"Chip" the Chocolate Guinea's Big Adventure and Springtime on the Farm...

We are so thrilled with our new addition "Chip" the Chocolate guinea!  We have introduced him into the flock and he is finding his place.  He is a very sweet bird and was raised with chickens so he feels more comfortable around the chickens than the guineas.  The guineas can be quite rough to newcomers so "Chip" is very careful when he is around them, but he is curious about these funny looking birds!

"Chip" had his first big adventure outside of the protection of the coop and the pen during supervised free range time. He followed the chickens out of the pen and walked around kinda wearily.  He found a sweet gum bush and checked out the surrounding area from the safety of the bush.
 

"Chip" venturing out from the safety of the sweet gum bush

"Chip" and one of the Golden Laced Wyandotte Hens....I think he feels safer close to the one of the chickens.

"Chip" a little braver now....as long as "Rudy" the rooster and his ladies are close by!

We know over time "Chip" will find his place among the guineas and become part of the flock.  We look forward to having little chocolate keets next Spring!

One of the things that we do, here at The Old Five Notch Farm, is clean out The Chick Inn II twice a year.  Earlier I posted about shoveling out all the pine shaving, cleaning the perches, even vacuuming out the cobwebs and all that dust before adding fresh pine shavings, hay, and fresh herbs.  I wanted to add a little something extra to the coop this year and we needed to address an egg eating issue that had just became of problem recently.

I researched some ideas on how to deter egg eating and found ideas like filling blown out eggs with mustard, putting golf balls in the nest boxes, removing eggs several times a day, giving them something to keep them busy like a cabbage in a hanging basket and even putting curtains up on the nest boxes!

We started off trying the mustard egg, putting a gold ball in the nest boxes, and collecting eggs several times a day and they all seemed to help.  I wanted to "spruce up the coop" so I decided to make some curtains and hopefully deter some egg eating too!  I got together with my sister and we went through her stash of fabric.  We found some great pieces of fabric and I was so happy to find the fabric I chose was actually floor to ceiling curtains my mother had made for her closet in her bedroom.  My mom would be thrilled that I was able to re purpose the curtains she made into really cute curtains for The Chick Inn II!  She loved our chickens and would come over just to take a chair out and sit with them.

My mom was quite the seamstress and my sister, Alice, received her sewing gene.  I managed to stitch up the seams and make a pocket for the curtain rod!

As I put the curtains up, one of our hens was busy laying her egg for the day.  She didn't mind all the noise at all!

Not something you will see very often!  Guineas usually pick a nest site on the floor or ground, but apparently this girl appreciated the spiffy new curtains, fresh hay and fresh herbs! Such a pretty Royal Purple guinea hen.

Since we have implemented all of these ideas the egg eating has diminished....not gone, but very much less egg eating!  We will be adding some extra protein to their diet as well to be sure they are receiving all the nutrients they need and aren't eating eggs out of a nutritional deficiency. 

One of the projects my farmer man has been working on for us is a three tired raised bed for herbs!

Setting the first layer of the raised herb garden

My hard working Farmer Man!  Leveling the ground for the first layer of the herb garden.

Setting the second layer of the raised herb garden. The back rests on the first layer and the front is supported by corner legs.

My Farmer Man checking the second layer to be sure it is level, plumb and square.  He's so wonderful at making beautiful things for the farm.

The four wheeler is down and in need of repairs so he used the truck to pull this heavy cart full of soil to the chicken pen and fill in some holes. Sometime you have to use what you have! It was quite dark by this time so we called it a night.

The next day he finished the top and last layer of the herb garden!  Now to fill it up with nursery mix!! Our Boykin Spaniel "Addie" was glad to supervise.

 We were blessed to have our nephew, Gideon, come and spend the night over the weekend! Since my Farmer Man was sick this weekend and I am out of commission due to back injuries, Gideon unloaded all the nursery mix filling the raised herb garden and giving me enough left over to fill containers and start seeds too.

All ready to be filled with herbs!

Hopefully this evening my Farmer Man and I will feel up to moving some pots filled with herbs from the back porch out to tiered herb garden to be planted. I have several herbs started in the greenhouse that will be added to the garden when they are large enough.  I can't wait to fill the garden and use the herbs for ourselves and our animals health.

I found this great article 7 Potent Healing Plants Worth Planting and I'm thrilled to be planting all of these herbs and many more! I am looking forward to learning how to use these herbs to enhance our health and make homemade, natural products for ourselves and others.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at our farm, the critters and the projects we are working on. I hope to start posting "Friday Farm Fotos" this Friday...no posts just photos!