Guinea Keets!

Yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market and came home with 19 keets!!!

Yeah, guinea keets!

Here are some photos.

I got 6 light, 6 dark, and 7 mixed.

I kinda like the mixed color, I've never had that color guinea before.

The keets are locked up in the "infirmary/baby coop", which is separate from all the chickens and adult guineas.  Too bad we don't have a broody hen to raise them for us. 

 

I brought the chicken hen named "Mama Charlotte" in to see the keets, thinking maybe she'd want to be a mama all of a sudden.  I guess I was just hoping.  Charlotte was very interested, but that was about it.  She didn't miraculously get all broody or anything.  I didn't let her get within pecking distance, as I didn't want any keets injured.

The keets were very hot when we came home.  I gave them food and water, they each drank and ate until they couldn't stand up, then they all took a group nap. 

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On a sad note, the adult guinea hen named "Broken Guinea" was killed by a fox in our front yard yesterday morning.  I hate that the foxes hunt just feet from my front door in daylight.

Randy followed the trail of feathers into the woods and found Broken Guinea's remains.  She was killed this time.  She escaped the fox jaws twice before, but not this time.  Before she died she laid an egg.  Often before a bird dies they lay their last egg.  So sad.

The remaining adult guineas have been very shy, afraid to venture far.  I contemplated giving up on the guinea flock, not getting anymore, but Randy insists he's getting the foxes under control, little by little.  I fear for the keets, but they have a long time before they are released out of their coop.

I will not be able to post anymore photos of the keets until next week, as I will be out of town this week.  I will miss them while I'm gone! 

Where were the photos from - Japan!!

Miss Debbie from Life in the Sandwich Years correctly guessed that I was in Japan from the pictures.  Congrats, Miss Debbie.  Please send me your mailing address at razzcorner@gmail.com and I'll send something from Japan to you!  I will not be able to get anything mailed next week, as I'm going to be away again on travel, but will get it mailed as soon as I can!

I'll explain each Japan photo I've posted real quick... Click on the photos to see them bigger!

This photo was taken near Sasebo, Japan, just from the side of the road.  Japan is a very beautiful country.

The below photo was at Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki, Japan.  It was taken as I talked down the steps to the exact spot where the atomic bomb was dropped. 

This is from Wikipedia:

On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the United States' second atomic bomb attack (and the second detonation of a plutonium bomb; the first was tested in central New Mexico, USA) at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed in less than a second, and an estimated 70,000 people were killed by the bomb codenamed "Fat Man." According to statistics found within Nagasaki Peace Park, the death toll from the atomic bombing totalled 73,884, including 2,000 Korean forced workers and eight POWs, as well as another 74,909 injured, and another several hundred thousand diseased and dying due to fallout and other illness caused by radiation. This bomb was supposed to be more destructive than "Little Boy" but was dropped in a valley, and therefore did roughly the same amount of damage as Little Boy.

In Japan there were yellow lines like this on all the sidewalks I saw.  Many people didn't know what they meant, but one person thought people were supposed to walk to the left side of the line to keep order.  People walk to the left and drive on the left in Japan. 

This was taken at Saikai National Park Kujukushima Visitor Center.

This is back in the Nagasaki Peace Park.

Here's some info about the statue:

This fountain is also in Nagasaki Peace Park.

Saw lots of bikes

I never knew what I was eating.  This was an excellent menu - it had pictures and many courses.  Often I went to places that had no pictures.  When I got many different little courses, there's a chance I'll like some of them.

The bullet train I rode on in Tokyo.

This was also at Saikai National Park Kujukushima Visitor Center.

At Nagasaki, not very far from where the bomb was dropped, there was a prison.  This is what is left of the prison.  It shows the metal bars that were bent by the force of the bomb.

This is a sign in the peace park.

Yeah, I was exposed, according to this sign.  I drank the tap water there at Nagasaki, too.  And, to be brave, I went near the sight of the radiation leak after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent radiation leak from a nuclear power site. 

Cold Soda/water/tea machines were everywhere I went in Japan.  Like on the sides of the road.  I frequented them often instead of stopping in a store for a water or a tea.  Although I never really knew what I was getting until I tasted it, as it was all written in Japanese.

I traveled to several areas of Japan and got to enjoy the wonderful culture there.  I still have lots more pictures, but this post is very long, so I'll close for now.

Happy Saturday.

Where was This Taken? - Clue #4

Where were these pictures taken?

Someone needs to guess where these photos were taken!

