Well THAT went well!

[Deleted]

OK, so I've been stressing about letting the chickens come outside and free range, while the guineas have been stuck inside the run. The disadvantages were that they were breaking my heart, running back and forth wanting out, and also, that the chickens, when they wanted to go back in, couldn't.

This morning, I really wanted to let the chickens out early, since they've been asking to go back in when they have to lay an egg, and I was stressing about the guineas again, so Rich said, "Hey, look, if they take off and don't come back, we're only out thirty bucks, it's no big deal. Let 'em out." So I did.

They stayed pretty much near the chickens all day long, except for a couple of forages around the back of the barn, but they stayed all together in a group. Once I saw them flying across the corral about 8 feet off the ground, and they even found the garden. Rich had just finished mowing everything down in there, and they wandered in, ate some stuff, then wandered back out.

At sundown, they all went back inside the run and got up on their perch to sleep (but we made them go in the coop). Actually, they had gone back inside a couple of times during the day TO EAT! What a bunch of pigs! They had all this stuff in the great outdoors to pig out on, and they went back in the coop to eat seeds! LOL!

All the cats had a chance to see them, and nobody made a move toward them, so now I feel comfortable just letting them out with the chickens during the day. They obviously think they're chickens, too, since they spent most of their time with them, and went in with them when the sun went down.

I feel so much BETTER now! Woohoooo! There was no way I was going to make it all the way to spring before I did this. Of course, they still might take off, but after watching them today I don't think so. We'll see.

~Lannie

[Kathy]

What an exciting day for the little guineas! They'll sleep well tonight.
I'm glad it went well, isn't if funny how they stay in a group like a school of fish? ;D


I can't wait to have poultry and other farm critters again!

[Deleted]

awww... don't you just love watching them all pecking and foraging around? I bet they're so happy to be let out!!

Kaza[/size]

[bergere]

That is wonderful news Lannie!
It might be they think the chickens are their flock and will not wonder to far from them!!
Bet it was fun watching them run round. ;D

[Deleted]

Naturally, I have pictures.

I let everybody out just before sunrise today and they're still out there, having fun. The guineas are still with the chickens, mostly.

I was sitting in the corral with my coffee watching them while I was waiting for Aiesha and Wind to finish their breakfast, and I took a few more pictures. I ended up filling up the disk, so I turned the camera off and set it down. Then of course, the PERFECT photo opportunity happened and I had no disk space! LOL! The guineas had wandered down to the north end of the corral, about 100 yards from where I was sitting, and the chickens were still in my general area, when all of a sudden they must have realized they were too far away. They started running back up toward us, ak-ak-ak-ak-ing, then they all took off and started flying. I had this huge mass of flying guineas coming right at me, screeching at the top of their considerable lungs! LOL! And I didn't get a picture! That was a sight, though, I can tell you. ;D

I'll post some pictures later today after I download the disk and get it uploaded to photobucket.

~Lannie

[Deleted]

OK, I finally got the pictures downloaded.

Here they are, just peeking out the run door:


A little farther out...


Finally out with the chickens:


Now out on their own, exploring:


This is where I thought I'd see the last of them. But they didn't go far, just across the fenceline and around the barn and back to the corral:


I had said last night that they went in with the chickens at sundown, but that wasn't exactly right, I guess. I was actually in the house starting dinner at the time, and Rich told me later that the guineas went into the run and jumped up on their outside perch right at sundown, then started ack-ack-ack-ing and the chickens then all ran in and up the ramp into the coop. Rich said it was like the guineas were hollering at the chickens that it was time to go to bed now! I just think that's so funny.

They've all been outside since 6:00 this morning and they're all still accounted for. That's amazing! I saw the guineas earlier, all in a line perched on the edge of the horse trough getting a drink. No, I didn't have the camera with me, of course. They did another fly-in-your-face thing, though, so maybe next time they do that I WILL have the camera with me. They've been flying all over the property today, having a great time. And they've discovered BUGS! LOL! They're chasing bugs all over the place! ;D

~Lannie

[bergere]

Ah, there she is! Looking good Lannie.

Looks like the guineas were having fun too!! Love the pictures!

[Kathy]

Thank you, I was hoping for some new farm pics this morning! ;D

The mare is looking very much at home and she is a pretty thing.

Oh those guineas, I love their cautious antics. To think you didn't even have to train them to call in the chickens.

Now if you can raise guineas with will eat those Asian Lady Beetles, you could make a fortune.
As far as I know, there's not any breed of poultry that will eat those stinky biting buggers.

[Deleted]

Hmmm... I guess I'm glad I don't know those bugs, Kathy. Sounds like I don't want to have any of them!

This morning, it was raining and heavily overcast, so I waited to go out and open up the coop until about 6:30. It was still relatively dark and gloomy out. I opened up the little chicken-hatch door and NOBODY came out! LOL! I bent down and looked in and Zeus was looking out at me, bobbing his head, but I guess he figured it was still "night" out there so he wouldn't come out.

I went in and gave the two girls their breakfast, and when I came back out of the barn, guess who was coming out of the coop? Yup, a flood of guineas. They just don't seem to care what the weather's doing. The chickens finally came out about 10 minutes later. It cleared off after that and now it's beautiful and sunny and all the birds are roaming the property again. I just love 'em!

We have to go to the feed store a little later today, and I'm not even going to worry about trying to round everybody up and put them away while we're gone. (Aren't I doing well about not stressing out?? ) They've all been behaving themselves so perfectly the last few days, they can just stay out while we're gone. It will only be for about an hour and a half, anyway.

~Lannie

Oh, I almost forgot, and this was funny. When I went out to check for eggs a while ago, PJ (the gray fluffy cat) was just going into the coop. When I got in there, he was staring at one of the hens who was in the floor nest box like, "Hey, what are you doing in there? Can I fit in there, too?" I shudder to think what she would have done to him if he'd really tried to get in there with her.