วีดีโอ

That's awesome! I wish you the best of luck :-)

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily Our 16 "assorted, fancy" keets arrived 5/30 and they're all doing great!!! We believe they have 1 shared brain cell between them, which could explain them tearing across the brooder box and jumping straight up for no apparent reason. We visit with them frequently during the day and evening and they come over to see the "big heads" talking and cheeping at them but when we handle them several times a day to change their bedding (paper towels for the next few weeks) they run in terror from the "big, bad hands." Today I gave them a tick that I found crawling on me (EWWWW) after I squished it and once one started pecking at it, 2 others joined in and their was a 3-way tussle for it - GOOD KEETS!!! They'll be moving to a large enclosure for the "training" sessions then they'll have free-reign during the day to be the tick slayers nature has made them and be in the safety of their coop at night. Trail cams have showed us the predators we share our mountaintop home and orchards with so we'll be bringing them into the coop at night so we can all sleep soundly. It's going to be the Taj Mahal of Guinea coops according to the Hubster. This video gives me confidence we can get them trained and next year we'll still have most or all of them. I'm trying so hard not to get attached to them but they're so cute at this age! I've decided not to name them so they'll have a better chance of survival (Murphy of Murphy's Law messed with us when we were full-time RVing for 2.5 years and I'm afraid he came with us to the mountain hiding in the black tank!) Any advice for a couple of Guinea newbies? I grew up with the chickens and peafowl on my aunt and uncles' respective farms but none kept Guineas. Thanks!

Yes, they were beyond ready for the coop at this point. We had them at the camp site with us and moved them around the grounds regularly to compensate for space and give them fresh grounds. It worked out great!

I personally can also tell the difference in their wattles as the males have larger darker wattles and the females are smaller, and I also can tell the difference in their stance/temperament. Males are more sporadic in their movements whereas the females are slower and more dainty in my opinion.

Thank you!

Thank you!

This is a great question!! Definitely would require another video for a detailed answer. My first question would be what type of plants exited before the mulching.

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily Mostly saw palmetto and wild grape vines EVERYWHERE.... it would be WONDERFUL to a video on it because I'm sure I'm not the only one with this question :)) Lovely channel BTW! Thank you so much for your help and input.

@@MelDormoy we did end up having atleast 75% of the palmetto removed after we gave some time (a little over a year) for the mulch to break down and ammend the soil. We grazed sheep on all of the new growth and they loved the fresh palmetto and completely cleared the wild grape vine. They helped to keep the growth down and contributed to amending the soil quite a bit :-) The palmetto will grow back. So you can go ahead and start planting and dig up the ones that are in your way for now, then keep an eye and dig up the ones that start popping up too close to your other plants. This is not an easy task, it will be the most labor intensive but least disturbing method of your land. We ended up having too many palmetto, so dense that the competition was too strong as far as the root system.

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily Wonderful advice and so GOOD TO KNOW! I've been waiting on the clearing company for months and finally they arrived and believe it or not, we are actually able to SEE our 3.5 acres for the FIRST TIME (1.5 acres of it is native FL forest but walkable pretty much). I personally think the saw palmetto is beautiful but when there's so much of it, along with carrotwoods and pepper trees... it doesn't make your land usable in any way and crowds out the oaks and pines that are native. It's a bit overwhelming to see the transformation personally, but exciting too - now we see more than 20 feet around the house! :) The sheep cleared the wild grape vine??? WOW! Truly amazing. I truly appreciate your help... I had always dreamed of having land and finally got it (even if it was all wild and crazy) and now trying to navigate the process... it is reassuring to watch these videos and have your guidance. Thank you again!

They are such fun birds!

Hi Dawn I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this complement. If you don’t mind can we be friends? Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹🌹🌹

Yes! That's correct 😁

Thank you! It's been working put really well so far. I was told "DON'T DO IT. YOU'LL LOSE THEM ALL". So every day I go out anticipating piggies on the run 🤣

Thank you so much! It's a process but we are making a little but here and there 🥰

Land restrictions is definitely a biggie! We wanted to be able to farm and to allowed to live in our camper on our property while we build, which they don't allow everywhere, so that was important for us to ask!

