Uh oh... found an egg today! ... - A journal of sorts, from finding eggs to hatching them... Update

[daylily]

So deb with the three newbies you have 10 guineas? Living in the desert has it's own problems. I am originally from West Texas, desrt country. Growing up the hen house was always raided at some point every week. Mom would order 250 chicks each year and we were lucky if we made it it 50 by the end of the summer! They rarely got to free range as the predators were many. Not a lot of food supply in the desert. The worst was the badgers and feral dogs. We raised them for eggs in the warm months and meat for the rest of the year. Did you ever get any more keets from Peeps? I think it is just great that you have your new babies and will enjoy them immensely!

(I love your Perchie, I always said if I ever get another horse it will be a Percheron.)

 

[prairie]

Perchie,
We too have lots of deer ticks here in Kansas -- I was in the hospital last year for 4 days with a tick disease. So that's when I decided to get guineas again. Had them 20 years ago and love them. We live on a farm so it is really difficult to not be out where the ticks are!

 

[daylily]

OMG! I found the nest!!!!!!

7 beautiful little brown speckled Guinea eggs!!!!!!! I can start a new hatch!

Oh thank you Deb you brought me luck! The oldest egg has to be less than 9 days old! Hurray!

Can you guys tell I am overjoyed!!!!!!

Got to get a incubator today, get it set up and running, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Oh and I left 2 eggs in the nest to keep her laying! She was in the neighbors flowerbed again but closer to the woods this time! Would never have found it but she was keeping a little boy for a friend and he followed her over and scared her off the nest, she was hissing and screaming at him so I knew we hit the jackpot! Right under a huge Hosta plant. She was invisible and so were the eggs! She didn't lay in the coop yesterday unless she buried it, which has happened before so I will check later. But I have 6 now counting the one I got three days ago!

I am doing a Happy dance now!

 

[daylily]

Perchie,
We too have lots of deer ticks here in Kansas -- I was in the hospital last year for 4 days with a tick disease. So that's when I decided to get guineas again. Had them 20 years ago and love them. We live on a farm so it is really difficult to not be out where the ticks are!

Prairie, Wow that was a lucky break for you! Lyme and other tick diseases are very crippling! Everyone please stay safe and if you get a bite please inform your Dr. The test result will not show a positive for at least 2 weeks after a bite and it is very hard to get diagnosed correctly and treatment is very limited! If you ever do have a Bull's eye rash then you DO have Lyme disease! No matter what your Tests show! Taking a tylenol or advil can mess up a test for over six months! Lyme is everywhere and so is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever!

 

[JLeigh]

Gee, Daylily, I mean, can't you show just a little enthusiasm? LOL.

I'm so happy for you. Knowing where the nest is not only means you get the freshest of fresh eggs to incubate, but you keep your hen safer by bringing her in at night before she goes broody, and if she does, you know where to find her!

You deserve this success - you've tried so hard to hatch keets. Congratulations! I'm going to want to hear about how candling goes in the next week or so.

I'm so happy for you! It's a great feeling to find the nest.

 

[daylily]

Yes it is! Oh and did I tell you HOW happy I am!!!!!!!

I just cannot stop dancing!

 

[JLeigh]

Maybe I missed it

 

[prairie]

Daylily,
So happy for your nest finding!! I am hoarding guinea eggs and finally my Australorp went to setting and now tonight I will give her 10 guinea eggs!!! I am doing a happy dance too!!

Mine wasn't Lyme -- it was Erhlicious sp??? -- A friend told me to get to the Doc when I showed symptoms of flu about a week after having 3 deer ticks on me. I had been picking gooseberries and fell on the creek bank -- musta been when the little critters got me!! I have no lasting problems but I know others who have had serious problems after tick diseases.

 

[perchie.girl]

So deb with the three newbies you have 10 guineas? Living in the desert has it's own problems. I am originally from West Texas, desrt country. Growing up the hen house was always raided at some point every week. Mom would order 250 chicks each year and we were lucky if we made it it 50 by the end of the summer! They rarely got to free range as the predators were many. Not a lot of food supply in the desert. The worst was the badgers and feral dogs. We raised them for eggs in the warm months and meat for the rest of the year. Did you ever get any more keets from Peeps? I think it is just great that you have your new babies and will enjoy them immensely!

(I love your Perchie, I always said if I ever get another horse it will be a Percheron.)

Yep seven adults and three keets. I hope to get the flock up to about thirty That way when they start free ranging I will have a good chance of having a sustainable flock. Egg hatching and all.

I have a local dog thats not feral but his owner lets him roam Hes part wolf and part husky and he can climb a six foot chainlink fence. Not even coyotes will do that. And they have a strong prey drive. My ex roommate chased him out of the yard one day.

MY next chicken addition witll be Sumatras and they are very wiley and good fliers. and foragers so Hopefully they will be able to free range successfully if not moderately. The best part about them is the hens are good at brooding eggs too. So hopefully no more incubator hatching for my own flock.

Katee is my baby girl. Shes eighteen now and I have had her since she was a six year old Pasture ornament. The avatar was at a big draft horse show in the farm implement class. She loved all the excitement and even got bigger when she was around the big Percherons. She is only seventeet one hands. The big hitch horses were over eighteen some were close to twenty.... That was a very long time ago.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Perchie,
We too have lots of deer ticks here in Kansas -- I was in the hospital last year for 4 days with a tick disease. So that's when I decided to get guineas again. Had them 20 years ago and love them. We live on a farm so it is really difficult to not be out where the ticks are!

I have eighteen acres of High Desrt Chaparal. Did you know a tick can live without food or water for two or three years just hunkering down on the underside of a leaf?

deb