Oreo Wisdom

by guest blogger, Small Town Hen

For me, hobby farming is about learning as I go. Some lessons are easy, and some are hard.

Oreo, my favorite little guinea keet, taught me a couple of hard ones, all in a few hours time.

Now I'm not sure whether Oreo was male or female, and I'm not sure Oreo had figured it out yet either, but to keep this story simple, I'm going to refer to Oreo as "he."

Oreo was the only Pied Guinea keet to hatch from the 40 eggs in my incubator, and he was my favorite from the time he crawled out of his shell, wet and exhausted.

It was obvious to me right away that Oreo was a special bird. Besides being the first to hatch, he was the first one to eat, and the first one to drink water. What fun it was to watch advanced, gifted, exceptional Oreo learn.

Why, then, would I be surprised that he was also the first one to fly?

Problem was, the flying part caught me by surprise. One morning he was happily scratching around in the box, and that afternoon he was gone.

Ugh! Not good! Guinea fowl keets are delicate and easily harmed, and I didn't like to think of him out on his own, alone.

Checking around carefully for the little guy, I came to the bucket of water I kept beside the box to replenish the keets' supply. It had no lid on it and I was almost afraid to look in.

When I did, my stomach hit my boot tops. There was Oreo, soaking wet and not moving. I grabbed him out, but it was obviously too late. Oreo - the go-getter, the over achiever, the bold and daring risk taker - had flown out of the box, dropped into the bucket and drowned. 

It was my fault. The lid to the bucket lay right beside it, but I'd been to busy that morning to recognize the danger.

Oreo - the first to fly and the first to die - taught me two valuable lessons that day.

First, never underestimate your young ones. They'll fly long before you think they're ready. And second, always keep the lid on the bucket.

I realize now these are more than just farm lessons. They're life lessons as well.

Thank you, Oreo, and RIP.