Thank you! We raised them from 2 days old and spent time with them everyday. Never forced ourselves on them holding them or touching them if they were too finicky about it, which I think helped. We were intentional to he with them but careful to not stress them out

I would love to be able to do that but they are a little pricey for us right now. Hoping some time in the future! I am sure it would make life so much easier! Lol

We have added a second flock and now have 32 of them! Lol We can hold them sometimes, they decide when they are in the mood. I am thankful that they do because one of them was attacked by something and required care and we were able to care for his wounds. Otherwise he would have most likely died. We do not clip their wings. We want them to be able to get away when a predator comes for them.

Mine only like being held ...like perched with your arm extended...and their feet on your arm

I definitely can! I'll work on that right away :-)

They were! They love the pigs but they are so rowdy only the older two can really handle it. Like puppies wanting to chew on every thing and every limb 🤣 Hoping they chill a little bit for sure!

Thank you! I look forward to checking out your channel as well!

This was our first time but I couldn't totally get hooked and start my own hatchery! Lol

No, that makes quite a mess of the land and we want to use them to help improve it. We plan to rotate them out on the pasture which has lots of trees and shade.

Thank you! 🥰

Hey Lisa! Thank you for watching and the kind comment 🥰

Good luck with them!!

Haha! Yes, you can always count on Emma for a crazy outburst 🤣😂🤣

The guineas are quite the clean up crew! Lol

The Guineas eat more than our chickens and ducks @@thefiveacrefarmfamily !

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily what mineral block did you use?

@@kenbaker2229 it was a Dumor Sheep and Goat block. We have since switched them to a the powder mineral for sheep.

That is great!!! We ended up with 5 males and 5 females but sadly one of our females was snatched up by a hawk right behind my back when we first moved them to the farm :-(

😪@@thefiveacrefarmfamily we lost a polish hen named Polly to what we suspect was an ariel predator also and our cat was attacked by something too . She (cat) ended up surviving the attack but half of her tail was broken and eventually fell off . Poor thing won't go outside the pole barn anymore 🥺 .

@@BornAgainFarmGirl that is so sad :-( poor kitty :-(

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily yeah it was and is sad cause she’s still shook .

We are! I think we will really be able to gain momentum once we are out on the property. We are giving up some huge luxuries moving out there, like a laundry mat and a pool (in the dead heat of summer) but sacrifices have to be made! 🤣😁

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily we did the same, our house in town is about 25 minutes away, but moving out to the property and staying in our travel trailer has really helped to get more things done! And it really works out... Since we decided to give our house to our adult kids, we just drop out laundry off with them 🤣

@@HomesteadFresh well that works out well!! Lol

It has definitely been a process! We have learned a lot already.

Lol, thanks! That is a great idea to make a thank you goodie!!

🤣😂😂 My kids make everyone nervous 🤣😂😂

Thanks! :-)

We have friends that had issues with stray dogs. They got their goats and their calves. It was so sad :-( We don't have them where we are that I know of. On the parasites, I have been looking in to adding diatomaceous earth to their diet. Have you heard anything about that?

The person that we purchased the sheep from warned us about rams! He said it's best to not get friendly with them at all. He also gave us a tip about flipping them over their backs while they are young to establish dominance.

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily we never tied diatomaceous earth but I know some people swear by it. If you can be dilligent with moving your sheep to new ground every day then I'd say it would help for sure. We found it too much work to move them daily so often they were on the same ground for a few days, which isn't great for worm management, and we had to drench them in the end. It's devastating to find your animals killed by any predator, but when you know it's a feral animal that was probably an unloved pet, I think it feels worse.

@@thefiveacrefarmfamily our ram and I used to have frequent wrestling matches, I always made sure I won, but it never stopped him from trying to butt me. He was an adult when we got him though, so that might make a difference.

@@DuckPondsFarm we do plan on trying to move them regularly once we get the right set up. For now they just have plenty of tall plants that I am hoping will keep them from eating off of the ground. And I agree with the dogs. When an animal comes to kill just for sport, it is south harder to deal.

It's the greatest!