This sounds great - please post pics!!!
Haven't posted in quite a while, but did get caught up on reading posts.
Re: ISA browns, love the production. We have been fortunate and had really friendly birds that like to be held. Our black sex link on the other hand can be a witch!!
Our kids are going to do production trios for 4-H/fair this year. We need to decide soon what they are going to get. Options are Barred Rock, Isa Brown or Leghorns. I know DH is going to push for them to get Isa, but I am leaning toward Barred Rock - end of the day it is up to the kids what they want to do!
Lost my pet guinea last Friday. I was home with the kids so we let the birds out to free-range. Jewel, the guinea that I hand raised in the house since he was 1 hour old and thought I was his mama, kept coming up to the backdoor and calling to come in (yes, he would come in the house, sit on my lap, preen my hair for me, raise a ruckus if he wasn't getting enough attention and generally act like he ruled the roost - which he did. I didn't let him in because I was busy and didn't want him (literally) underfoot. A bit later he started again and had three of the laying hens with him on the back steps - um, no way buddy, you ain't bringing in friends!! DD went outside and played with him for about an hour and a half. DS took his remote control helicopter out to play and that was a hoot watching Jewel run to wherever it landed. It had only been about 20 minutes since DD took some veggie scraps up to the coop when DH got home from work and went to fill feeders and water. He came back to the house and asked when was the last time I had seen Jewel. I figured he couldn't find him to put him in the coop for the night, but instead, DH had found him dead by the coop. He had a hole in his neck and had bled out. I was heartbroken. He was an awesome friendly bird with personality plus!! One day he even headed around to the front door because no one was answering his demand at the back door and he wanted to see his mama!!
Will do on the pics. What caused the hole in Jewel's neck? Did I miss something? Sorry for your loss.
We are not sure. I am leaning toward a raptor, perhaps an owl as it was heading on to dusk. I am wonderng if it grabbed him and got startled by the dog. It was a large enough hole for a talon. No other injuries. A complete mystery.