Guineas Started Free Ranging

https://www.petwantsclt.com/petwants-charlotte-ingredients/ And were almost immediately decimated by predators!  I installed an door on the coop controlled by an electronic eye, open at dawn, closed at sunset.  Unfortunately the guineas left the coop but never came back!  Worse then that, they didn’t roost in the trees, but on the ground!  By the time I got back down there I could only rescue 4 of the 12+ guineas!  I locked them in the coop after this disaster to rethink how to get them to free range but return to the safety of the coop at night.

Five were left but I could only get 4 back into the coop

Five were left but I could only get 4 back into the coop

Lots of the feather piles around the barn

Lots of the feather piles around the barn

Pond Excavation Complete

All of the muck and dirt is out, the dam has been completely rebuilt and the drain pipe is set.  Now all I need done is for a dock to be built.  Notice the bald eagle in the foreground of the picture below.

Excavation complete

Excavation complete

New Batch of Guineas

Ordered 36 guinea eggs of varying colors and hatched them in the incubator. Unfortunately only 16 hatched, but that is still plenty for us.

Guinea eggs in the incubator

Guinea eggs in the incubator

As part of this new batch I moved the guinea ‘house’ across the hall in the barn so that they can eventually free range from the lower part of the barn instead of through the area we keep the tractor, avoiding a huge mess.  Below are a few shots of the build-out process and end result.

Before

Before

During

During

Move-in day

Move-in day

Very secure!

Very secure!

Great Weekend

Spent the weekend at the farm.  Taught Patty how to use the zero-turn mower, which she had a blast with.  I set her up with a small rectangle to mow and she ended up mowing the whole place, about 7 acres of grass in all.  She had the noise canceling headphones on and was evidently singing out loud the whole time.

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That night we had one heck of a bonfire!

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Pond and Dam Repair Underway

Finally have the contractor engaged and onsite to dredge the pond, install a proper overflow pipe, and repair the dam.  It is still slow going as he’s trying to get the pond drained as much as possible so he can get his equipment into the pond without getting stuck.  So far he has installed the pipe and riser but has left the ‘tee’ at the bottom open so that water will drain through the pipe instead of continuing to erode the dam.  Once he gets a little further we’re going to have a dock installed where the overflow pipe is right off of the dam.   Should be a pretty darn nice pond once its all done.

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Dam cut before pipe installation

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Overflow riser pipe from the side

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Overflow riser from the current top of the dam

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Trench dug from the stream feeding the pond around the island