Goodbye Guinea Girl

Guinea Girl seems to have disappeared!  Yesterday morning I heard all the guineas screaming, and went out to see what was going on with them.

The guineas normally walk around on the ground during the daytime.  In the mornings they pair up and each pair goes to a nest somewhere in the woods to lay eggs.  While the female lays, the males sits outside the nest watching over.  When they are done, after an hour or so, the pair goes back to home base, which is the chicken coop area.  There they meet up with the other guineas and they take off again. 

Guinea Boy calling for his mate

Back to the story... The guineas were screaming.  They were out in the woods.  They were all in trees, not on the ground.  That only means that something chased them up in the trees.  Something like a fox or other ground animal.  I looked around and found all the guineas except Guinea Girl.  I searched the ground everywhere in the area for a sign of Guinea Girl.  For some dark feathers maybe.  I listened for her little squeaky cry.  Nothing.  I thought maybe she was sitting on a nest somewhere, maybe she would return later.  The guineas flew out of the tree and walked around.  Guinea Boy started walking frantically, it appeared as if he was looking for his mate.

Guinea Boy looking for his mate ~ the others follow him

 I waited about an hour and went back out to look for the guineas.  I found some of them them in the same area of the woods where I left them.  Guinea Boy was tagging along with the coral blue pair of guineas.  His wife was still missing.  I followed them for over an hour, through the woods, along the stream, back to the home base, back to the woods again.  They didn't mind me tagging along with them.  Guinea Boy was crying the entire time.  At this time, I couldn't help but notice that in addition to Guinea Girl, two pairs of guineas were not returning to home base.  As I followed Guinea Boy's frantic search, he led me to two separate nests where the missing pairs of guineas were laying!  He looked in on each nest looking for his mate.  She was not there.  

Still looking

Guinea Boy showed me two guinea nests!  Complete with eggs!!!    

I waited till afternoon.  All the other guineas checked back in at base camp.  Guinea Girl never returned.  Guinea Boy has lost his mate.  Again.  Last May he lost a mate, Guinea Girl's sister.  Now we have an uneven number of guineas ~ 4 boys and 3 girls. 

Poor Guinea Girl.  I hope her death was fast.

Still frantically looking

Stay tuned for news about the nests and the eggs!        

Guinea Girl

Cat Update

Back in early April, 2011, I mentioned that a Little Cat was visiting the farm.  Well, that Little Cat never left, and now he is a member of the farm family.  We took a few weeks to name him, as we wanted a name that fit his personality.  And so, I'd like to introduce Bobby.  Bobby actually chose his own name.  I called him an array of names, but Bobby was the one that he seemed to answer to.  And it fits his sweet personality.  Bobby. Bob.  Bob Cat.  He has a bobbed ear.  He loves his name. 

Bobby and Randy

We still need to take Bob to the vet.  We've been working on getting him friendly.  He's already more friendly than Shadow, and we've had Shadow for 2 years now!  We put worm pills in Bob's food and he scarfed them down.  He's not picky about food, even if it tastes funny like medicine.  I attempted to put flea and tick drops on Bob's neck.  As soon as a dropped touched his neck fur, he started bucking and bouncing all over the back yard, looking back at me in horror.  It was as if it was acid or something!  It took 2 days for him to trust me again after that episode.  Now he sees the little bottle of drops and he bolts.  I put some flea and tick drops on me and confirmed it's not really acid.  I think Bobby is sensitive to smells, although it doesn't really smell bad.  And on a good note, I am flea and tick free!  Bobby loves his home, despite the weird things we do to him.  He'll probably really hate us after his first vet visit.

Jerry on left, Bobby on right, eating breakfast

Shadow and Jack

The week before Easter I mentioned how we had to rush Shadow to the vet for an emergency visit because she couldn't walk on her right back leg.  She had a slight fracture to her leg, which eventually healed up without a cast or anything, and she is doing fine.

