And Then There Were Five

It seems that so much of our life on the farm revolves around our feathered friends...and trying to keep them alive. This week I noticed that our guinea troup is dwindling. We now have only five of our lovely, tick-eating "farm alarms" remaining. This is so discouraging to us, as we love our guineas. I have 30 more ordered for July and will train this next batch to roost indoors instead of outdoors at night. I fear our poor dears fall prey to owls at night. This troupe of guineas has always roosted in the tree outside their coop at night. A little research on the subject has taught me that you can train your guineas to return to their coop each night by offering them a little white millet (favored treat of guineas worldwide). I cannot bear to lose any more birds...so I will keep my fingers crossed that this practice helps.

Comments

I am so sorry for your birds. I had mine for years and then they started disappearing as well. I think our were taken by red tailed hawks or owls. Please keep me posted on if your new procedure works. I would love to have them again sometime but want to keep them alive as well. Sorry again for your loss... dawn
Kelly said…
Do you have a roost higher up than the hens? I was thinking of trying to train them to stay in the coop(barn stalls that have chicken wire to prevent predators) at night. Keep us updated about the millet. I hate to lose animals too. Ours come in Aug.
Kelly
Hello Bev,

I know you've had a rough go of it with keeping the feathered friends protected. I will definitely watch your training progress....

Hopefully, that millet will overcome their desire to roost in the trees. I've never met one that didn't choose the trees but most people I know did not feed the millet and I'm sure that will be the secret! At least I hope so..they are such neat birds and serve such a great purpose.

I was so happy to see your comment...thanks for dropping in to see me! My blog must be cooperating a bit better for you! I hope so anyway, I miss your visits. :0)

Hugs, Steph