Fifteen Keets.

Monday 27th August 2012

My dyke (The Lambert Drain) joins this much larger one a couple of hundred yards further along. What brought me here this morning was a very rare sighting of a fox (not so welcome now that I keep poultry). A few minutes before a roe deer had been in the dyke, the second morning it has been around. With most of the fields harvested and harrowed, these animals are much more conspicuous now.

Soaking wet feet this morning as a heavy morning dew filled the grass. I quickly checked the guineas and their keets before heading back indoors to wait for the sun to dry things out a bit.

So it was with some surprise that, a couple of hours later, I was presented with this...!

Whilst showing Don the newest recruits to the smallholding, Sue had found seven of the keets huddled together in the long grass, clearly unable to keep up with the rest of the family and in a bad way. So the decision was taken to bring them inside and put them under a lamp.

Good news is, all but one made it and they are now healthy, and very noisy, little fluffballs. G'nea G'nea and Lady Guinea still have eight keets to keep their parental instincts satisfied. It should be easier for them to look after that many and the ones inside should be assured of making it to adulthood now.
If your maths is up to scratch, you'll have worked out that we now have eight keets outside, six brought inside this morning plus the one originally rescued, which has perked up and is happy to have plenty of company of its own kind. One passed away quietly, unable to warm up quickly enough, and one must have died somewhere in the long grass. But still we could end up with fifteen new guineafowl which would be a resounding success.

We have thought about whether or not to reintroduce the seven we have inside to their parents, but we have decided it is better not to have all our eggs in one basket!