And then we had fowl

When we bought the property, I knew I wanted to have chickens.  My rule about pets was "it must have fur and be over 40 pounds" because I don't care for small dogs or cats and there is no way I would have a reptile or snake in my house.  My rule for outdoor animals was that it must have a purpose.

Chickens have a purpose.  They give us eggs.  No, I could never eat one after I'd raised it.

So the plan was to get chickens.  Simple enough.

But spring hit, and after a very warm winter the ticks came out in full force.  I happen to be talking to my school principal and she mentioned that she had guinea fowl and they eat ticks.  I started researching these birds and found that a couple things

• They make a loud crazy noise all the time
• They are known for being "alarm systems" and will alert you when anything unusual comes onto the property
• Owners say that once they got guineas, they never had ticks again
• They are ugly

I was sold simply because of the tick issue.  I started looking in to buying some but found that they are pretty rare.  They only lay eggs in the warmer months and are horrible parents so it isn't as easy to get some of them hatched like it is for chickens.  Everything I found had to be shipped from out of state - in groups of at least 50.  Then I found someone on Craigslist that bought a group of 50, but only wanted 25 so she was selling the rest.  I bought 12. 

They were 3 days old when we got them, and after a week they were twice the size and I just knew I had too many.  One day I saw one that was much smaller than the rest and I noticed something was wrong with her rear end.  After some google searching I found out that these birds have one "hole" for laying eggs, mating, and eliminating waste.  I also found out that this little bird had a problem in which her feces was dried up inside of her and it would kill her.  Several times a day I had to clean her rear end with warm water.  She did not like it, but she was small enough to fit in my hand so she couldn't exactly get away.  I also read that Preparation H helps with the swelling so I had to go buy some from the store.  It took a little over a week, but she finally seemed to be better, although she was half the size of the others.  Because she is the only one I can tell apart from the others, and because of her issue, she was the only bird that was named... Poopers.

When they were about 3 weeks old, I sold four of them to someone on craigslist because they were getting big and I knew I had too many.

I also started working on building a coop for them.  It took me about a week to finish the coop, but I figured it was big enough for the guinea and the chickens I planned to get.

At 6 weeks old, the fowl were ready to leave the cage in our basement and so I moved them into the coop, and the next day I got 8 chickens (June 24th).  I picked up a rooster a few days later (June 27th).

We now have our birds settled in.