Guinea Perfection

The boys were in bed, my wife was off to work for the night (As a nurse!) and I decided to lay down for a few minutes on the couch and watch some network TV.  I sat down and began watching a show when I heard a crashing noise in the basement.  So much for a little mind numbing relaxation.  Knowing that there was no one in the basement except the chicks and guineas, my mind started wondering what they got into.  I went downstairs and found the guilty party.

The Guilty Guinea

She was sitting at the bottom of the game bookshelf right next to an overturned Perfection board game.  She was looking at me as though to say, "It wasn't me!"  But all her buddies were either in the box or perched on the light bar.  The little yellow Perfection pieces fanned out around her like rays of sun from a child's drawing.  After asking her what she had done, as if I was expecting an answer, I went over to pick up the game.  She flew back up onto the box edge and then hopped down into the box as I picked up the pieces and then put the game back on the shelf, this time making sure it didn't stick out, enticing her to perch up higher than the others.

They have to go out in their new home this weekend.  They are getting more and more brave.  After work this afternoon I went down to check on them to find evidence that they have been exploring all parts of the basement.  Apparently, unlike dogs, they just decide to poop whenever the feeling comes, so their evidence was all over.  Over by my wife's grow lights, under the piano bench, around the play table.  It's amazing these little birds can poop so much!

I turned off their heat lamp during the day today and they were huddled together in a tight group and not moving much when I came home.  I plugged the light back in and it was as though their batteries had been recharged.  They started squawking and moving all over.  I may need to put a heat lamp into their outside home for a while until they get older and can handle the overnight low temperatures.

The fun part is that the Barred Rock hens are getting really friendly to me.  The rest don't let me get too close, but the Barred Rocks come right up to me and start pecking my fingernails.  They let me pet them and tonight they hopped up on my hand and let me pick them up.

All of them are quite entertaining to watch.  It is Chicken TV.  I ended up sitting there watching them for a half hour, being mesmerized by their antics.  Scratching at the pine shavings, looking for bits of food throughout the box.  Hopping around when they would get startled by their own shadows.  I may not have gotten to watch TV, but I did get to relax, and it was more entertaining than the Network TV I was watching anyways.