Guinea Nest

Do you remember a few days ago I posted about when I went to go check my wild asparagus patch, and I saw a lone guinea out in my back yard? 

A few of you guinea experts commented how that was odd, a lone guinea.  Guineas always travel in flocks.

How true you all are!!!

...Unless that guinea has a mate.

...With a nest full of eggs.

Then the guinea boy will stand nearby while his mate lays her egg or sits on the nest. 

And so I went to go check out what was going on beside the fence where the guinea was standing guard.  Let's see what's behind all this tall grass...

Yes, there it is!  The guinea nest!!!

I have 3 female guineas and 5 male guineas.  The females always lay their eggs in the same nest. 

After they feel they have enough eggs they will sit on them, and that's when it's dangerous, because the female guinea will sit out all night on the ground.  And foxes and raccoons and other night monsters may find her.  Guineas are blind in the dark. 

So far, my guinea girls don't think they have enough eggs in this nest, because they aren't sitting yet.

There were 32 eggs.

 

I collected 26 eggs.  Sorry girls, I don't want you to sit.

I left 6 eggs to encourage the guinea hens to continue to use this nest.  Maybe they will not notice they have 26 less eggs?

If they continue to use this nest maybe I can continue to collect their eggs.  But usually once I touch their eggs they move their nest.

You know what I'm doing with these guinea eggs, don't you? 

My last attempt at hatching guinea eggs was a major failure, so I've got to try again!

Isn't it pretty?

I filled in the extra spots in the egg incubator with chicken eggs, so I have a full incubator going.  The chicken eggs will hatch before the guinea eggs, but that's ok, I'll deal with that in 3 weeks!

Keep your fingers crossed for me this time!

Nutmeg Hen Autopsy

On Sunday we put down our hen named Nutmeg. 

Chick on her name above to see a photo of her last week. 

Nutmeg the hen was in pain, and it was starting to affect her breathing, and no one deserves to suffer.  We thought she was egg bound. Her abdomen swelled, she started walking stiff-legged.  I started giving her warm 20 minute soaking baths inside the house to help her release any stuck eggs.  The baths never helped.  I noticed during the baths that the pressure of the bath water made it hard for her to breathe.  Whatever was inside her abdomen was pressing on her lungs. 

We moved Nutty into the infirmary coop this past week.  She still ate fine.  She walked around.  She had a heat lamp focused on her all the time, which she enjoyed.  If the heat lamp was turned off she got upset, and so I left it on all the time, and she stood right under it.  She was pooping fine.  The issue was in her reproductive tract, not her digestive tract. 

I moved other birds into her coop to keep her company.  If the visiting hen was below Nutty in the pecking order, Nutty chased them and wouldn't let them eat her food.  She was a feisty little bantam hen.  I took her outside her coop for walks, she enjoyed her freedom.  But after the walk she was exhausted and often had breathing problems and laid down under her heat lamp.

We put her down because we knew there was no hope for her, and she was in pain.  Her condition was only going to get worse.  However, we really didn't know what was wrong with her.  And so, after she passed away, we performed an autopsy to determine what happened, so maybe we could prevent this from happening to other chickens.  It was very interesting.

If you do not want to see autopsy photos, stop now and turn away. 

First of all, we need to understand a chicken's reproductive tract.  The below photos show how an egg is created by the hen and travels through her system.

Here's a photo of Nutmeg's butt.  You can't see how swelled she was from this angle.  I should have taken the photo from the side view.

During the autopsy, a huge fluid-filled bag was found inside her.  It appeared to be her uterus!  It was filled with what appeared to be a clear liquid.  The below photo only shows half the fluid-filled sac.  As we removed it from inside her, it popped.

There was what appeared to be a hard tumor in her vagina, between her uterus and her cloaca, and it was blocking the entire vagina, holding all the liquid in her uterus.  I don't know if at one time this tumor was an egg.  It certainly didn't appear to be an egg.  It was a solid mass - you can see it between Randy's fingers in the below photo.

Further up we found what we believe to be 2 eggs that were in the reproductive process.  They appeared to be healthy immature eggs. 

And so we determined that Nutmeg's issue was a solid tumor in her vagina, between her vagina and uterus, which caused the uterus to be filled with massive amounts of liquid.  

I hope this information and the photos are helpful to small flock chicken owners in the future.  If anyone has any information that can help diagnose or explain Nutmeg's issue, it is greatly appreciated.

