Guinea Hens, Schminny Hens

At first, I balked at the idea of raising Guinea Hens. Sure, we have the land, but did we really have the time for it? What if they flew to the road and got hit? What if Moose ate one? How was I going to take care of them when Dave is gone?

These are the words of worry-wart Colleen. I have learned to blindly trust my husband on things he swears "will be fine". So when he told me the keets (the name for baby Guinea Hen chicks) were born at the end of June and hens going to get them the very next day, I was intrigued but kind of dreading the thought of livestock in the basement with an 8 month old in the house. On June 30th, there was a lot of peeping in our kitchen, as baby birds stumbled around in a large box under a heat lamp with a big brown dog anxiously looking on at what he thought was a tasty live snack.



Like human babies, they slept a lot:


They were moved to a larger box in the basement and Dave spent a lot of time handling them and feeding them. Eventually he "keet whispered" them well enought to do this:


Moose also spent a lot of time with them.


Wouldn't you? They're very cute babies:



While they grew, Dave built a brooder box that would serve as an in between stage house in the garage. On July 15th, he moved them into the new box under the watchful eye of Moose.


They seemed so tiny in such a big house:



They quite often had the bejeezus scared out of them from underneath:


Now that the 2nd house was built, it was time to start on the 3rd and final hen house. It's a shed sold by Lowe's, delivered in a million pieces for one lucky guy to put together:




Well, more than one lucky guy put it together.


With constant dog supervision:


Working long into the night:


Amadou spent about 4 days here helping Dave finish building it in late August


We painted it together and later on, Dan & Suzi came by to help Dave dig holes for the fence. It ended up being a REALLY big job because after about 12 inches of soft dirt, it's just solid clay and rock.




Then came the big day. The guineas, no longer considered keets, were let outside.





They stayed inside the fenced in yard for a little while but are now adept at flying over the fence to get in and out.


We have one little runt that Dave picked because he thought he "was cute" (which still makes me smile) but the poor bird didn't grow as well as the rest. His legs don't work so well and his toes are curled. He gets along pretty well for all of his handicaps. He's usually the last one out of the house every day though. I can usually find him still roosting inside the house.


It's amazing how much they've grown. I can't honestly still call them "cute" but there's a little place in my heart for these crazy birds. Here's a video of them landing on the ledge Dave installed. He's currently working on running electricity to the hen house for a heat lamp, outlets and (eventually) a web cam.



With the exception of one incident early on, Moose has been VERY good with the birds. He doesn't even seem to care about them anymore. Having him outside with them is probably a good predator deterrent too. No hawk is going to swoop down and take a hen with a giant beast walking around. I tried to get the birds to eat from my hand yesterday. As I sat there, crouched down in the yard, hand outstretched with seed in it, Moose came up alongside me and ate the seed. At least one of our animals trusts me enough to eat from my hand.