Hello From New Hampshire

Hello everyone my name is Daylily.

I have 5 Guineas, 2 males and three laying hens. I guess you guys would call them teenagers now, they will be one year old in June. I got them as keets at 5 days old, and boy have we had some great adventures!

I was raised on a farm in Texas so I'm familiar with lots of animals and their needs but never owned guineas before now. We live on a private road on 3 acres of wooded land, except for an acre around the house and a very long drive. I'm a huge gardener of flowers ( or wish I was) and I have Lyme Disease. I bought my guineas for tick control and this is their first spring free ranging. So far so good. They are eating everything in sight and I can tell when they happen on insects. They start making their baby cooing sounds very quietly and go at them with a vengeance. They are really going through the old fallen leaves near the edge of the woods, and the garden so wish me luck!

Right now only three guineas are free ranging and living in their coop. Unfortunately we had two awful incidents which happened almost simultaneity, One male and one hen were severely injured in separate incidents and are healing in cages in the garage. So far so good, they are all still alive and thriving.
Charley was attacked by a Vulture Hawk while flying to the coop, he managed to get away and squeeze through a tiny opening under our deck, we were not able to find him until two days later when he started making noises. Some frostbite, and dehydrated, plus a loss of some feathers he has made a full recovery and won't eat until he is petted thoroughly and his neck rubbed, what a sweetheart! Mary was attacked by the other male in the coop and had most of her upper right wing torn off and a three inch gash separating her elbow. This was happening as Charley decided to make his presence known! 5 hours at the vets office and a huge loss of blood, Mary was back home and very alert the whole time. No signs of shock or we wouldn't have treated her. She is now a cuddle bunny! And was the first to start laying! She does not have the full use of her wing so I feel apprehensive about turning her back to the coop and free ranging, but I will.
We also have three Japanese Chins, all with serious medical issues. Bobby is a blind epileptic, Oreo (female) has only one and a half ligament holding her heart in place as the others have ruptured, and Champ is a one eyed arthritic. So our hands are full and we have become quite adept at tending wounds, stitching, giving shots and taking vitals! First aid kits for all! Lol.

So sorry to be so long winded in my intro to the group but I thought it might be better to get it all out and up front so we can move on from this point.
Now if I could just find out why and how to get my other male Sal to stop attacking me, he's getting more brazen everyday. I'm not afraid of him but attacking my hands and legs when putting them away is getting to be too much!! But more of that later.

Daylily

 

Thank you for the welcome! How many guineas do you have? I just wish the weather would even out so they can all go out and I don't have to worry about hustling to get them in due to snow or unexpected rain. You would think they would head in by themselves but that is not the case with my guys. However on a good note they did go into the coop early today and seemed happy to do so.?. A rare gift! I usually have two stragglers who want to stay out til 5 minutes before dark sets in!

 

Oh yes how do you get you bio's under your posts?