RIP Nutmeg

June 17, 2010 - April 29, 2012

Wild Asparagus

Yesterday I walked to the asparagus patch to check on my wild asparagus.  The patch is a little walk away from the house and  sometimes I forget about it. 

My wild asparagus grows so very fast.  In about a week an asparagus stalk grows tall and goes to seed before I realize it.  The above picture shows asparagus that has already gone to seed.  The right picture shows asparagus that is ready for picking.  I cut it off at ground level.  New stalks grow from the roots.

Here's a little skinny asparagus!

Here's a really tall asparagus that has gone to seed already.

The Guinea and the Hawks, the Appletree and the Weed

Today I went out to check the wild asparagus.  I decided to document what I saw along the way.

I have to walk out to the asparagus patch, past the old historic fence that still stands,

Past the wild apple tree.

And past these bizarre large-leafed plants that have taken over the area where my garden used to grow.  There are dozens of them growing wild.  Something, I think the woodchucks, have been eating their leaves.  Any idea what they are?

As I walked, a pair of hawks circled above.  They screamed at me as I photographed them, and then they were gone.

It's an overcast day, but the sky is beautiful to me.

I found a single guinea out by himself in my backyard.  He was deep in guinea thoughts.

It is a peaceful day here at Razzberry Corner.  Can you feel the solitude and quietness in these photos?  It's nice to slow down and be quiet sometimes.

I had a surprise when I got to the asparagus patch, and of course I took photos!

I'll post those photos tomorrow!

I like to keep up the anticipation!

Not one guinea egg hatched!

Today was the due date for our 31 guinea eggs.  After the last candling, I didn't have any hope for the eggs, but I left them in the incubator for their entire 28 day cycle.  I keep checking for signs of keets, but there were no signs.  I listened for peeps coming from inside the eggs for the past several days, nothing.  I knew they were not alive.

And so this evening I took them all outside, and brought my shovel.

I had to crack open each and every egg to see if maybe, just maybe, a keet had started to form.  But every last one looked like this:  egg yolk.

There were no signs of life whatsoever.  Just egg yolk.

Funny thing, they didn't stink.  I thought they'd smell awful like rotten eggs.  But I didn't get down and smell them or anything. 

It was all very clinical.  I called out each egg's number, cracked it open, peered at it, buried it, and moved on to the next.  It wasn't sad like I expected.  I guess before I thought of the eggs as keets, as babies.  But once I saw they were just egg yolk, I didn't think of them as babies anymore.  Just eggs.  And now they are no longer cooking in my living room.

I have no idea what went wrong with the guinea eggs.  We incubated them just as we did with guinea eggs last year, but at the end last year we moved the eggs underneath broody chickens, where they hatched.  This year's eggs never even started to grow into babies at all.

I really wonder if my guineas are doing the "barnyard shuffle" at all - possibly the eggs weren't viable to start with.  And if we raise no keets this year, I am concerned about the future of the guinea flock.  We need new guineas to keep the flock going.

 

So, what's next?

Hmmm, we just happen to have a big batch of chicken eggs that hasn't gone into the fridge....

And I know that rooster is having sex with the hens!

Fox Attack

This past week a male fox continually attacked the guinea fowl right around our house where the guineas live, right in our front and back yards.

The fox didn't survive.  It was killed with one of the gray guineas inches away from it's mouth.  Surprisingly, all the guineas survived the week.  They spent most of the week in the trees and on the roof of our house. 

We strongly believe this is the fox that killed three of our guineas last month.  I'm not too keen on a fox lurking and hunting a couple feet away from my front door.

We looked it up before considering killing the fox on our land.  According to the MD Department of Natural Resources, it is lawful for a landowner to hunt or trap a coyote, fox or skunk without a Furbearer Permit that is damaging or destroying the personal or real property of the landowner on their land.  http://www.eregulations.com/maryland/hunting/licenses-stamps-and-permits/

I wanted to ensure everything was done legally and properly.

On another note, none of our guinea eggs have hatched yet.  Today is day 25.  I expect them to hatch between now and Friday.  If they hatch at all.  Stay tuned for updates!

Let's talk about worming chickens and eggbound hens.

I have a problem with one of my chickens. 

Here's the story - This is Nutmeg, Nutty for short. She's a sweet bantam hen who's stop laying, and her butt is all swelled.  She stands around looking like this, with her butt down, tail down, looking miserable.  However, if I put treats out in the pen, she's runs and fights with the other hens to get her fair share.  At first I assumed she was eggbound. 

