Curly was broody but we had no fertilized eggs to place under her. We bought a large batch of guinea eggs and put them under Curly. We heard that hens make better mothers for guineas than guineas do.
The first tragedy for those eggs occurred when post-partum Beulah Dean started busting them. We finally got that straightened out and Curly has remained steadfast on the nest protecting these eggs with a vengeance. Monday a black snake got into the nest and swallowed seven eggs. With eleven eggs left we crossed our fingers for success on her hatch date of July 26, 2007.
Yesterday, July 24, 2007, I drove to Tulsa. When I got home I checked the chicken house and there, two days early, was a hatched guinea chick. This morning we have six healthy chicks if our count is right. More could still hatch. They are the cutest little things. They are much smaller than chicken chicks.
Our 2007 summer of chicks has not been hugely successful. We have 10 left of the 19 incubated chicks born on Easter. We have Tiger Lily’s one chick Elvis (and therein lies a gripping story of a fowl Oedipus complex). Beulah Dean has no surviving chicks due to her murderous rampage. Perhaps these guinea chicks will prove the most hale and hearty. I wonder what will happen if Curly learns we tricked her?
We will continue our efforts to increase our flock. It seems like two steps forward and three steps back. But, as new eggs hatch, hope springs eternal in the chicken pen!
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