- May 9, 2010
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- 9
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First guineas arrived in mid-July, a hatchery mix. Ordered the 15 minimum, and 13 survived. Moved them to an outside run area at about 6 weeks, relocated from the enclosed porch xlg dog crate on a table in the window... a huge daily mess! Had started to let a few outside, with some in a lg wire dog crate in the yard for a few hours each day. They seemed to enjoy this immensely, particularly since the bottom tray was removed & they could graze on grass, clover, etc.
While I was away for a few weeks my husband found one had died suddenly, laying in the bottom of the outdoor run/coop. Never seemed ill. And recently the count was only 13. We let them out during the day, closing the run up at night. Whenever we have lost the rare chicken to predators one of the retrievers will bring the carcass to us (we live way back off the road in a rural agricultural & wooded area.) However, no sign of the missing bird ever materialized. Other than these 2 perplexing losses, they seem perfectly content to remain close to their pen, venturing out around the house on occasions. They now come running, en masse, whenever they see me, as they associate us with food/treats/interesting & entertaining behaviors. The chicks they interact with are about 13 to 15 weeks old, and the guineas seem to be a bit lower in the pecking order than the chickens, who are far larger than the guineas. They still seem very timid, sweet & quite endearing. Very fascinating & different from the chickens in an interesting, & more wild-exotic way.
Will try to post some pics soon....
While I was away for a few weeks my husband found one had died suddenly, laying in the bottom of the outdoor run/coop. Never seemed ill. And recently the count was only 13. We let them out during the day, closing the run up at night. Whenever we have lost the rare chicken to predators one of the retrievers will bring the carcass to us (we live way back off the road in a rural agricultural & wooded area.) However, no sign of the missing bird ever materialized. Other than these 2 perplexing losses, they seem perfectly content to remain close to their pen, venturing out around the house on occasions. They now come running, en masse, whenever they see me, as they associate us with food/treats/interesting & entertaining behaviors. The chicks they interact with are about 13 to 15 weeks old, and the guineas seem to be a bit lower in the pecking order than the chickens, who are far larger than the guineas. They still seem very timid, sweet & quite endearing. Very fascinating & different from the chickens in an interesting, & more wild-exotic way.
Will try to post some pics soon....
