On New Year’s Day, we decided to open the door to the guinea fowl house. They seemed to be getting less and less happy being “cooped” up all the time. The plan had always been to let them out once they were grown, fully feathered, and hopefully able to avoid predators. After all, the point in having them was to let them help keep down the insect population through patrolling the farm.
So, we decided, rather spontaneously, that January 1 was the day. Not without some anxiety (will they come back in at night, will they avoid predators, will they join the three “free-rangers”, will they find food and water, will they get along with the chooks, will they get along with the sheep…???), we opened the door. They seemed very happy to leave the coop.
Some nights, they all come back (sometimes with a little “herding” from us), some nights they stay out all night and some nights they mix it up. For example, tonight – six of the seven “chicks” are in the coop and one chose to go with the free-rangers to sleep in the mulberry tree (the free-rangers usual roosting spot).
So where do they spend their days?
…checking out the grain I put out each day
…camouflaging themselves (can you see her by the wire fence roll?)
…doing sentry duty
…exploring the arena
…exploring up by the house (a little too far away from home base!)
…working the ground
…and, yes, hanging out with the sheep. Looks like this might work out!