Checking In

[Sydney65]

After years of @R2elk saying I didn't have enough guineas for a proper confusion, I thought I'd pop in to let him know that I am properly confused now. So much so that I have difficulty remembering who's who and some stragglers still unnamed. 23 in total, and an absolute delight. Not all are pictured; they've mastered the summit,but not so much the mastery of not sliding off the other side! Hope all is well!

 

[R2elk]

Congratulations!

 

[tranquiliti]

Hi @Sydney65 !! I’ve been glumly missing your posts, but I see it’s because you’ve been enjoying your goons! Aren’t they a delight?? I’m at 13 now (breaking some rules) and love them to bits.

 

[Sydney65]

Hi @Sydney65 !! I’ve been glumly missing your posts, but I see it’s because you’ve been enjoying your goons! Aren’t they a delight?? I’m at 13 now (breaking some rules) and love them to bits.

Well..Numi died in the spring, and I had to do some serious thinking after that as to whether or not I wanted to go any further, bc that abt did me in. But it confirmed that she had indeed achieved Matriarch status, bc her little flock was affected as well.
I salvaged one of her eggs, and became Cricket, the gray in pics below-and finally caved in & got a short order (12, breeder's pick) from GF. Breeder's pick is amazing. There were some runts, so they sent 14 instead of 12, but there's slate, RP, Lav, pied, pinto, violet, pastel, BD, opaline/porcelein (not sure yet). I only lost one of the runts. Cricket is 4 weeks older, but I let him stay in the brooder with them so he wouldn't be alone, and he has excelled at raising his little flock. They're shy of 12 weeks now, he's just over 15.

They do keep me active! I think one thing I feared was that having so many would interupt the connection I had with them. In some ways it does- like not having everyone named yet, not always remembering who's who, and having a feeling I'm WAY heavy on females but not sure yet, and less hands on with everyone. But in other ways, I've had more opportunity to do what I enjoy most, which is just watching and learning how they interact.
I have a few lap sitters,but as a whole they're content to just be near me as opposed to being on me, sunbathing or foraging at my feet or taking our daily walk. Even the adults and recluses join in now that mating season is over.
Definitely a lot more work, no chance of becoming a couch potato!
Cricket:

 

[tranquiliti]

Numi — I do like your decision to keep going; very sweet progress.