Here’s a peek into our very enjoyable Sunday so far…
The view outside our door
We toss a fresh egg out to lure in the girls…
then Elihu brings em inside for inspection
Getting positioned..
then finding those pelvic bones…
and finally wiggling the fingers around to assess the vent size
Some gals are certainly laying…
from dark browns to pale green
What’s this? This isn’t even a chicken! Surprise! Elihu caught Austin, our resident male guinea fowl. This is NOT an easy thing to do, hence the smile…
Elihu really loves Austin
and wants to show you his gorgeous markings
closer…
and closer still!
How about those goofy hairs on the back of his neck?? Crazy, huh?
His amazing wingspan…
He’s goofy and elegant at the same time. Much wilder than the rest of the chickens, constantly chattering all day long, eating and producing nothing at all – and truthfully, not all that smart to boot – we don’t really have good reason, but all the same, we just love our little guinea.
Ok. Back to the task at hand. An update on our progress: we had planned on giving the non-layers (butcher bound) a spray painted X on their backs, but have discovered that the paint doesn’t stick to the wet birds. Duh, I guess. We’ve tried putting twist ties on their legs in the past, but in one day they can peck em off. Not sure how we’ll do this. May have to wait til the day of butchering and just box em up as we find em. Argh. Things always take a little more finessing than you’d think. Updates on our progress to follow…
The Hillhouse 
zip-ties? Always handy to have around for MacGyvering all sorts of things.
Aha!! Great idea, we were hitting the sides of our heads and saying ‘zip ties, of course’… only problem is the Amish butcher uses all the body parts for compost… might not like plastic in the mix. So we tied twine around their legs and double knotted them. We’ll see…
Beautiful bird. Beautiful Boy. GB