Almost a week after the vet visit, Shadow seemed to have "gone feral" again, and became very scared of humans.  She hid from us continually, wouldn't let us even see her.  And she's an indoor-only cat.  She was just as feral as she was two years ago when we took her in, only then we locked her in a small room for a few weeks.  She couldn't hide, and she got used to us.  It took a long time to really get her used to humans.  We had gotten it so that she loved to be pet and we were working on holding her.  She greeted us at the door every day, she was very friendly.  She learned how to shake hands, she brought her toys to us to play with her, she was a sweetie. 

And then she's feral again!  So we locked her into the kitchen with us whenever we were in the kitchen to force her to be around us, trying to make her remember that we aren't monsters.  We have no idea why she suddenly became so afraid of us.  Her leg appeared to be fine during this time.  After two days of terrible fear she just as suddenly became friendly to us again.  Now we can pet her again, and she's back to being her snuggly, loving, playful self.  Strange.  Hopefully she will not have nightmares about being feral or setbacks like this for the rest of her life!

Shadow with the black leather nose

Guineas and Their Eggs

Spring is in the air, and our guineas have the spring fever.  We have eight guineas, four males and four females, which is perfect.  Everyone has a mate.  

Guinea Boy and Guinea Girl

Guinea Boy, who is pearl gray in color, has paired with Guinea Girl, his mate from last year.  She is royal purple in color.  They are the last of our two original guinea keets.

The white male guinea has paired with one  of the coral blue hens.  A coral blue male has paired with the lavender female.  And the last couple are both coral blue.  

The male guineas spend much of their time chasing each other around the yard with their wings up in display.  The females sit in a nest every morning.  Often the males will assist in nest preparation before the females enter the nest.  While the females lay their daily egg, the male will often stand guard nearby.

We decided to let the guineas hatch some eggs and we stopped collecting their eggs about a week ago.  After a clutch of 20 or so of eggs is laid in a nest, the female guinea may sit on them to hatch them.  Until they get that many eggs, the guineas don't sit overnight on the nest, but instead roost in the trees like normal.

We never got near having that many eggs in a nest.  All the guineas lay in different nests.  We only knew where one nest was located, the rest were hidden from us.  They move nests when they realize we know where their nest is located - they're sneaky like that!  

Tuesday night we had three eggs in the nest, and then on Wednesday afternoon all the eggs were cracked open and destroyed.  A coon or a opossum or some other critter got to them!  The guinea eggs just don't stand a chance with all the wild animals living in the woods.  Who doesn't just love scrambled eggs?

And so tonight we collected the one guinea egg from the nest, and we will continue to collect guinea eggs.  When we have a clutch of eggs we will try to incubate them.  If we have a broody hen we will give them to her to hatch.  Tonight the chicken hen named Bella appeared to be starting to go broody.  She's the first possibly broody hen of the year.  Last year Bella raised all our guinea keets for us.  We got them when they were one-day old keets.

We'll see how we do raising our first clutch of our own keets from eggs!  

Any recommendations are welcome!

Egg  #1 from today ~ each egg will be dated

Roosters and Springtime

Today is a nice warm day with a temperature of about 80 degrees F and a calming warm breeze.  Absolutely perfect.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, spring is in the air, life is good.  I celebrated spring by putting on a pair of shorts and decided to take some of the hens out of the enclosed chicken pen.  On nice days when I am going to be outside with the birds, I take some hens out and let them free-range.  I can't have them free-ranging all the time because of the fox and hawks, they get picked off one-by-one.

And so, I took out Lucy, who loves earthworms.  She was digging up earthworms by the dozen and was having a great time.  I brought out Lucy's grown daughter, Lilly, and she joined her mama in the earthworm-fest.  I went to get another bird.  Ethel came to me first and squatted down, being submissive.  Most of my hens are very tame and enjoy being around me.  I reached down and picked up Ethel with my right hand and turned to walk out of the chicken pen.  As I walked out of the fence, before I could close the gate...

Wham! 

