Wednesday 13 February 2013

Guinea fowl settling in

Two of the babies following the old man



The usual method of introducing guinea fowl to their new home is to keep them locked up for three weeks, then let a few out, and then several days later release the remainder. On Monday my neighbour and I released 3.  They were very unhappy.  They cried and cried and tried to get back into the cage.  The ones inside the cage cried too. Very appropriately female guinea fowl have a two part cry that sounds like 'come back, come back' However after several hours the outside ones stopped running around and around the pen and ventured out a little.  The old solitary guinea fowl had kept a close eye on proceedings.  I was pleased to see that the little ones had started to follow him around a little, picking at grass, and nervously venturing a little further from their mates.  Tonight my good neighbour will release the others.  They will need to have water and food left out for them for a while, till they learn to catch grasshoppers and eat seed, and find (or are shown, by the old fellow) where the water trough is.