Anyone else watch that show about the ever-growing family years ago? I loved it, and before we get all political, let me just say…. They inspired so many great things in my family. Their insights on raising children, homeschooling and doing things differently from the rest of the world truly challenged my young 20-something’s self. And, our family is better for it!
So, now that we are living on a farm in the country (never did I expect this when we first drove past that family’s house over 11 years ago!) we never really have a dull moment. And, I guess that’s because our animal count continues to increase.
After we hatched the last 2 chicks from the incubator, I insisted this was the “last” of the collection until we start on goats next spring. Well, then the sweet little duckling hatched and of course, it needed some coop-mates.
This lil’ cutey squawked for it’s first 12+ hours of its life due to being alone. We quickly found a local hatchery and picked up 7 more chicks. Pronto!
They did great in the mini brooder/chicken tractor and were growing so well. After about a week, we moved the tractor along with the chicks into the full-sized chicken coop for the acclimation process. And then, we released them into the flock.
Everyone was getting along great until….
Otto came across a snake sampling our sweet little duckling. Poor little thing was rescued and carried inside. I washed off most of the blood and sent frantic texts to my Birdy-Buddy!
The course of action: Keep Drake’s Tail warm, dry and cover the wounds with a mixture of Neosporin and essential oils. It only took a few days until he was ready to return to the coop!
Of course, I began researching ways to keep snakes from attacking the coop again. You can use a plastic mesh netting which the snakes cannot navigate well. But this is expensive even for a smaller coop and ours is rather large. You can sprinkle some “snake away” pellets, powder or liquid which inhibits the snake’s sense of smell. But this is a chemical and I am shooting for as close to chemical-free as possible. You can get a flock of guinea fowl… which is exactly what we decided on.
Again, I found a local hatchery and placed a Rush Order for as many baby guineas, or keets, as possible! We ended up with a box full of 19 freshly hatched keets. These future guard dogs will protect our entire flock of chickens and ducks from snake attacks, while also eliminating bugs and ticks from our yard. Until then, they are being pampered in the chicken tractor, on the front porch.
So, the moral of this story is to never say you are done getting more animals…. Don’t worry, I think I’ve learned my lesson.
