Tick patrol

Meet the newest addition to the Runamuk farm!

This guinea hen is waiting for her boyfriend to join her in the coop at the Runamuk farm-site (he was playing hard to get, so the farmer who sold me the pair will catch up with me in the next couple of days to deliver the male).  Meanwhile she is making herself at home, and with the addition of a flock of Mallard ducks destined to join her this afternoon, we will soon have all-natural and sustainable insect prevention on the farm.

It seems like the ticks are having a good year this year; every time we go out to work at the farm-site we all come back with one or more ticks clinging to our bodies, so I decided it was time to get some poultry out there to free-range across the hillside doing what they do best.  Birds like chickens, guinea fowl, ducks and turkeys are a safe alternative to harsh pesticides.

As we clear more of the overgrown pastures, adding more and more livestock to our farm, the population and threat posed by ticks will be reduced.  These birds are the first step in that process.

Previously I’d entertained the thought of naming all of our future livestock with a science-fiction names.  Names like Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek; the Next Generation), Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars), Teal’c (Stargate SG-1), the Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland), the possibilities are endless!

All of that flew out the window, however, while I was busy preparing the chicken coop for the installment of this guinea hen, the children were fawning over her as she waited impatiently in the pet-taxi, and they decided that she was to be called “Guinea” and her boyfriend would be deemed “Fowl”.

*Sigh*  Maybe I’ll get to name the next addition to the farm?