I almost hate to post this because whenever I post about how awesome our guineas are, they think up something devilish to do.
OK, so our current mama guinea is awesome anyway.
Smart enough to nest and hatch 21 babies in the coop, and keep them in the first day, luxuriously laying in the sun right next to the open door, but not letting a single one get out.
Smart enough to stay still while we used a tractor to drop a huge cage over the top of her the first few nights after hatch (days 2-4 since the babies were too small to get back in the coop once she had taken them out).
Smart enough to let us help her herd the chicks (edited: oops, I mean keets!) in for the last few nights (days 5-7) after we made the ramp a little easier.
And now, drum roll, smart enough, on day 8, to have them all in the coop and ready for bed by 7:45 when I went out last night to see if it was time to start herding them. She gave me that look, like "What are you doing here? I have SO got this covered!"
She just rocks. The whole flock rocks...they serve as nannies, they catch bugs for the babies, they take them to the barn when it rains. They are so darned good.
I just had to tell someone besides DH how great they are.
And now, of course, they will do something terrible to tease me: go walkabout to the local creek, perhaps.
I think they read this forum.
Oh, and the disclaimer: This has been a long road and we are not necessarily recommending that you let your guineas hatch and raise their babies. I've heard all the horror stories of bad-mammaing and of course we are still accepting a significant predator risk. But if you have an older, street-smart, reasonable sized flock who are all used to a routine and trust you, it can work. They will do their very best for the babies but you have to be there to kind of take up the slack as needed (such as dropping a giant cage on them and then sleeping with the window open to run out with the gun as necessary, and it was necessary, LOL!). Our previous mama-raised batch was small, only 4, but they got 3 of them to adulthood with similar help.
OK, so our current mama guinea is awesome anyway.
Smart enough to nest and hatch 21 babies in the coop, and keep them in the first day, luxuriously laying in the sun right next to the open door, but not letting a single one get out.
Smart enough to stay still while we used a tractor to drop a huge cage over the top of her the first few nights after hatch (days 2-4 since the babies were too small to get back in the coop once she had taken them out).
Smart enough to let us help her herd the chicks (edited: oops, I mean keets!) in for the last few nights (days 5-7) after we made the ramp a little easier.
And now, drum roll, smart enough, on day 8, to have them all in the coop and ready for bed by 7:45 when I went out last night to see if it was time to start herding them. She gave me that look, like "What are you doing here? I have SO got this covered!"
She just rocks. The whole flock rocks...they serve as nannies, they catch bugs for the babies, they take them to the barn when it rains. They are so darned good.
I just had to tell someone besides DH how great they are.
And now, of course, they will do something terrible to tease me: go walkabout to the local creek, perhaps.
Oh, and the disclaimer: This has been a long road and we are not necessarily recommending that you let your guineas hatch and raise their babies. I've heard all the horror stories of bad-mammaing and of course we are still accepting a significant predator risk. But if you have an older, street-smart, reasonable sized flock who are all used to a routine and trust you, it can work. They will do their very best for the babies but you have to be there to kind of take up the slack as needed (such as dropping a giant cage on them and then sleeping with the window open to run out with the gun as necessary, and it was necessary, LOL!). Our previous mama-raised batch was small, only 4, but they got 3 of them to adulthood with similar help.
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