Last weekend I gave her too many warm, 20 minute baths in the sink to even count.  I blow-dried her and massaged her bum to help her to relax.  Nutmeg spent the weekend in my bathroom.  She pooped a few times, but no eggs.  She loves to eat and has a healthy appetite, she loves her treats.  I didn't think eggbound hens would eat so well.  And a week later, she still looks the same, but she's still alive.  I didn't think an eggbound bird would live over a week without passing the egg. 

And so, next I thought, maybe she has worms?

But she's the only bird with the symptoms.  Could only one bird get worms?  And that makes me think she's eggbound.  Regardless, I'll get some garlic for the birds today. 

What do you think?

I'll continue spa treatments for Nutty this weekend. 

I'll show you some photos I took this morning of some of my other chickens.

Here's Leggy, one of the roosters.  I love this big boy.  His big, beautiful, and stupid.  If he were a person he'd be a male model.

Muffin is the lead rooster.  He's smart and super fast.  A lean mean fighting machine.  His mind is sharp as a whip and he can be dangerous.

This is my favorite bird, Lucy, a bantam hen.  All she wants is to be taken away from all those other crazy chickens.  She doesn't realize that she's a chicken, she thinks she's human and should hang with me.  I wish she could, she's a darling.

Charlotte has always been our best mama hen.  We call her Mama Charlotte, even though she has no babies now.  We believe Nutty is her and Muffin's daughter.



Oh, Poor Nutty.  Nobody else looks sick like Nutty.

Luna is a big girl with a fluffy butt.

Zoner is in the nest box.

Dotty is named after my Aunt Dorothy.  Dotty's very fiesty and is always the first to race in for treats.  She is Muffin's granddaughter, she's interited his speed, but she's still very friendly.

Have a nice weekend!

If anyone has any recommendations about Nutmeg, let me know! 

I'll keep you posted on her condition.

Candling of Guinea Eggs

Last night I candled all my incubating guinea eggs!

Here are some photos from the guinea eggs candling.  It was very hard to know what I was seeing.  After looking at all the eggs, I'm not sure any of them are alive.  It looks like I'm a week off with my times, if they are even alive, they are a week behind my schedule.  About half of them appeared to be clear, and about half had some dark mass if I turned the egg a certain way.  None of them really looked like I expected, as if a baby is going to hatch in 10 days.

I made a guinea egg candling box by cutting a quarter-sized hole in a tissue box and putting a flashlight on the inside.  Just put an egg on the box and turn out the light.  I did it at nighttime so the room was dark without the light.

I really don't think I have any good guinea eggs and am discouraged.  Last year I put guinea eggs underneath broody chicken hens and didn't mess with them and they hatched.  This year I am using the incubator, as I have no broody hens.  Maybe something is wrong with my incubator.  Maybe my guineas aren't having sex.  I don't know...

Time will tell.  I'm not going to hold my breath for keets.  I'll let you know as they get closer to the estimated due date week of 24 Apr12 through 28Apr12.

Guinea eggs - 2 weeks to hatch

Our 31 guinea eggs should have about 2 weeks till their hatch date.  Today I numbered each egg in a photo.  I'll have to write the number on the eggs to keep track of them. 

I reviewed the shell color of the eggs.  I learned last year that certain guineas lay darker shells and others lay lighter shells, based on the color of the bird.  So it makes sense that the shell color could predict the color of the keet inside.  I want to maintain a good mixed flock.

And so, I made a chart of the colors.  Here's my totals:

Dark brown: 15
Medium brown: 3
Medium brown with spots: 3
White: 5
White with spots: 5
Total: 31

The darker eggs will probably be pearl gray, the white eggs will be white, the spotty eggs may be lavender.  I assume the medium brown eggs will be lavender.  We'll see.  Here's a guinea fowl color chart for quick reference. 

I also attempted to candle the eggs using a flashlight.  They all looked "spotty".  I could see an air sac in the top.  I could not see a developing keet, which really worries me.  They are halfway through the process, I would think I should see something in there.  But I candled in the middle of the day, and I only shone a flashlight up to each egg.  Maybe tonight when it's dark in the room I'll attempt to candle again, and maybe then I'll get better results.  Also tonight I'll use a tissue box.  Here's an interesting candling guide.

I'll attempt to take photos of the candling tonight and will keep you posted.