Miracle eggs!

Have you ever seen a guinea?  They look like a cross between a turkey and a chicken.

I was introduced to guineas at my in-law's house in Fort Worth, Texas.  A flock of wild guineas roam from house to house in their neighborhood.  We've watched them migrate around their neighborhood over the years when we visited.  While taking a walk this last visit, we noticed a nest with eggs in the neighbor's yard across the street.

Thinking how cool it would be to have guineas where we live, I tried to convince my husband that we should take some eggs home with us.  We were flying back to South Carolina the next morning.  He didn't think TSA would allow this and I really didn't have a good plan for keeping them warm and unbroken so I gave up on the idea....

 but my father-in-law didn't. 

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Five days after returning home, we received a box via UPS overnight shipping - courtesy of my father-in-law.

Inside were 28 carefully wrapped guinea fowl eggs.  Each one was cushioned in cotton and then wrapped with newspaper that was held on with a rubber band.  

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As soon as we got them, they went into this incubator.

We monitored the temperature and humidity and turned them 3x per day.  To be honest I felt kind of silly doing it for the first 2 weeks.  Who knew if there was any hope that the eggs were viable - I could be doing it all for nothing.  

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If the eggs hatched, the keets would need to be moved to a brooder.  

This is our make shift brooder we prepared.  An old plastic tub with a piece of plywood and heat lamp on top.  

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Then it happened!

Did you know keets will cheep from inside the shell before they hatch?  This fascinated our grandson who was checking them out with his flashlight. 

When we heard the cheeping we knew we had a success story.  Up until then we candled the eggs and told ourselves we saw something moving inside, but hearing them was exciting confirmation.

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Once the first egg hatched, a bunch started hatching!  It was amazing to watch - one right after the other.  We had 12 hatch within 6 hours and one more hatched overnight.  

I have to say they look a lot better when they dry out and fluff up!

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This picture was taken when they had been hatched for just a few hours.  

We ended up with 13 miracles and we feel great about that!  Some of the eggs never developed - "yokers" - and some stopped developing early -"quitters".  They were removed from the incubator after 2 weeks.  Of the 15 remaining, 13 hatched. 


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So, what are guineas good for?  They kill snakes and they eat ticks!   They also eat pesky aphids!

New Keets hatched yesterday!

Actually one hatched overnight and we are waiting and hoping for two more.  Here is a picture of them this morning.  I'll post the story behind them later.  But for now, aren't they cute?

Color

It has been exciting seeing our raised beds turn from brown to green and now to add yellow and red.  May looks like peas, tomatoes and squash for us.  The lettuce began to turn bitter as it got warmer and the spinach began developing brown edges on the leaves so we've pulled them up and will be planting new things in their place.

Peas, Lettuce and Tomatoes.....

Over achiever squash plant

We have a squash plant taking off and growing faster than the others.  Wish I knew what is making this happen! The others are all doing well ~ you can see them right next the big one ~, but this one is like a plant on steroids.  Crazy!  It is so big, it is shading the lettuce so we may have to find it a new home.

The squash blossoms are really pretty!  Yesterday I saw them being sold at the farmer's market.  Who knew you don't have to wait for the squash?  Apparently there are tons of ways to fix and enjoy squash blossoms!

Hoping to harvest some squash soon!

A bittersweet day...

We loaded the pigs in the trailer last night and today, they went off to the processor.  I knew this day was coming and it was the reason we bought and raised them in the first place, but I have to say,  I'm feeling some mixed emotions.  

The loading process was interesting.  There isn't enough space to back up the trailer into our back yard where the pig pen is, so a plan had to be devised to get the pigs from the pen to the trailer.  Below are pictures of the transport.  The guys used wire cattle panels to guide the pigs to the trailer.  Once at the trailer, they convinced the pigs to walk into it by placing some feed at the back of the trailer.  It was a smooth and pretty easy process.  (The guys are talking about adding wheels to the panels to make it easier for future transports.)  

Thankfully the growing process wasn't too long.  Here is a split picture of our grandson with the pigs.  The top part of the picture shows him with the pigs when we first got them in late January.  The bottom part shows him with them on Easter Sunday - just a week and a half ago.  (He was sharing the Easter eggs he found.  The non-chocolate ones.)

When we got the pigs, they were between 30 and 40 lbs.  - and about 12 weeks later, they were between 160 and 175 lbs.

Our first rodeo with raising pigs has been an adventure to remember.