New residents on the Pistol River

There are 6 new residents here at the Oregon place.  I picked them up the other evening from a craigslist poster up in Coos Bay (a trek from Pistol River.)

Guinea fowl are great for tick control.  They lay tasty eggs (and are tasty themselves.)  I’ve actually only eaten guinea once that I know of – in Italy; my cousin Rosangela roasted guinea fowl for us.  These are six months old and I don’t want them to fly away or be eaten by the bobcats (we saw one cross the road just below the place – but I see sign most days!)  So for now they need to stay in the coop to get adjusted, then I will let them out one at a time into a fenced yard.  They are very social creatures, so won’t run away if alone, but will want to stay close to the flock.  Eventually though I’m hoping they will learn to come back to the coop at night to be safe.  Luckily these are very used to people and not at all skittish around me.  If I feed them enough millet (millet is guinea candy), they may learn to come when called.