Notice the pigeon on the guy's knee?  This statue was huge!

Where Was This Taken Clue #3 or Brindle and Tommy

Here are clues 3 and 4 for my "Where was this picture taken?" contest.

All photos were taken in the same area/place.  Can you figure out where?

Leave me a guess in comments!

These yellow lines were everywhere on sidewalks in this place.  I've never seen them in any other place.  Maybe they are in other areas, but I didn't notice or haven't been to those places.  They were unique to me.  I will explain the lines when someone guesses where this photo was taken!  Or if you know, please tell us!

Any ideas?

Just take a guess!  Obviously it's not wintertime in this place!

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These are the latest stray cats at Razzberry Corner.  I named them Brindle and TommyCat.  They both had mouthfuls of milk in the below photo.

Happy cats.

TommyCat is a lean hunting machine.  He's a good farm cat.  Even the guineas have adjusted to the outside cats and don't scream at them (much) anymore.

Hope you all have a happy Saturday night!

Where was this photo taken, clue #2

Where was this photo taken?

I returned from a great trip this week.

You have to guess where I was based on the photos!  Leave your guess in the post comments.

This contest started yesterday, 14Jun12, and the first photo was posted then.

Here's the second clue:

This one is hard, unless you've been there.  If you've been there most likely you will remember this exact location.  It doesn't look like much in this picture, but I didn't want to give it all away just yet!

I bet someone will know based on this photo!

If not, there will be more photos in each subsequent post until someone gets it right!

And I'll even send a prize to the person who gets it right!!!

I'll explain the photos when the mystery is solved.

Where's this photo from? or Broody Guinea Hen!

Welcome to June at Razzberry Corner! Lots has been going on and I realized I haven't had time to keep you up!

Let's see...

I just returned from a trip.  A wonderful trip far away.  I had a great time! You have to guess where I was based on the pictures I post.  I'll give hints, but I wont tell you until you guess right!  I'll tell you if you're wrong!  Now those people who know me, such as my sisters and close friends, are not allowed to tell!!!!  No cheating!

Here's the first clue picture:

Ok, now back to the farm...

One of the 2 guinea girls has gone broody.  Which is bad.  Every time we allow a guinea hen to sit on a nest she gets killed overnight. We only have 2 females left.  They refuse to go into a coop and instead sit on a nest out in the woods.  We have to continually monitor where the guineas hang out so we know where they're nests are so when goes broody we can fix it.

And how do you "fix" a broody guinea hen, one may ask.

Remove her from the nest and take away the eggs.  Tonight I went out and attempted to remove her from the nest using my foot.  She didn't like that.  She screamed and attacked my foot.  I didn't dare lean down and try to pick her up for fear she'd peck my eye out!  When she screamed the flock came running to protect her. Her mate, below, attacked me, too, and made me leave.  In a guinea flock vs. human fight, who'd win?  I don't want to find out.

But I'm sneaky.  I don't fight fair.  I tricked the guineas with bread.  They love bread.  I came out with 2 slices of bread and threw it near my front door, causing the husband guinea to make that special noise which called his wife off her nest to go eat.  She went running to get her favorite treat.  I have no idea why they like bread.  And, weirdly enough, they like white bread better than wheat bread.  Isn't that odd?  I pay attention to their strange likings.  But no, really, they aren't spoiled or anything...

And so when Girl Guinea was eating I ran to the nest and grabbed up the eggs.  I felt so bad.  She really wanted to be a mommy guinea.  But I'd rather she lived through the week.

And alas, when she returned in less than 5 minutes from her meal her nest was empty.  She screamed and screamed when she found the empty nest.  All the other guineas came running to see what was wrong.  I felt so bad.  But I want her alive.  Alive with a broken heart for the moment is better than suffering and killed later tonight.  Here's a photo of her empty nest.

She eventually left the nest and went to roost with the other guineas in silent misery.  Mission accomplished, the guinea hen will live through the week.  Hopefully.  And I feel like a mean guinea mama.

Here's some quick chicken pics to lighten your spirits.  Who doesn't love chicken pics?

Zoner is a bazaar looking hen...

Lucy will always be my favorite bird.

Leggy has no tail feathers.  What's up with that?  Maybe it's the new look for roosters for this summer?

Freckles is still alive.  She's the oldest hen, she'll probably outlive everyone.  She hasn't laid an egg in years, but she always sits as if she is laying.

So did you guess where I was?  Next post will have another photo, maybe two.