Guinea Patrol

Some of you might recall a little incident we mentioned on Facebook around Christmas where instead of a partridge in a pear tree, we had three guineas 80’ up our massive oak tree!!!  They held out for five days through sleet and snow and freezing rain before coming to their senses and realizing that their palatial coop in the warm barn is a pretty attractive place to spend the winter! 

Now that the warmer weather is here, our guinea fowl are out all day on tick patrol, roaming the pasture, lawn, and gardens (and occasionally even the ditch at the side of the road).  Apparently, they can each eat up to 4,000 ticks a week!  We were a bit hesitant to set them free again and seriously wondered if they’d come back at all, but we figured if they didn’t it was a great form of community service to have these tick-eating machines free-ranging in an area that is facing a Lyme Disease public health crisis.  However, perhaps because of our ambivalence as to whether they came home at night or not, they’ve mostly returned to their coop every night (the organic grain might have something to do with that!), except on perfectly clear nights when they choose to stargaze from their perches in the walnut tree just outside the barn door.

Our guinea hen has started laying, and we’re hoping to be able to hatch some of her eggs later this summer.  Let us know if you’re interested in buying a keet (baby guinea) or two for your own natural tick control, and we’ll keep you posted on the hatching progress.  Full disclosure: yes, they sound a bit like a car alarm, but that racket sure beats Lyme Disease!