I was attacked from behind on my legs!  

I didn't even realize what happened!  I stumbled forward, still holding Ethel with my right hand (I am right- handed).

Wham! Wham! Wham from behind!  My legs were scratched and sore.  What the heck???

I turned and faced lead rooster Muffin.   He is so fast, there is no pause between his attacks.  His neck feathers were all up, making it look like a feather bowl around his head.  He attacks with his feet, his spurs and his toenails.  Luckily for me, just recently we de-spurred both roosters!  Smart decision!!!  But his nails are long and need a Dremel tool taken to them to make them shorter.  And he attacks with the force of a speeding bullet.  I don't know how a rooster is so strong.  It must be the good Amish chicken feed we give the birds...

I clung to poor Ethel, who I'm sure was scared.  I don't know why I just didn't drop her and free up my right hand.  

Muffin jumps waist-high - Wham! 

I blocked him with my left hand.  Wham! Wham! Wham!  Muffin is now outside the chicken pen, outside the gate.  I stumbled to my knees with the first attack, just like a girl in the movies always stumbles when being attacked.  I'm trying to keep Muffin away from my face and head.  He has hurt my left wrist, and boy, does it hurt like the dickens.

All the other birds are gathered at the fence watching the fight.  Just like a school yard fight.  I think I hear one of the hens yelling "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and everyone is clucking their excitement. 

  

I get one foot up, and block the attacks with the bottom of my sneaker.  Luckily I wasn't wearing sandles!  Finally I grab the old straw broom, which was sitting right there the whole time, and Muffin runs from the broom. Muffin and the broom are arch enemies, and he knows the broom is dominant to him.  As soon as he re-enters the chicken pen, Muffin and Leggy, the second rooster, start a huge cock fight.  Muffin wins, and Leggy runs away in shame.

This happens every spring.  The roosters are feeling their oats.  I should have been expecting it, Muffin and Leggy both have been on the attack recently, that's why I had the broom handy.  And I was taking one of Muffin's hens, and she was being submissive to me.  Muffin was defending his flock.  I wont let my guard down again, that's for sure!

Happy Easter

Made some Easter cupcakes on Friday.  These also are cherry flavor with buttercreme icing, same as the last batch I made this week.  I cut up too many cherries for the last batch and needed to use them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to make some more cupcakes!

Can't you just smell the buttercreme icing in these photos?  I can!  I'm gaining weight just looking at them!

May everyone have a happy Easter!

Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, I thought we could take a hike in the woods together.  Come along with Randy and Lynn and enjoy nature.  We are going to go down by a small stream in the woods, and we will follow it to a larger creek.  There's lots to see and hear along the way, so let's get started!

Dogwood tree in bloom

Sun shining through the trees

Apple tree in bloom

Maybe it's a home for some small animal?

Randy walking beside the small stream

A really big tire sits way out in the deep woods.  I know there's a story behind it...

Lynn crossing the creek on a fallen tree

Ferns sprouting.  They know Spring is here!

Here's a short video of the stream.  Listen for the frogs!

Have a nice Earth Day and Good Friday, too.

Happy Easter on Sunday!

Happy Birthday to My Friend

I made some of my friend's favorite cherry cupcakes for her birthday today!

More Green Wine Bottles...

I'm still picking those green wine bottles out of the trash dump on the property.  

I took this video last week.

Emergency Vet Visit

Last weekend started out normal, but ended up with this:

Jack, excited to go to the vet! "Hurry up!  Let's go!!"

Shadow, not feeling well, holding up her right back foot

Saturday started out normal ~ the 2 cats played in the morning, chasing each other around the house like kittens, as they always do.  Up the stairs, through the house, sliding on the wood floors, gaining speed on the carpets.  Jack always squeaks to his heart's delight, as he cannot meow.  Shadow just loves to play.  When Jack squeaks it always calls her to play, even if she was previously sleeping.  During this play session, I heard a quick loud growl that ended with a hiss coming from near the front door, and I ran to see what was going on.  Both cats high-tailed it up the stairs and I didn't think anything about it.  They were playing. 

