sit for over 30 days and I had to finally take her eggs away. She didn't seem to mind when she come in the coop and they were gone. Spiderman was happy as a lark to have her back by his side. She was getting so skinny and I was worried about her health and Spiderman was so depressed and sad looking all the time.

We had to put cameras up in the yard and I put a baby monitor in the coop. Someone come into our yard and stold 5 ducks and beat two others. One of them we found the next morning and the other one died several days later from the injuries. I don't see how anybody can be that cruel. There was no feathers anywhere and there were no bite marks on the ducks. In the summertime I've always let the ducks stay in the yard at night. We have two dogs that go in and out of the house all night and patrol the yard. That night my husband said he heard the dogs barking alot and went outside and didn't see anything. I think I know who did it he was an exfriend of my grandsons. I hope I find out the truth one day what happened and who did it. Anyway the ducks go into the chicken coop at night now. I went from 15 ducks to 8 ducks. The ducks I have left were almost in shock for a week. No telling what they saw. The chickens always perch in the attic of the coop and the guineas got a new perch right above the table and the ducks stay on the floor of the coop. I have the baby monitor going and I can hear if someone comes into the coop. I can also talk to them. Every night I say goodnight Spiderman and I can hear him answer.

It's nice to be back and the baby guineas are precious I can't wait for Rhonda to get her lavender ones. View attachment 1063789

Sorry about your losses Patty, maybe next year for MJ. And who would ever beat a duck needs to have a duck beat them thats insane.

 

[pattyhen]

Thanks everyone for the kind words it just breaks my heart to even think about them.

Martins I don't know how you keep up with that many birds. I know if I lived in the country I would have alot more too. We have 8 chickens, 8 ducks and 2 guineas of course.

I hope everyone has a nice 4th of July holiday. It is raining here today so maybe that will put a damper on some of the fireworks.

Here is a pic of Spiderman and Mary Jane setting on their dads lap. I took this about a month ago.

 

[Dmontgomery]

What kind of snake is that!??

Water snake/chicken snake. My wife killed another one last night. It was only about 3'. Fortunately it hadn't gotten any eggs yet, but was in a nesting box with 6 eggs. 3rd snake in a month. Moth balls are not helping.

 

[GlennLee]

Water snake/chicken snake. My wife killed another one last night. It was only about 3'. Fortunately it hadn't gotten any eggs yet, but was in a nesting box with 6 eggs. 3rd snake in a month. Moth balls are not helping.

Oh, reading about your snakes makes my skin crawl! Creepy... very sorry that they got all of your eggs. It would have been fun to have at least a few little keets running around there. Something more for your dogs to retrieve and drop off at your door!

 

[GlennLee]

Thanks everyone for the kind words it just breaks my heart to even think about them.

Martins I don't know how you keep up with that many birds. I know if I lived in the country I would have alot more too. We have 8 chickens, 8 ducks and 2 guineas of course.

I hope everyone has a nice 4th of July holiday. It is raining here today so maybe that will put a damper on some of the fireworks.

Here is a pic of Spiderman and Mary Jane setting on their dads lap. I took this about a month ago. View attachment 1064421

So glad to have you back, Patty! We missed you, your stories and the pics of Spiderman and Mary Jane. They are just as cute as ever! Very sorry to hear about your ducks. Unfortunately, there are sick people out there who don't have any respect for others, including animals. I do hope you get them and I'm glad you took the extra precautions for security and safety.

 

[GlennLee]

@MartinsPoultry OMG - you have gone from like zero to over 100 in a very short amount of time. God bless you! It makes my head swim just to read through your list. I love the Howlie comment. That's so cute!

Update here at the Glenn Lee farm - I have one fertile egg in the incubator hatch date around July 13th. Since 47 have been infertile, I'm inclined to think there is an issue with fertility in the French Jumbos and will be converting the flock over to regular domestics. My Polka Dottie is sitting on about 20 eggs and I'm hoping at least 3 or 4 will be fertile and hatch. She spent about that many days with a fertile male before going broody.

So here's my line up:
1 male Jumbo French - Joseph
1 broody guinea hen - Polka Dottie
1 male regular domestic - Napoleon
5 Rhode Island Red hens
3 English Orpingtons - one of those will be a rooster
20 regular domestic keets
soon to arrive 20 lavender Jumbo keets (planning to keep the females and give or sell the males)

Whoo hoo! Here's to the 4th and real live fireworks!

 

[MartinsPoultry]

@GlennLee
If you get a bunch of males I would love to snag a few Male Jumbos from you. Could do a domestic swap, I feel that this next batch is going to roll me more mouse looking keets. And thank's he or she is a cutie and a stinker, will nuzzle my hand.