Guinea Chase
| When I got up Wednesday morning, it was -16 F outside. The sun was shining, so the temperature managed to reach zero by 10am. About noon, Melise and I went out to check the chickens and guineas.They've been locked up in their house for days because of the bad weather. The house provides wind protection and there are heat lamps so the birds don't get too chilly. However, their eggs have to be collected regularly or else they freeze and break. Hence my trip out into the frosty weather! After I retrieved the sole egg out there, I decided that the birds had been cooped up long enough! The ground was still covered with inches of snow, but I thought that the bright sunshine would do them good. So I held the door open and invited them out . . . |  |
Four guineas took my invitation.
Two flew into the lilac bushes.
And two flew onto the roof of our house!
Well, I've seen our guineas fly up into the trees and bushes, but I had no idea they would do that! I guess I underestimated how much they hated snow.
I stood there a few minutes contemplating the situation until Melise started to fuss because her hands and feet were probably getting too cold. We went inside for a few hours and I crossed my fingers that they would all go back into the chicken house on their own.
I came back out at 3pm to check the birds. The two from the bushes had gone back inside, but the two from the roof hadn't made it very far. Do you see the round grey bodies in the tree? The sun was setting quickly, so I threw some rocks up into the tree to scare them down. One of the birds flew to another tree. It was a shorter tree, so I tried to give him a poke with a long stick. He just flew back to the original tree. After running in circles and trying all sorts of stupid tricks for about twenty minutes, I gave up. Melise was screaming from the cold, so we went back in. With Melise snuggled against my bare belly to get warm, I tried calling Roy - no luck. I called Big Roy (Roy's dad). He reassured me that it wasn't going to get as cold that night, so being out in the tree probably wouldn't kill them. He said it was best if I wasn't out in the cold chasing birds. I appreciated that. |  |
I called my husband again and got him this time. I told him about the problem and he said the same thing as his dad. He promised to take care of it when he got home.
A little while later, Kathy (Roy's mom) called me. She said she was on her way over to help with my problem! She got here about ten minutes before Roy did. The sun had already gone over the horizon and it was getting dark outside. I figured they would look the situation over and call it hopeless.
I guess I underestimated their determination (or is it stubbornness?) because two hours later they were still outside! At dusk I could see them just barely through the house windows, but when it was fully dark I couldn't see anything no matter how hard I pressed my face to the glass!
I heard strange thumps and bumps on the house as they threw rocks and used a pipe to scare the birds down. Finally both were off the roof and they just had to find the last bird who had huddled itself against the side of the house. Roy's mom carried that bird back to the chicken house with relief.
It was 6:30 pm and the thermometer read zero by the time they finished! My guilt was enormous at the end of that night. I told Roy that I felt especially sorry that his mother was out in the cold so long. He said, "Ah, we used to do this sort of thing all the time when we had cows! Besides, I think she kinda enjoyed it."
Thank you, thank you, Kathy! And thank you hubby! I promise not to do that again!
Posted by Susan at December 11, 2009 
Categories: Poultry
Tags: rural negative guinea roof frozen egg freeze snow chicken temperature colorado sunset tree degree
Categories: Poultry
Tags: rural negative guinea roof frozen egg freeze snow chicken temperature colorado sunset tree degree
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