little chickens

It's my fault we have all the "kept" birds at our house. I wanted chickens, so I could have fresh eggs. I wanted jungle fowl, because they are so gorgeous and unique. I wanted Guineas, because they eat ticks and other nasty bugs.

When I put them to bed, I usually do a head count: twenty hens, two roosters, seven Jungle Fowl, and eight Guinea keets. Keets are just baby Guinea fowl. Last night, there were only five guinea keets. This was upsetting because that means three went missing yesterday when they were out free ranging with their surrogate chicken mama. This chicken hatched out 12 keets, and now we are down to five. The first four mysteriously disappeared from inside the house, when they were surrounded by fence and netting, with no evidence of their death or a predator. Now three more have disappeared. It's very sad and frustrating.

But today, when I let all the birds out of their house, I think I heard the distress call of the Guinea keets down the hill. I am definitely no expert when it comes to identifying bird sounds, but it sure caught my ear. I walked nearby to explore, and the cries stopped. They are very suspicious birds and are supposed to prefer and be capable of living as wild birds. But these are just four weeks old, so if they are the keets, I don't see how they can make it on their own. My plan is to try to flush them out today, with some help from my
daughter, Stephanie - only she doesn't know it yet. Their cries have stopped now, but I think it might be because they can hear all the chickens. Maybe they will be making a dash up the hill to join the flock, and I won't have to intervene.

Our wild Jungle Fowl were brought into the mix purely because they are so pretty, and we wanted them to populate the redwood trees around our house. Like the Guinea Fowl, they too will live on their own and will roost high in the trees - or so we were told. They are similar to pheasant in their behavior and will fly straight up when they are startled. We bought a pair for $100 dollars! The pair hatched out and raised five babies. But they aren't leaving! I think they know a great set up - free food and housing!

Yesterday was disappointing, with the keets going missing, and though I am still hopeful that it was their cries I heard and that they'll come back; I did have a for-sure positive and happy bird encounter already today. First, a bit of history: The original Jungle Fowl mama has been hiding out in the woods. We know this because she only shows up in the morning looking for food. We suspected that she might be setting out there, but weren't too optimistic for her success since woods are full of predators. I am happy to say that we were wrong! Today she shows up with six babies about the size of your thumb. Not only that, she has brought them into the chicken run to raise them! She would tell you that it's only because it's a safer environment for her babies, but I think she is a free-loader! What happened to the wild Jungle Fowl experience we were promised? Ha Ha