Monday 6 March 2017

No Temple of Doom here

The new arrivals came via cardboard box yesterday.  Four Guinea Fowls.  Two types of unknown gender.  Our latest additions were the subject of a rigorous assessment process prior to being given permanent residency.  Given our somewhat out of control chicken population we've now adopted a merit based system for any new farm additions.  Merit, meaning they need to contribute to our little farm community.  Being cute is helpful but won't get all the points you need.  Guinea Fowls are said to be great pest controllers and farm watch dogs that will report on anything amiss.  What this means, I'm yet to fully understand.  My interpretation of amiss might be slightly different to theirs.  I would expect a loud uproar if the washing had blown off the line but this might not be priority with them.  I'm advised that Guinea Fowl keep away snakes.  Looking at them now I'm struggling to see how their reptile repellent instincts work.  They didn't come with any wrangling equipment and in the absence of an Indiana Jones whip and hat in the corner of the cage, I'll keep an open mind.  They're quite young at the moment and are still required to be caged but will eventually be let out to roam and forage with the others.  This morning I walked into their cage to fill up their water bowl and found them relaxed and not anxious to run away.  I did look around though and see a large crowd standing at the door looking in.  The chickens had all come to check out the new arrivals.  Even Minnie.  Although if ever I've seen a cat give an eye roll it was this morning.  You could tell what she was thinking, 'yeah right, they got rid of the dinosaurs as well...'  So welcome little friends.  We'll refer to you as the 'Fowls' from now.  Looking forward to the python wrestling any day now.

3 comments:

  1. What else do they do apart from look pretty and wrestle pythons? Do they lay eggs?

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  2. If they do everything that they claim on Google, I don't think they have the time :)

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  3. I have heard that they will see off snakes as well. One thing that they do is make a LOT of noise. We walk our dogs near a property that has guinea fowl roaming free in the paddocks and whenever they see our dogs they set up a heck of a racket. If you can't see your neighbours, you should be safe. I was wondering about the eggs as well and if they were like chicken eggs? I was considering turkeys at one point as they are pretty self sufficient but they apparently nest in trees and as we already have an exponential feral chook problem, I am not sure I could cope with turkeys diving from the tree tops when we head off for our 6am walk with the dogs!

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