Daily chores and errands took over, and by afternoon we were being hit by bad thunderstorms, lightening, and thunder, complete with tornado warnings.  It was then that I realized Shadow spent most of the day under the bed.  Shadow doesn't like thunder and sometimes hides when it happens.  But by evening, after the storms passed, Shadow was still under the bed.  She wouldn't come out to eat, either.  I fed her a nibble of sliced turkey under the bed, but she wouldn't eat much.  That is not like Shadow.  She wouldn't drink, either.  Something was up.

Sunday morning Shadow was limping badly on her right back leg.  She couldn't put pressure or stand on her right back leg at all.  Her breathing was fast and shallow. She was super hot to the touch (compared to Jack).  She growled and hissed at us if we tried to touch her leg.  She never growled or hissed at us ever before.  I found an online first aid webpage and discovered her respirations and pulse were both twice as fast as normal for cats.  After reviewing both cats' vet records we realized they both were due for all their shots, and so a vet appointment was quickly made for them both Sunday afternoon.  Jack's presence always calms Shadow, and Jack is always happy-go-lucky, even when heading out to the vet.  He is the most relaxed, easy-going cat there is.  I actually think he may be a dog.

We brought out the cat carriers.  Jack was so excited to see them.  He's a strange cat.  We put them on the floor and he jumped right in and sat down.  That's when I took the picture of him.  At that time Shadow was laying in the kitchen by the windows crying loudly in pain and holding her foot up.  I took the picture of her then.  I think she had tears in her eyes.  I admit I was scared about what the vet would say about her.  Shadow is a tough, previous feral cat and never shows pain.  Jack, on the other hand, is the little sissy, comedian cat.  I should make a cartoon about Jack, he's such a goofball.

The vet admitted Shadow was in obvious severe pain and gave her a shot of buprenorphine, which is is a potent narcotic!!  She got her yearly shots, and Little Jack got his yearly shots, too.  The vet examined Shadow's back and leg, and said she must have a hairline fracture.  He said she should be better in a few days.  She didn't have to get a cast or anything.  He gave us some extra buprenorphine for Shadow to help with her pain.  Shadow's been sleeping a lot these days.  She slept all night Sunday and all day Monday.  She did start eating again on Monday morning, which was good.  I'm not too keen on giving her much more buprenorphine, I really don't want my cat addicted to narcotics.  By Monday night she got up off the bed and was limping around a little, so she must have been feeling better.  This morning she was still limping, but walking around and acting much better.  Hopefully by Wednesday her leg is showing serious signs of improvement or she'll be heading back to the vet.

Who ever knew a cat could break it's leg by running around the house?  This is a first for us.

Every year it seems there's always an emergency vet visit.  Let's hope ours is done and over with this year!

Black Vultures

I believe a black vulture family has moved into my old fallen down barn.  I don't mind black vultures, as they don't kill, but only eat dead things.  They seem to be very alert, constantly watching over the property.  And I've never seen a black vulture and an owl hanging out together.  I don't think they are friends.  So I'll take the vultures over the owls, for my guineas' sake.

Black vulture on the fireplace of the little house beside the old barn

Doesn't the property look like a jungle?  There's a lot of wild grape vines.  And it's barely springtime.  In the summer it gets more jungle-like.

When we first moved here, we explored the small, white, vacated house on the property.  One of the upstairs windows was open, and black vultures must have moved in.  We didn't know what it was, we only knew that when we attempted to go upstairs in the house, we were greeted by loud hissing.  We thought it was a wild cat of some sort!  Only, it was obvious from the loudness of the hiss that it wasn't from any ordinary house cat!  We were excited to think that a wild cat lived in this area, only to find out later that it was just a black vulture!  Lacking a syrinx - the vocal organ of birds - the black vulture's only vocalizations are grunts or hisses.

Little white house ~ photo taken in 2010