Guinea Fowl nesting/mating call?

[dianneS]

I have four female and one male guinea. They are probably just a year old now. They have recently taken to hanging out in the weeds along the edge of our woods. There is also a strange new sound coming from them. Its not the typical "buckwheat, buckwheat!" call of the female. Its different. I actually thought it was a distress call at first because as the female was making this sound from the weeds the male was frantically running back and forth in the field in front of her.

All of my guineas have been accounted for at night until recently, one is missing. During the day the male is standing guard along the edge of the weeds. I'm wondering if one of the females has a nest down there and could she be setting?

 

[R2elk]

I have four female and one male guinea. They are probably just a year old now. They have recently taken to hanging out in the weeds along the edge of our woods. There is also a strange new sound coming from them. Its not the typical "buckwheat, buckwheat!" call of the female. Its different. I actually thought it was a distress call at first because as the female was making this sound from the weeds the male was frantically running back and forth in the field in front of her.

All of my guineas have been accounted for at night until recently, one is missing. During the day the male is standing guard along the edge of the weeds. I'm wondering if one of the females has a nest down there and could she be setting?

No need to wonder. She has a hidden nest. You can locate the nest by listening to her calls and slowly approaching. If you can lock her up for the night, you can follow her as she heads straight to the nest when let out the next morning.

I have heard the call being referred to as the egg laying call. The only time that I have heard any of my hens making that call is when they are actually setting on the nest. Prior to going broody I never hear them make the call just for laying an egg.

Good luck.

 

[Keeterwaul]

There definitely is an "egg song" the females make while setting. It's the only non-abrasive call they make. It's a lower volume, long repeated soft call that some of mine hold for up to 10 seconds. If you can't see her but hear the call, she's sitting on eggs.

 

[dianneS]

Awesome!

I only hear that particular call coming from the weed patch. I never hear them do it anywhere else.

The male is definitely keeping watch too. I think I may have two of them now that have nests, two females disappeared today. One of them reappeared and the other I could hear down in the weeds.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Keeterwaul]

I've discovered two rogue nests in the weeds from my flock too. I just gather them, rustle the nest and put the eggs in their communal nest in the coop. Once a majority of my girls went broody they stopped making outside nests. Timing of free ranging helps us too, we don't let them out until after 2ish as we've read they typically lay in the morning (however I've witnessed laying at 1pm and a couple girls held their eggs until the minute I let them out and dropped them in the middle of the field).

 

[dianneS]

I'm pretty sure mine must be laying first thing in the morning too. They head for the weeds and the male is always standing guard in the morning hours. After noon they all seem to return to the barn area. I may have one hen that is setting on the eggs now, I haven't seen her at all today but did hear her down in the weeds. My guineas roost on top of our chicken coop and free range 24/7.

 

[dianneS]

I definitely think that I've got a hen setting on a nest now.

She didn't come up to roost last night with the rest of them and I heard her calling from the weeds this morning. The male was down there standing guard earlier today too. I found a youtube video of the nesting sounds and I definitely heard those sounds coming from the brush today!

I'm excited, I hope we have babies!

 

[Keeterwaul]

I hope you have some success for sure but what I've read about guineas nesting outside has not sounded good. You're at the mercy of predators.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I know where my guineas nest and one of them calls a lot as she lays. The other is silent. The males will stand guard. My white hen was killed a couple of weeks ago and her purple male was attacked too as he stood guard. Luckily he survived. She was a silent layer. She never went broody as I had just found her nest the week before and it had 57 eggs in it, all from her! My remaining pearl hen is quiet on the nest, while my lavender one will call out for hours. She is usually on the nest from 10am to 1pm.

Depending on where you live, which I assume is out in the country or somewhat rural, the odds are against her surviving the 28 days to hatch the eggs, unfortunately. Good luck!

 

[dianneS]

So far, she's still alive! I saw her yesterday and this morning. She gets off the nest briefly to eat and take a GIANT poop, so she must be setting. Then she returns to her nest and the male stands guard in the morning and again in the afternoon.

I sure hope nothing gets her. She is in a pasture with a guard donkey and we haven't lost a bird to a fox since we got our livestock guardian dog 8 years ago. Hawks still get the small banty chickens from time to time, but we don't have a fox problem anymore. The dog dispatched a few raccoons too so hopefully they will steer clear. But the donkey patrols the area where the guineas nest is right now and she does a good job as a guardian.

I got these birds from a friend of mine who also has LGD's and her guineas always successfully brood in the weeds and hatch lots of babies with no predator issues at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!