If you are a regular reader of our blog, you already know we’ve had a lot going on around here on our little farm this spring and summer! Back in May we added 8 new chicks to our flock, and just last week we hatched our own 6 guinea hen keets. It’s a lot of work increasing the flock. The newbies start out in a brooder (we use a dog crate with a heater), then move to the coop when they’re old enough and it’s warm enough out, and they stay inside another dog crate in there.
You can’t just add birds to a flock. It’s kind of like adding a new dog or cat to your household – it’s a process to get the current flock used to the new arrivals. Once the new chickens (pullets) get settled in to their new location in the coop, we start letting them out into the coop, with the older chickens outside in their run. Normally we’d have let them into the run sooner as well, while the older girls were free ranging but because of our fox problems, that hasn’t been an option. We think – hope, pray – that our fox problem might be over, so we’ve been letting the big girls out a little bit when we can be around to keep an eye on them. That gave the pullets their first chance to get out into the run and see the big outdoors!
They were timid at first about coming out, but once we encouraged a couple to go out, the rest eventually followed. We probably won’t be able to integrate the flock fully until the pullets are the same size as the full grown hens. The older girls can sometimes be what I call “mean girls” and pick on the young ones! We had one trial run but could tell it wasn’t quite time yet. We’ll get there. At least everyone is enjoying a bit more freedom.
One glitch in the plan is that now we’ve had a hawk hanging around, so we’ve got to make sure the girls are safe from that. We’re working on putting some deterrents around and the Dadz has an air gun he can shoot which helps to scare it away. Once that is hopefully settled and we’ve continued to be fox-free, everyone should be able to get even more freedom!
Speaking of freedom, the only one-week old guinea keets decided they needed more, and started escaping their cage. I told the Dadz the cardboard wasn’t high enough in there, and I got to say “I told you so!”.
Of course this happened right as I was getting ready to leave for work in the morning. I heard the baby guinea’s alarm call and knew something was wrong. All I could do was close the room and leave it out some food and water. You wouldn’t believe how fast those little things are (hubby calls them “road runners”) and I didn’t have time to chase it around! I called hubby at work to let him know what was going on since he would get home before me. When he got home, the little one was back in the cage, but when he tried to put some more cardboard barriers in, three escaped! They are tiny little things and the dog crate is so easy for them to get out of. They are also very skittish, and run away from us whenever we go near them. It’s hard to believe when they first hatched inside of the incubator, they would come right over to the glass to see us! So, the 6 “mini guineas”, as I call them, got moved to a plastic tote while their cage was remodeled and is now all clean again.
By the way? This all happened as the Dadz woke me up before leaving for work and told me that there was a skunk inside the chicken run (all birds were safely inside the coop)! So my day started with going outside and trying to get the door open without upsetting Mr. (or Mrs.) skunk (it had dug it’s way in, but apparently couldn’t dig it’s way back out). Luckily I accomplished that, and it went on it’s merry way after finding it’s way out. There is never a dull moment here on the farm, that’s for sure!
In the next photo, Mama cat Sam, keeper of the birds, gets to enjoy some freedom herself. I’m so happy we put in these windows for her and she can enjoy the fresh air and sunshine while taking a break from her bird-sitting duties.
Now, onto the Flower and Favorites part of our post. I’ve mostly been sharing flowers recently that are perennials planted by the previous owners of our home. I still like to add some of my own favorites, mostly annuals, in pots around the yard. When I was growing up, my mother always loved her Johnny Jump-Ups (violas) and pansies, and I still love them too.
Both flowers can bloom in early spring, but I planted mine a bit late. They will hopefully bloom most of the summer. Tying it all together, I bought this beautiful hanging plant for the 4th of July, from the farm stand I’m working at. I loved the red, white, and blue theme, and petunias have always been a favorite of mine as well. I think it looks gorgeous hanging on our barn.
Thank you to our friends at Living Laughing Barking in Our Backyard for hosting the Flower Friday blog hop! Please visit other blogs through the links below.
The minis are so cute! I’m glad everyone is doing well.
Wow some excitement on the farm! Glad the skunk didn’t spray.
I know I sure was!! LOL
I love watching your dream grow.
Thank you, Jodi! It seems like SO much work sometimes, but it is so rewarding!
Oh I’m so excited you have a post about adding chicks. I have a broody hen so decided to just have her hatch and raise three chicks! I was curious about the integration process since I’ve been reading all these best practices… Thank you for this post!
That’s so exciting one of your hens hatched her own! We were almost going to try that this year but had been undecided about getting a rooster. or buying fertilized eggs. So we bought the chicks, and ended up trying the guinea eggs instead. We were actually hoping one of our chickens might go broody and sit on the guinea eggs, but no one was interested!
