Friday, July 28, 2006 - Mystery at Circle Z |
We spent a day at the fair last week. When we came back, there was an extraneous
guinea perched on our backyard fence. It fit in with our other four
guineas right away, even though it was obviously older than ours. There
was the initial new-kid-on-the-block pecking, but they settled down
rather quickly. How do you all of a sudden acquire a guinea without
even trying? As far as I know, we have no neighbors with guineas (at
least we have never heard them).
That night we found, upon counting the chickens when it was time to pen
them up for the night, one plymouth rock hen missing. This is highly
unusual as the hens are creatures of habit, and they always get in
their pen for the night. Especially when tempted by that tasty treat
known as scratch grains. We feared that someone's dog had
misappropriated our hen, and the neighbor, not wanting to admit his
dog's crime, simply left a guinea to replace the hen.
But ah, the plot thickens. Two days later in the morning at
"breakfast", here comes little Miss Missing Hen. We have no roosters,
but is it possible that this hen is brooding somewhere unbeknownst
to us? Thinking (mistakably) that she will soon have a passel of
chicks? Since this bird's reappearance, she has disappeared and
reappeared several more times. We try to watch at feeding time to see
where she is coming from, but haven't been able to catch her yet.
Where is our hen carousing? Where did that guinea come from? Caring for free-range poultry is never boring. 
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Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - If you find she has 'stolen a nest' |
| Posted by jackiebridgen |
| Take a tip from us - immediately she settles thereon, purchase some day old chicks (we were surprised to find, that hens cannot count the requisite 21 days, and show no surprise if their eggs 'hatch' too soon!) and under cover of night, replace eggs with fluff balls. Our banty hen has been raising two broods a year like this for years - she is also unsurprised that her 'young' are very much bigger than her by about 6 weeks! |
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About Me
I'm a midwestern gal, living my dream life on 7 acres in the country. I love Jesus, my husband, three children, Daisy the Wonder Goat, and our chickens. I'd still love to someday have a miniature jersey milk cow.
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