I have so much stuff to put up on this blog (including a new release by one of our chick-lit authors and a new induction into the Good Egg club – all will go up next week) but today I want to tell you all about my newest executive decision.
First let me introduce you to this magnificent creature:
It’s called a Guinea hen (or fowl) and if you ever thought that chickens resembled prehistoric beasts then you’ll see this little throw-back has everyone beat. Guinea hens are like the platypuses of the fowl world. Someone, somewhere wasn’t really paying attention when this genetic code came down the line.
BUT, (and that’s a large “but” on purpose) Guinea hens are known for being tremendous tick eaters. Apparently (according to the good folks on the forum at Backyard Chickens) regular hens will eat ticks, but then again, sometimes they won’t. (who knew that ticks have a bitter taste?) Not so with Guinea hens, apparently they love ticks as much as this mama hen loves her Sweet-tarts (don’t get me started on those delicious compact tablets of sweet and sour goodness.)
I’ve made reference to it before and I imagine it will be coming up again (and again) but so far we have 3 cases of Lyme disease in our house (and I suspect the remaining 5 of us have it as well.) If treated early, Lyme disease can be fairly easily contained. If not treated early, however, it can linger in your body causing a host of strange, unexplainable, and at times, debilitating symptoms. We have symptoms ranging from mild to severe in our tested-positive kids.
It goes without saying that we need to avoid ticks at all costs.
So I’ve made the decision to add to our fowl flock in order to protect as much as possible my little chickie flock. Being part of a flock means looking out for each other and taking up the slack for another when things are not as they should be.
Sometimes it means being on the front line to protect those behind you.
So even though they are weird looking birds, even though they are known to make a lot of noise (the shriek of a banshee has, at times, been mistaken for the call of a Guinea hen) they will be welcomed into our household early next Spring to help in the good fight of protecting our entire flock.
