Plowing and Fowl

Well, chisel plowing anyhow. Alan got one field done after school last night and started another. Some wet spots but he was able to go most places. Now if it will just hold off on the raining so he can keep going.

The guinea hens are giving us fits. We got them as keets last summer, raised them in a box in the kitchen and kept them in the hen coop we built. They have had that to themselves since the laying hens went out in the new coop...well except for Mr. Fluff the white rooster anyhow.

I got the bright idea of letting one pair outdoors so they could do their whole tick control thing and learn where they live...(oh, and we may have a surprise for you sometime in the not too distant future and may need that coop for other residents.)

Thus Alan let a pair out for me the other day. For several days they were too stupid frightened to go out through the door. Then one discovered the door and went out.

Then the other.

They both promptly went down to the heifer barn and vanished, not to be seen or heard all day. So much for keeping ticks off the lawn...they never went anywhere near the lawn, just disappeared into the brush, home to foxes, coyotes, hawks, fishers, etc. etc. I cursed my own idiocy. Guinea fowl, besides being dumb and loud, are for some reason fairly valuable. Liz and I have this keet-rearing-Craigs List-selling scheme going on. I did not want to lose 2/5 of the flock first thing in the summer

They did not show their knobby little heads all day. However, at milking time they were back in the coop near their stay at home pals and Liz was quick to lock them in for the night.

I wonder where they went and whether I should shut them back up. They are not going to be much good to us if they nest down in the wilderness and are eaten by the plethora of varmints that live there.

My old flock, back in the day, stayed by the house and laid eggs (hundreds of them) right on the lawn. They hatched clutches, often of over thirty keets a piece, and proceeded to leave all but one behind each and every time. (Guinea fowl can't count and one chick is a good as a dozen to them.) However, we ran around every time a brood hatched, snatching up babies for indoor incubation. At one point I had at least 75 of the noisy, dramatic, wild and crazy critters.

I hope this bunch figures out where they live and soon.....before they join the menu.