Coop Complete!

 Earlier this week we finally finished the chicken compound.

We started working on it before Christmas. I don't even want to think how much time DH put into this

I helped DH make the nesting boxes out of plywood we had sitting around...which means he did 99% of the work

Then it was on to the roost.      

                                  

 Everything is perfectly level and square and the chickens and guineas had better appreciate the attention to detail. 😄 

                                         

And yes, that is my dough scraper shoveling out the sawdust after DH beveled the edges of the nesting boxes. 😂 We are 'think outside of the box' workers.

While DH was off for a few days checking our cows, I sealed everything in the coop with Linseed oil

After a few days, it dried and the chickens and guineas were introduced to their new home (the chickens were outside)

I think they like it though because the first morning I had eggs! 

DH has begun to demolish the old coop. 

Doc built it in one of the horse stalls which worked well for them, but we wanted to reclaim the stalls for horses.  The skid steer has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately

When we talked about building a chicken coop /yard, we never dreamed it would be such a big project. DH did such a nice job. 

                            

It's perfect for our little flock and in a few weeks it will be time for new baby chicks!

Industrious Mama

We have 6 guineas and this year one of them has gone broody. She's decided to make her nest in a corner outside the barn. DH put up some pallets to discourage intruders and yesterday he walked by and noticed she was off her nest - this is what he saw:

I think we have an over-achiever. He now has me researching how to incubate guinea eggs because there is no way she will be able to tend to all those babies. And yes, we know that only a small percentage will actually hatch, but if we incubate some of them, we may be able to increase our guinea flock.

Mother Nature Is In Control

As has been evidenced by the recent events in Texas, Florida, and Mexico. Thankfully, we are not experiencing such extremes, but this was our radar on Saturday:

and this is our forecast for the coming week:

 Needless to say, our Fall Cow Works have been cancelled. On Saturday we got 1.1" and with the weekly forecast, DH made an executive decision to shut things down. Weaning calves this week just isn't smart. Besides being drenched horseback, we won't be able to get to some of our pens, much less down our roads with trailers loaded with calves. We try to minimize their stress and even if we COULD get them to the pens, putting them in wet pens with hay that will be wet, just does not make good sense.

So, my menu planning and list making is complete, but my trip to town for groceries was cancelled. Thankfully, I hadn't already bought everything. We're pushing things back a few weeks and regrouping, and thankful for fall moisture.

On a side note: look what we've added to our family:

Baby Guineas!! We've been missing 2 guineas for about 6 weeks and a few weeks ago I would see them once in a blue moon and I told DH they were hunkered down in the garden plot. We thought they had met their demise via the ever present coyote population so we were tickled to see that they were simply doing what guineas do.

Then on Saturday we found a clutch of 13 eggs in one spot that the white guinea had been sitting upon and on Sunday we saw these little fluff balls scampering about the gray guinea. Yes, we are easily entertained and yes, we are excited. :)

We're a little concerned about the weather as they are out in the open, but it's best to leave them be and let their mama do what she needs to do. There are places for them to hunker down out of the weather if they so choose.

As humans, we like to think we're in control, but Mother Nature...ie: God, is really in control and in the daily busy-ness that is life, that brings me great peace of mind.

Guinea Eggs!

I let my chickens and guineas free range during the day. My hens are pretty laid back and they tend to stay around pretty close. However, the guineas are all over the place. They scamper off to the dirt tanks that are both east and west of the house and dash into the 4' tall weeds on the east side of the barn before stopping to play in the horse pens. They run everywhere together.

My young chickens are at the age that they should begin laying soon so I kept everything penned up in the chicken yard yesterday. I want them to learn to lay in the nesting boxes so that I don't have to go on an egg hunt every day and sure enough, I had some new eggs on Saturday. I also found these:

The 2 on the left are guinea eggs! The third one is a first egg from my young chickens and the one on the right is from one of my older hens. I don't know how long they've been laying because they run all over creation from sunrise until sunset. Those guinea eggs are tiny!

We didn't get the guineas for eggs, but DH was gone all day and when I told him on the phone that we had our first guinea eggs, he said, "Good! We can scramble them for breakfast tomorrow." Ummm...hope you're not very hungry because you might get a tablespoon from those 2 guinea eggs. :)

A Coop Full of Characters

I'm going to apologize in advance for the photo overload today and yes, ya'll are probably thinking I need to get out more if I spend my mornings taking pictures of guineas, but it's not such a bad gig when you get to capture faces like this:

It was time to release the guineas into the chicken coop, but we had some mending to tend to first. The trees had torn out the rusted out chicken wire covering the coop and that really wasn't a problem until we got guineas because guineas can fly while chickens can't.  The guineas aren't quite ready for that much freedom so we fixed the coop on Father's Day:

The guineas were all a twitter about their newfound freedom and they gathered in the nesting boxes to discuss whatever guineas discuss:

It must have been a riveting conversation:

They actually took over the roost and the chickens have been demoted to the lower rungs:

Looks like trouble comes in threes these days:

They had a few standoffs, but peace reigns in the feathered community these days although the big chickens still get dibs on the watermelon:

Here they are bellied up to the water bar...must be happy hour:

They do everything together and run around in a tight knit group:

Their little faces make me laugh:

This one looks like he is bobbing for apples:

Are you looking at me kid?

How can you not love a face like this?

Hope your day is filled with things that make you smile too!

The Great Guinea Fowl Adventure Begins

DH has wanted guineas for a few years now and the seed store called last Friday to say they were in. I am happy with my chickens, and didn't really care one way or the other if we had guineas so I told DH these were his guineas. He told me that I had been designated as Director of the Ranch Poultry Division. LOL. That man!

 I figured they were like baby chicks,but they are smaller and their markings are so pretty!

and they require a different starter. They need more protein so we feed them a turkey / game bird starter that is 30% protein and non medicated

Baby guineas are called keets.

There are 25 keets in 1/4 of this box:

                                   

They are tiny:

So after only a few days of emptying the brooder, it is once again full.

We have 3 different varieties. Most of them are helmeted guineas. They are the most common and we saw them in Africa.Then we've got a few white ones and a few purple ones:

They are hard to capture in photos - they are busy little things:

They are good insect eaters, snake deterrents, and guard dogs...with feathers. :)

So the great guinea fowl adventure is underway!