Here I go again... I mail ordered some new little pets - guinea fowl to be precise. I had never heard of them either, but they are supposed to do the job that I hoped my ducks would do - without the stink. When my friend told me that these birds eat all the bugs in your garden and leave your produce alone, the gears in my head started turning. No more pesticide sounded almost too good to be true and I had to give it a try.
I had to special order these birds and they were shipped to me in a little cardboard crate via the post office. It was fun to see all the wide-eyed customers when I picked up the little chirping package. Originally I ordered six keets (as the babies are called) hoping that at least half of them would live to graze in the garden (they are a little trickier to raise than chickens). Sadly, half were dead upon arrival! Interestingly, the company sent baby boy chicks along with the package to help keep the keets warm. As soon as I got home, I devoted myself to the three remaining keets and even took them with me on a overnight road trip to monitor their health -- go ahead and call me crazy, I won't deny it.
Long story short, I have ONE left! The other two became pretty weak and went to bird heaven within a day- I think it had something to do with my heat lamp and keeping them the right temperature. I am heartbroken about all the deaths and sure hope this last keet pulls through. If not, all I will have to show for my latest animal adventure are the remaining baby boy chicks - no thanks! I guess I'll give it another go with the guinea fowl this coming spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment