adding gunnies to a year old flock - Page 2

I have never had a guinea successfully hatch her own eggs. The ones that start sitting out in the woods where I can't find them have always mysteriously disappeared and the ones laying in the coop seem to abandon them and prefer to lay outside. So the only time I hatched guinea eggs were ones I stuck in an incubator. Anyone have any ideas on getting them to sit a nest indoors? 

It's their instinct that makes them choose to lay outside, so you will have to force the Hens to lay in the coop. Give them multiple choice private nesting spots inside the coop and don't let them out to free range until they lay each day. I do this with my breeding flocks (I collect the fresh eggs daily tho, and leave older marked eggs in the nest area to encourage them to continue to lay there, but I don't let my Hens hatch out their own keets). For a while the eggs might get kicked around/scattered, but eventually I usually end up with a couple Hens sharing a pile of eggs. 

 

Keep in mind that just because the Hens start laying in the coop and may go broody on the eggs in there, it's not the safest place for keets to hatch out, unless you can close the Hen and nest area in (close to hatching time) so the keets are protected from the rest of the flock. Sometimes the flock will see the keets as a threat and may end up killing them. Not always, but it does happen so it's best to expect it. You can always open up the enclosure if everyone is mellow/relaxed about the keets.

I have always had my guineas and hens together and now we have a couple of ducks too.  When mating season started a few weeks ago the males started ruling the roost so to speak.  The chickens just give them a lot of room and tend to stick together and not go around the guineas except for one black australorp hen that thinks she is a guinea.  She spends her whole day with the guineas out free ranging and even trys to act like the guinea males and peck at the chicken hens if they come too close.  We have a large coop and run so no problems really but then we also free range all day because we want them to take care of ticks and insects.

My chickens and guineas roost together.  Newbies must undergo some hazing but things usually settle down once they have worked out their hierarchy and once it is completely dark.

 

I have a separate maternity/nursery pen.  When a chicken - rarely a guinea - goes broody I wait until they have all settled and then 3-4 hours after dark and move the mom, nest and all, to the nursery pen.  We try to do it in silence, as quickly as possible, with the least disturbance to the mom.  If I need to do any adjusting or swapping of eggs I do it the next day when she comes off the eggs to eat.  

 

Chickens rarely "snap out" of broody mode using this technique, but I've had poorer success with guineas.  I think they are more hard-wired to abandon their eggs when disturbed.  

 

 

 

 

Exactly!!!^^^^

 

If he's that mean, he might be stew-pot material.    He's a nice looking rooster though.

 

I would definitely say that the size of the rooster would not be a factor.

I had a dozen turkeys that I raised with a few guineas (1 male), but once that male guinea matured he was the boss.

He'd 'ride' the turkeys into submission by hanging from their feathers. Quite a sight to see a 40lb tom go running by with a little guinea hanging by his beak.

Felt bad for the turkeys but they soon ended up in the freezer alongside their tormenter.

 

My husband retired from the Marine Corps as a Sgt Maj and NYRED... You made him laugh. Thank you. We too are looking to get guineas for bug population in Texas and just wonder if they will come back to chicken coop at night if we let them free range. I understand will have to keep them "cooped" up till they grow a bit. How old is grown up?