Absence Update

Quite simply, the pressures of working two jobs finally became more than I could bear.... I could not keep up with my blogs or my photography... even having time to visit our own sweet animals became elusive!

And so I quit. I left the hospital. I am now only working part-time for the Kansas Turnpike. And that's how I like things to be.

I just returned from an Ohio visit. My beautiful and sweet granddaughter just turned two.... how is that possible? It just seems yesterday that she was born!!!

Leah on the carousel at the Akron Zoo,

with her daddy (my son, Josh)

Today I am going to make strawberry jam.  My cupboard finally became bare of last year's stash, and I'm so very partial to my own canned jam that I cannot stand the taste of boring ole Smucker's from the grocery store!

Our resident Canada geese, right before they finally left and headed north

Right now, I need to head outside and take care of all the animals -- feed the barn cats, let the guineas and chickens out, and then out to feed the horses.

A late update:  No, all of those guinea eggs did NOT hatch.  We finally had to throw them out.  I think they were "scrambled" too many times there in the corner of the coop.

More updates to come.  I know there is lots to catch up on here, and I'm looking forward to it.  Can't wait to begin visiting all of my bloggy friends!  :-)

 

Geese & Guineas - Update

I took a picture of the guinea egg clutch on April 3rd.  Then after I uploaded the pics to iPhoto, I printed out one so we could get an accurate count of how many eggs have been laid. I kept losing my place when I tried to count them in the coop, and the same thing happened when I tried to count them on my computer monitor!

62 eggs!!

Now our guinea hen has some help too.  Looks like one of the other guinea hens decided she needed assistance covering all those eggs.

It's going to be interesting to see how this all turns out.  My best estimate puts the hatch date around April 20.  One part of me wants to let the moms take care of everything, but then another part of me says they are in a small coop with other guineas, including 2 males, and I'm not sure how well the newborn keets might fare in that situation.  

So perhaps we'll get the brooder ready, and move the new keets as they hatch.  It would be easier to introduce them to food and water that way also.  

We'll need to find new homes for the keets ASAP.  Our coop space won't tolerate even 2 more birds.  We've been discussing our future coop options - either enlarging the current coop, or building a separate coop east of the house on an existing concrete pad near the horses and the shop.

On a somewhat related note, the two Canadian geese who were hanging around the last few weeks decided to set up their new home near our pond. Their nest is on a small peninsula that hubby started to build last fall when we rented a Bobcat over Labor Day weekend.

I didn't want to get too close and upset them, so here's the best photos I managed to get a few days ago, from the opposite side of the pond.  The male (see photo below) kept a close eye on me the whole time.

Sorry.... you'll have to click the photo to enlarge it!

The goose is laying her head down to hide from me.

Both times that I've visited the pond, this is what the male does.

He flattens himself to try to hide from us, all the while keeping an eye on us.

I wish them both the best of luck.  We have so many coyotes around here.  I've heard them howling a lot lately, or rather, the dogs have woke me up because they hear them howling first.

So all in all, the next few weeks should be interesting here on the ole homestead!

Of Geese... and Guineas

Two Canadian geese have been hanging out at our pond for the last few weeks.  They've come quite close to the house, as close as the chicken coop.  Last week, our two younger guineas weren't very happy about their intrusion --the male guinea and male goose did a bit of sparring.

The guinea hens started laying eggs about 4 weeks ago.  In a rather surprising turn of events, they started a clutch of eggs in a corner of the coop.  This was very unusual since last year they attempted to build two different nests in hidden outdoor locations.  The natural inclination of guineas is to find a hidden location in nature.  In last year's case, we brought some of their eggs indoors and incubated the hatches.

But today, one of the guinea hens has gone broody!  So we'll let nature take its course and see if she actually hatches some chicks.  If she does, then we will move the hatched chicks to the brooder on our back porch, where they will have a better chance of survival.

Guineas don't have the greatest reputation as mothers -- they will go out to feed in dew-laden grass and newborn chicks will follow mom, dying soon thereafter from the exposure.

And so the countdown begins... 26 days!