Question bout my guinea nests...

[thndrdancr]

My guineas free range during the day and I pen them at night.

Lately the hens have been going in and out of a deadfall of piled brush down by our pond, chattering a lot about it too.

I know a couple of the hens are probably laying and have made a nest there.

Now so far the mom or moms have still come back up to the pen to roost at night. I think they only started laying a a few days ago. Not sure I stand a chance of gathering up the nest and moving it, but that would be a better option than letting them set, we have tons of coyotes and they sleep like the dead at night. Blind as a bat!

Anyhow, whats the best option, wait til the hen/s start to set and try to move nest in their pen? No way can I enclose their nest, its a HUGE pile of brush. Or let them try to incubate? And take my chances. All my hens want to set in the same deadfall so I am really taking a chance if I let them. And what kind of setup do you have if you let them nest/incubate in their pen?

Thanks for any info.

 

[sred98]

I don't really have an answer, I am trying to find my head female guinea right now. I think she is on a nest, because she was in the barn last night. Anyway, I believe that all the females lay in one nest, and then one guinea goes broody? I don't think they all brood at the same time.

I might be wrong, but that is what I have heard. I came on here to post about finding her nest, but I guess I'll just wait her out.

If it's a huge brushpile, I am thinking it might be too much trouble for the coyotes. But, there are other predators out there that it wouldn't bother. I wish I could find mine and either put a pen around her or try and move the nest.

Good luck!

Shelly

 

[thndrdancr]

Thanks Shelly
Even that much helps. So just one hen sets then. I have seen all three going in and out of the brush pile and chattering to the "men" guinea's. They dont hang around it at all normally, so I can watch them from my front window, albeit I have to have a pair of binoculars to see as its a bit of a distance from the house.

I read somewhere if they see you messing around they will stop and go somewhere else. So I meant to go check it out this eve AFTER I penned them up, but it got dark on me before I could. Maybe in the morning. I will see how far back they are laying and how secure it looks. Maybe if I take the pups out and they pee around the area predators would be a bit more deterred? Or have dh go out and pee around the perimeter of the brush pile.

 

[Lollipop]

You can`t move a guinea nest, they will simply abandon it. Your best bet is to collect all the eggs except leave a few(4-6) that you have marked. then use a broody chicken or an incubator to hatch them. To my knowledge, nobody has ever moved a setting guinea successfully. Good luck........Pop

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
Great advice, this is how we do it here,

i just stop collecting eggs from my free range flock once hens were set and bators were full and now there are 5 of them sharing a large nest area and 1 duck, it happens to be at my deer blind out by my duck pond that i use to deture unwanted critters once a pon a time,

so i place a wire fence over it and added limbs ,brush and hay, to cover it more, my GP knows to keep an eye/ear open at night,


i have no idea how many eggs could be in there but i was collecting 9 to 11 a day and i aint sticking my hand in there with broody guineas,

The only bad thing is my hens tend to chatter a bit in the nest just when the sun is setting , so we take the 4 wheeler around the pasture just for good measure, we keep the area free of tall grasses and cover, the critters would have to cross a large open area to get to them, and my dogs are always on patrol .

Good luck with your broody, i love my guineas, just glad i have no close neighbors

 

[lorad]

I second the vote for collecting the eggs (leaving a couple so they continue to lay there) and putting the eggs in the incubator or under a chicken. Last summer I let the guineas sit on a few eggs, with the rest in the bator- both guinea hens would sit, but as the hatching day came- I checked under the guinea hens.
They had hatched out but over half were dead probably from the cold. So I would check the nest every few hours and pull the chicks to a brooder. Made for easier collection but I can't face seeing dead keets when they could survive...
Lora

 

[thndrdancr]

Alright, thanks all. I have been letting them freerange during the day. Day before, one egg was there yesterday morn but it disappeared during the day, probably a possum got it?
Yesterday eve.. three eggs in the brush pile but I collected all three. Told hubby to replace them with some banty eggs I got out and put on counter for him to do...but did he listen? I found the eggs on the counter tonite..darnit. So only found one egg today in brush pile and guinea hens were wandering in dif places and very perturbed, grrr at hubby.

Anyhow, we fixed up something in the pen for them. A leaning board against some hay, etc, that I will put some eggs in.

Now I would like a few to hatch for myself other than just these three. If I continue taking the eggs, will they continue laying then? I would like a couple dozen or so to try to hatch myself but only have 3 g hens.

And I just got 8 ticks off my pups, so I definitely need more of those guineas out there.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Don't take all the eggs out of the nest if you find it somewhere other then the coop. Mark a few with a marker (so it doesn't rub off) and leave them there. The next time you collect eggs, leave the same marked eggs behind. Leave these marked ones for a couple weeks. Remove them after a few weeks so they don't pop open because they will spoil, and mark a new set. You sacrifice a few eggs, but you know the ones you collect are always fresh and the guineas don't feel as though their nest is disturbed. Oh....and don't let them see you taking their eggs! They won't lay there again if they do. Most guineas don't have a lick of sense but when it comes to eggs they are pretty darn smart. lol