The kids are back at school, Halloween has been pushed out to Sunday (second year in a row, last year we were buried in snow) and things are slowly starting to get back to normal.
The winds are still blowing and we have soggy skies (and ground), so not only are we staying away from the woods in our back yard, but yard cleanup will have to wait until we know everything is safe.
I had mentioned on Monday that we had two new members to our flock. Perhaps the timing wasn’t the best to get new birds right before a hurricane, but sometimes chickens wait for no storm. I’ve talked about getting these types of birds before and so when I saw them at our local chicken swap I jumped on the opportunity – Hurricane Sandy be damned.
May I present to you, two, as of yet, un-named juvenile Guinea hens. These little guys are about 6-8 weeks old and are old enough to be outdoors, but too young to be loose in the henhouse without supervision – hence the cage. When I know that conditions are safe, I’ll be transitioning them to the rest of the coop, however, they will not be allowed to do any free ranging for a few weeks. Guinea hens are notorious for not returning to the hen house and instead living the rest of their lives freely outdoors. (Apparently we have a flock of these birds roaming in our town already.) For now everyone is just getting acquainted.
What’s interesting is that we left a little bit of room near the door when we slid the cage into the hen house and it looks like our Charlie (based on the evidence she left behind) has taken it upon herself to be the nanny to the new little ones and stay near them.
Charlie, as you may recall, is the one we rescued as a chick and raised inside our house for a few months. Other than for the first 24 hours of her life, she has never been around other chicks.
I find this protective behavior of hers absolutely heartwarming.
