Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
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Friday, June 17, 2016

ESTATE HAPPENINGS

I ordered a dozen of these eggs from West Virginia.  The sellers were on eBay.  The picture of the eggs looked good and on May 18th I placed my eggs under one of my broody hens and crossed my fingers.
Sunday, June 12th, this is what started to happen.  Wait, you thought these would be chicks didn't  you.  These are keets which is what you call baby guinea fowl.  It is very difficult to raise guinea fowl but I desperately need some more since the bald eagles swooped in and killed 8 a couple of years ago.  I only have three adults left and they can't control the tick population by themselves. Guinea fowl make terrible parents for some reason so your best bet is to find a broody chicken hen to hatch them.
Of the dozen eggs I ordered, 11 hatched.  That is unbelievable success.  Sadly one of the keets died and I believe the hen accidentally stepped on it.  Who really knows?  Anyway the 10 survivors are thriving.  I so hope they will reach adulthood. 
The three adult guinea fowl have found a giant interest in the keets.  They seem to know the little birds speak their language and they can hardly leave the nursery alone.  They visit like new fathers waiting to take their babies home. Now scroll back to the picture of the darling newborn keets and ask yourselves how such beautiful little babies can grow into one of the ugliest birds on the planet?  Not only are they ugly, they make a huge racket which actually makes them wonderful watch-birds.  They alert to any danger on the property plus they eat ticks and mosquitoes  and also kill snakes. This makes them beautiful to me:-) 


"The guinea fowl is a large wild bird that is natively found inhabiting a variety of habitats across the African continent. Today, the guinea fowl has been introduced to various countries around the world " Picture and quote from http://a-z-animals.com/animals/guinea-fowl/

16 comments:

  1. Oh how amazing...hope they thrive at Granny Annies:)

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  2. We had a young guinea hen move into our city yard one year and from her perch in the tree she joined our pack of dogs. She was a noisy but most delightful guest that summer. We had a watch hen.

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  3. First of all, I don't think they're that ugly and second, are their eggs tasty?

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  4. You want to talk about a huge, ugly, scary bird it's the turkey vultures we get here in Florida. They look pretty graceful when they fly, but looking at one up close isn't pleasant. I remember one day when we saw some in our yard and I couldn't believe how big they were, especially when they spread their wings. We have a solid fence on our yard and I saw one taking off from atop the fence and it shook the entire fence.

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  5. I was going to vote for the turkey buzzard as the ugliest bird as well. Guinea hens are kind of amusing to watch, but they do make a racket. Hope your neighbors are far enough away or are the very tolerant sort.

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  6. Wonderful! That's so exciting! I look forward to watching the little birdies grow up. :-)

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  7. Oh how exciting.
    And a question. Another blogger told me that their eggs are TOUCH. Not fragile like most eggs. Is that true do you know?

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  8. Actually they don't look all that ugly to me. I remember seeing photos of them when our son was in the Peace Corps in Mali. Congratulations on your sweet chicks.

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  9. I had no idea there was a bird that controlled ticks. How very useful! and they're a watch bird too, like geese.

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  10. Haha! This cheered me up on a day when I really needed it. Long live your guinea fowl!

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  11. That's so neat that you know to do that! Mosquitoes and ticks are just the scourge.

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  12. A property across the way from me has some guinea fowl and they often wonder through here...I love seeing them.

    Sorry I'm running behind...I had a few computer problems over the past four days...now all fixed...I hope! :)

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  13. Awe, they are all so cute!

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  14. I wish I had one to eat the tick I found on my back while trying to sleep yesterday! That is a great service they provide. As you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Very cute n best of luck!

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  15. animalsbirds.com/swallow-bird-images-gallery/

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