DAN'S PAPERS, November 13, 2009 Page 33 www.danshamptons.com
Earthly Delights
By April Gonzales
Neighbors and Guinea Hens My neighbors have guinea hens and chickens. I like listening to the rooster in the morning as a counter to the turkeys in the woods. The rooster’s crow reminds me that it is morning, and the turkeys’ gobbles make me laugh. But it is the guinea hens I sort of envy my neighbors for. I would like to raise some guinea hens to peck around my property. They eat ticks, but don’t scratch around as much as turkeys and chickens. One year, a 16-member turkey family repeatedly gleaned the woods around my house, kicking up leaves everywhere they went. They are very intelligent and have a complex set of calls to communicate all kinds of things. In our case it was probably about the dogs and whether it was safe for the young turkeys to come out of the oaks and start hunting down their breakfast. The whole flock loved my driveway and the clover in the lawn; they practically came up to the door if the dogs were not out. But just as suddenly as they appeared, they left. I still see them around the neighborhood from time to time. The hens do not seem to be as bright as the turkeys. They are always in the road. Someone crashed into the cemetery fence a while back and I suspect that the accident occurred because the driver tried to avoid hitting the flock’s laggard. One day we went out to find one recently killed by a car, its feet sticking up in the air. The rest of the guinea hens had run into the woods and were squawking loudly. A friend of ours had just come over, so I called back to my husband and told him to check the friend’s car for feathers. No evidence was found, so the culprit could have been anybody. I have not seen them since, so maybe they learned to stay out of the road. There are several colors of guinea hens: lavender, grey, white, speckled. They are all pretty, but way too noisy for my husband’s taste. He lived with guinea hens for a while and even saw a hawk try to steal one from the yard. As it lifted its prey up into the sky, all the other guinea hens rushed under the deck and caused a racket. The hawk did not have the strength to fly off with the hen, and it fell to the ground and then joined its brethren under the deck. I would not worry so much about hawks here, even though we found a sick red-tailed hawk, rehabilitated it and let it go again. It is my dogs that would give the hens perhaps a bit too much exercise–and heart attacks. As far as the dog is concerned, anything that
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moves is fair game to chase. The cats have long ago learned to sit down when the dog challenges them, or head for the cover of a chair and then turn around and give the dog a whack on the nose. I am not sure that guinea hens can figure out a similar kind of strategy. And poultry may require daily care that adds to chores we already have. But what if they ate up all the ticks? That might be worth the effort. Of course, we might lose a few to foxes and raccoons. That would be heartbreaking. The dogs don’t keep the nighttime predators at bay either. Like the turkeys, they know the dogs’ schedule. So housing might be necessary. My other neighbor has his chicken house door, a little Swiss-style chalet, on a timer. It opens in the morn-
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So there you have it. My recommendations aren’t all inclusive, but they’re sure to increase your chances of selling or renting quicker. More importantly, it’s surprisingly inexpensive to do this online. For the property I mentioned earlier, I closed the rental deal within 30 days, and the renters moved in within 90 days. (I kept marketing my home the entire time in case something fell through). I rented for $2,500 per month and spent a grand total of $425 of my own money online. Do the math. That’s a little over 1% of the annual rental fee. And I purchased a premium ad – a featured home listing. I could’ve spent even less, but with all the homes on the market, I wanted to stand out. (By the way, over the course of those 90 days when I kept my home in front of potential renters, we got another 12 qualified prospects and were ready if anything went south on us with the renter we first closed.) In this market, you’d be crazy not to use a realtor to help market and sell your home, but you’d also be crazy not to additionally market it yourself online at eastendhomefinder.com or let your real estate agent know about the new site so that your property is getting the maximum exposure it needs to sell.
ing to let the chickens out, and closes at dusk, eliminating the need to round up all the birds and shut them in for the night. Other friends have dug chainlink enclosures about 18” deep in the ground to keep critters from digging their way to a nice chicken dinner. And then there is the eggloo, a plastic iglooshaped chicken coop that can be moved around the yard with an attached run. I think I would want freerange guinea hens, though, so they could cover as much territory as possible in their tick-eating pursuits. I’ll just have to wander down the road and see how my neighbor keeps his guinea hens. While I’m there, I will inquire about the constant cackling.
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