And those keets are just TOO cute, also meant to say-and I can’t believe the newest chicks-pullets you say??-are so big already!! And the flowers are gorgeous, and hope beautiful Sam is enjoying her view, proud of her duties helping those chicks!
They are so adorable, and they’re growing so fast! Yup, just like the pullets did!
Wow, indeed, never a dull moment on the farm-who would have realized you truly might have to deal with all those wild critters-foxes, hawks and skunks, geez! But glad you are keeping it under control quite well! Beautiful pics of everything, I have to go back and read this post again, just did so quickly-boy, it is funny that those guinea keets look just like chickens when that small, don’t they? At least I can’t see any guinea traits, I just see a beak that looks like chicken ones, and feathers and that’s it!
Other than the fact that they seem to be just a little bit taller and skinnier, they do look just like chicks!
You sure have been busy! The animals have minds of their own… so that creates all sorts of excitement. It sounds like you are handling all of it beautifully! I’m glad that you managed not to upset Mr. or Mrs. Skunk! That would’ve been a bad start to your day if the skunk had sprayed you. Oh my…
I love your flowers!
You’re so right about that, and since it was a day I had to work too, I’m really surprised my usual bad luck didn’t go that way! LOL
Fox, hawks, skunks, new little babies! I have missed your posts and now am going to go back and read the fox post. I love reading about your adventures. I always learn so much – like I had no idea the older girls would potentially bully and be mean girls.
As I think I have mentioned, we live in the suburbs outside Chicago. I had heard that there was a fox in our neighborhood but had never seen it. But a few months ago, I was out walking Ruby and it ran across the road. I couldn’t believe it. Ruby didn’t seem scared and the fox showed no interest in us.
P.S.: This is Ruby from The Daily Pip. We changed our blog name to My Rescued Life – but wanted you to know, it’s still us.
Thank you so much for that nice comment! We are so glad you’re back too. ♥
I’ve heard of a lot of foxes that don’t scare too easy (a friend once had one that just stared her and her dog down), so I’m glad your neighborhood fox wasn’t one of those. Ours has been pretty easy to scare away too, but we have to be constantly on guard (luckily the guinea hens help with that).
There’s never a dull moment around your house. 🙂 We didn’t know that you had to introduce guineas to each other slowly…like cats. Interesting!
We’re discovering there’s an awful lot we didn’t know about having birds!! 🙂
Such cuties in the coop and lovely flowers. Johnny Jump Ups always makes me smile with their little happy faces.
They’re just so bright and cheerful!
All the flowers are beautiful. We understand all about “mean” birds. Grandpa used to raise chickens, pheasants and even once peacocks. And the Canadian Geese can be very scary the Gander even attacked Mommy’s car once.
That’s why we hesitate to get a rooster too, so many of those can be mean!
Oh, and meant to say, my hubby would have a fit if any birds attacked our car!! LOL
I never realized you need to slowly introduce new ones to the flock, but it makes sense. Sam is so pretty, I love seing photos of her.
I’m so glad you enjoy seeing her. It’s so hard to get good photos of her!!
We love your window, Sam! We’re so jealous. And of course, Bear envies your bird savvy 😉
Yeah, we know what Bear would be thinking about those birds. LOL!
Whew…Those Mini Guineas sound like a handful LOL! Thanks so much for showing your pretty blooms!!
You’re welcome! They are a handful, that’s for sure. But they are so darn adorable (which just makes me want to pick them up, but they don’t like that!).
They are all so cute! Samantha, you did a really good job sweetie!
She’s pretty much a professional bird Mama now!
You certainly have your hands full with the farm! Those guineas are so cute. I hope your fox and hawk have gone to pester someone else.
We haven’t seen the fox – knock wood – and the hawk seems to be staying in the woods for the most part. But we’re still on constant guard. Once the new guineas are on duty, I think things will get better. I’ve seen our five march right at that fox and scare it off!
Oh my goodness, you have so much fun excitement.
Too much some days, I think! LOL
Sounds like those birds are keeping you on your toes! Such pretty flowers too. The petunias remind me of the ones my grandmother used to plant proudly around her flag pole every year. 🙂
Oh, I bet that was pretty!!
The mini guineas are a handful, literally and figuratively!! Maybe they need a soft sided crate to keep them from escaping? Where’s the fox? Watch out for that sneaky critter.
I told my hubby if we do this again, we definitely need something other than the wire dog crate…though right now the cardboard is working fine. He just didn’t do it as high as he should have in the first place.
There is still a fox around….but it hasn’t been near our yard that we’ve seen. The guineas may have scared it off. But we’re still on guard, that’s for sure.
I wish I could spend my holiday at your farm… oh that would be great… I could be a farm kid again ;O)
You would definitely have fun!!
Those birds sure are a lot of work! Pretty flowers you have. Happy Friday!
They certainly are! I think we’ve probably reached capacity now though, so things should be quieter eventually. 🙂