Posts tagged animals
Maran & Welsummer chicks
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Maran chicks
With plans to build a new chicken coop/palace this year, we ordered some new chicks to expand our flock. We ordered 4 Marans from a local farm, but when we went to pick them up and saw all the baby chicks, it was impossible to leave without 2 extra. We were interested in the Marans because they lay the darkest brown eggs and we really enjoy the range of colors. The extra chicks we picked up are Welsummers, which are another very dark brown egg layer.
Meet the keets
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guinea keets
Last week six cute little guinea keets joined our farm family. We are really hoping that they grow up to LOVE eating ticks and stinkbugs! They are adorable, of course, but they are not taming as quickly as the chicks do. They are still fearful and run to a corner whenever we are changing water or adding food in their little pen, even though we move very slowly and quietly around them. We are trying to handle them several times a day and have found that they do better just allowing them to perch on our hand rather than trying to hold them. My plan is to train them to come when called so we can lock them up at night. I’ve read that the most difficult part of keeping guineas is finding ways to prevent them from becoming fox food. Yikes! We will have a very safe and secure place for them to roost at night but it won’t be worth much if we can’t get them to come back in the evening. I can’t bear the thought of them falling victim to some nighttime predator when they have such a safe place available to them. Well, all that is several months down the road. For now, we will keep working on taming them more and finding the best treats to make them want to come to us.