Mrs Boss jumps: the Svengali Bantam
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens, Fun, Guinea Fowl | 12 comments
Mrs Boss is the Bantam heroine of the Farming Friends – Cottage Smallholder Interblog Guinea Fowl Breeding Event. She has been broody more often than not throughout her four summers. As a result, she spends weeks either in the anti broody coop or being bullied by the other hens in our flock.
Sara at Farming Friends took pity on this diminutive feather footed hen and sent six guinea fowl eggs to us in the post for Mrs B to hatch out. Within days Mrs boss was living in her own castle within the main chicken run. Suddenly she had privacy, her own apartment with garden, six eggs and the prospect of a brood. Even though Hello has not yet telephoned she is already a cyberspace superstar, drawing comments from all over the world. Five out of the six eggs hatched out and the keets are now one month old.
I have never seen a happier Bantam chicken. The keets are quite a handful but still very much her brood, rushing to shelter under her wing when it rains or something rattles them.
They are growing fast and taking more interest in the outside world as each day passes. Now they know that my arrival in the run at lunchtime usually means a tasty treat of chickweed or chopped lettuce.
They shoot out of the castle followed by a clucking Mrs Boss and then cluster beside her, jumping up out down with anticipation. They play tag rugby with the lettuce leaves. Mrs Boss is generous. If she gets a leaf she immediately drops it for one of her brood.
Yesterday I had an afternoon off work so I filmed them so you can see how they are developing. Mrs Boss stunned me by performing a magnificent leap, jumping right out of shot. The keets are clearly bringing out the Svengali strain in her ancestry. Her new movie Mrs Boss Jumps – Svengali Bantam was released on YouTube today and you can see it here.
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Hi KJ,
Yes I agree with you, she is a pretty chicken with her collar of black and white feathers. She has never been one for a daily shower. The other white pekin bantam looks as if she soaks in biological powder every day – she is whiter than white. Mrs Boss used to look a bit tarnished and often muddy.
Now she is looking pretty good too, grooming clearly is now part of her routine. It must be because she is finally happy. Sometimes my heart really goes out to Mrs Boss.
Apparently you can tell the gender of the keets when they reach begin to find their voice but I don’t know when this happens. At the moment they cheep a lot. Sara at Farming Friends has a good article on guinea fowl identification http://www.farmingfriends.com/guinea-fowl-gender-identification/.
Lightning, my favourite keet, is very hands on. Snatching lettuce leaves from the beaks of the other keets. At the moment I have no idea whether this is typical female or male behaviour…
You can eat guinea fowl eggs. They are slightly smaller than a regular chicken egg. The birds themselves are also delicious to eat. I couldn’t do this with these keets as I have grown too fond of them. My mother is very disappointed.
Hi Virginia,
We were wondering when we could let the keets out to explore the great unknown of the run so it’s interesting to hear about your experience.
Mrs Boss is hen pecked by every chicken so I am going to leave the keets in for at least another week, I think. Hopefully I will not be working next weekend so I can moderate any aggressive behaviour.
I loved your movie of the keets venturing out of the run. Here is the url so everyone can enjoy it too
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TFmi6mxMh48
All Virginia™s movies are there. When you are on YouTube, just click on the button œmore from this user to see a great collection of guinea fowl keet movies.
Thanks so much for the update.
Hi Amanda,
Well deserved.
Thanks for dropping by!
I loved your movie of the keets venturing out of the run. Here is the url so everyone can enjoy it too
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TFmi6mxMh48
Thanks for the update.
Thank you!! 🙂
Great to hear how your keets are doing . I let mine out for 5 mins. yesterday but one of the hens attacked “mum” so put them back in. Today I shut the grumpy hen in and let the family out for a couple of hours. They all had a fun time. It’ll be on Youtube later. I’m now wondering what to do with a broody duck sitting on infertile eggs.
I think Mrs Boss is a very pretty chicken. She has lovely markings. It’s great to see her so happy and content.
Do you know if the guinea fowls are boys or girls? Apologies or my ignorance, but what do you do with guinea fowls? Are they egg layers?
Hi Amanda,
Mrs Boss is what Danny calls, “A mammy”. A true mum. But a mum with knobs on. Just like you.
I was reading this, then got called away. I thought I could see the olypmic potential in the last Mrs Boss film. You write about her with such affection, she’s obviously a real character.
Hi Celia,
Mrs Boss looks very happy, I agree. She must be more relaxed, away from the bullying. She is loving the experience.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hi Sara,
Your present of the Guinea Fowl eggs has given us so much joy. Thanks a million.
Hi Pat,
We were just discussing Mrs Boss and regretting that we have not allowed her to foster a family before. Even though we didn’t need new hens, someone would have appreciated a clutch of free hens as they are quite expensive (£15.00 a pop four years ago). And we are having so much fun seeing the keets grow up and enjoying Mrs Boss in a happy place for once.
She is just sooooooooo lovely!!!!! Glad the little family is getting on well.
What a movie star Mrs Boss is and so athletic too. She will be heading for the hen olympics soon!
Good to see the keets and Mrs Boss doing so well.
Sara from farmingfriends
How do hens manage to do different facial expressions? Mrs Boss looks so content and happy in that photo. She’s a star!
Celia