Gregory Morrow wrote:

> Interesting discussion...

<evil grin> Suppose it can still be considered 'food related'...
>
> When I was a kid (I'm 50} on the farm we had chickens and a hen house, many
> US Midwest (I grew up in rural Illinois) farm families did so...
>
> We kept guinea fowl, they are are very noisy and kept the foxes and raccoons
> and other predators somewhat away from the laying fowl...

We have plenty of wild guinea fowl around here - and yes they are noisy
- LOL - our cats are terrified of them - but I was warned by various
locals (who know far more about raising chickens than I do) to keep them
away from the chickens. Apparently wild guinea fowl can carry some
nasty diseases, which of course is not a good thing... I took their word
for it.

>
> Mongooses (Mongeese?)...Riki Tiki Tavi....
>
> :-)
>
I say mongooses. <giggle>

Heh. I am fairly new at this 'raising chicks' business. It all started
out with the darn rooster... he wandered in here from somewhere about 3
years ago. When it looked like he had no intention of leaving, and kept
trying to come into the house, we decided to get him a few hens to keep
him company. We got two, from a place that sells off older hens (usually
for the pot) once they are past their their egg-laying prime. One died
(of 'old age') about 6 months later and we were down to the rooster and
one old hen (who still lays), for quite a while. Eventually I had enough
of the rooster's demeanor and decided to get rid of him and get some
more hens instead.

Sooo... we ordered some proper 'laying hens' from a reputable chicken
farm in September - but they only sell day-old or 4 week-old chicks,
with a minimum of 25. I opted for 4 week-olds. We only got 23 and two
died the day we got them (won't bore you with the details of that).

Maybe I should have kept the rooster - I was told after losing those 7
to the mongooses (by far more knowledgeable locals) that he probably
would have protected them. Sigh. I live and learn. We have now made
their coop 'mongoose-proof', so when we close them up for the night we
know they are safe. We also built them proper 'nesting boxes' in the
coop with a good perch for them to roost on. They seem to like it. Had 4
eggs already today and it's only lunch time here We may even get
another rooster; with 15 of them (including the old hen) to 'keep him
busy' he may not be as aggressive as the last one, and if they have
chicks, he should help protect them. We'll see... Either that or we'll
have to train our cats to 'guard' them - stop laughing - one of them has
already killed a mongoose and brought it into the house to show it off...
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible