• Tuesday-What'sUP November 19 - 08:15 pm

We're back in the Brimley area with Brenda Leigh, at her friend's again, this time checking out the farm fowl.

That first bird is quite the interesting specimen and I have to admit I had to do some research to find out what exactly it was. This is a Guineafowl, often called a Guinea Hen. I think it resembles a turkey and from what I read, they're quite good at keeping poultry-eating predators away and they've been known to eat up more than a few disease carrying ticks. In my book, that's a great thing!

Brenda's second photo is a more common, down on the farm critter. Chickens! I'm guessing these are either Rhode Island Reds or a cross including that species, since they are a bit lighter than the actual Reds we used to have when we were farming. Can you name that chicken? Cluck, cluck, cluck...

I don't think my father was henpecked, but my mother used to have a hat that had the coloration of the first photo.
Nice pix!

Guineafowl, nature's original alarm system!

My mama raised Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks, which were black and white. There was a RIR rooster among them and he was MEAN! When gathering eggs, mama carried a broom to chase him off. "Biddy" would attack with his spurs!!
Thanks, Brenda, for the visit to the chicken-yard.:>

How Interesting! I learn a lot on the Pasty Page!

The chickens look an awful lot like our Buff Orpingtons. We have a couple of them along with 2 New Hampshire Reds and 2 Silver Laced Wyandotts

Guinea's, the neighbors had a lot of them when I was a kid, they would cross the road to our home and get up in a tree by our bedroom windows and "go off" before roosters! Never had any love for them, until we let our dog out before they came over.

Cool, never even heard of a guineafowl. Very interesting! Anything that eats ticks is okay in my book!

I love photos of farm animals. I agree that the Guineafowl remind me of a turkey, Mary. The first picture made me think of a current news story, that there will be a shortage of fresh Butterball turkeys over 16 pounds for Thanksgiving this year, because the turkey farmers were having problems getting them to gain weight. There is not a problem with frozen Butterball turkeys over 16 pounds, though, this year. Sorry if that is too much information. I hope we will be able to have a rib roast for Thanksgiving this year, instead of turkey, if rib roast are not too expensive. :-)

I learned things with today's feature. I had not seen a photo of a Guineafowl before. And, I thought only roosters had red combs. I looked both up on Wikipedia this morning. The chickens that I grew up with were mostly white. I helped my cousins gather and wash eggs when we visited them in Iowa every year. Thank you, Mary and Brenda! PS I assume the legs behind the Reds in the second picture are of a dog?

I was thinking the legs of a goat, but then realized they don't have hooves.

Here chick, chick, chick.

Shirley, I think the long hair on those legs cover the hooves, Marianne, dogs usually don't have ear tags with numbers on them - the shape of the ear over the rooster's back looks like a nubian goat's - though the coloring is more toggenberg/nubian cross like we had long ago.

It's obvious that you're more observant than we are, Richard. I didn't even notice the ear and tag. Thanks for solving the dilemma.;)