How monogamous are guineas?

[jwilhite]

I have seven guineas and I don't know how many are female, but they recently started laying. They usually free range, but early this morning I was able to coop them up, and by this evening I had 5 new eggs in the coop (four in the morning, one in the late afternoon).

So...seven guineas, five eggs in one day. Now here are my questions:

1) Can I know for certain that at least five are female, or do guineas sometimes lay more than one egg per day?

2) If I really do have two males and five females, is it likely that many of the eggs are not fertilized? Will guineas be strictly monogamous, even in a 5 to 2 ratio?

3) Is there any way to tell which eggs are fertilized before I put them in the incubator?

4) How long can a guinea egg sit in the nest before it is too old to put in the incubator?

Thanks,
Jeff

P.S. Oh, and my Dad happened to be visiting today and brought his little dog who continually ran around the guinea coop frightening the guineas. How does that affect their laying? Is there any truth to the idea that you can "scare" an egg out of a bird?

 

[R2elk]

I have seven guineas and I don't know how many are female, but they recently started laying. They usually free range, but early this morning I was able to coop them up, and by this evening I had 5 new eggs in the coop.

So...seven guineas, five eggs in one day. Now here are my questions:

1) Can I know for certain that at least five are female, or do guineas sometimes lay more than one egg per day?

2) If I really do have two males and five females, is it likely that many of the eggs are not fertilized? Will guineas be strictly monogamous, even in a 5 to 2 ratio?

3) Is there any way to tell which eggs are fertilized before I put them in the incubator?

4) How long can a guinea egg sit in the nest before it is too old to put in the incubator?

Thanks,
Jeff

P.S. Oh, and my Dad happened to be visiting today and brought his little dog who continually ran around the guinea coop frightening the guineas. How does that affect their laying? Is there any truth to the idea that you can "scare" an egg out of a bird?

1) It is likely that you do have 5 hens. Documented cases of a guinea hen laying more than one egg a day are very rare and the occurrence is not on a regular basis..

2) There are a number of people who have good success with the ratio of 1 male to 5 hens. Even at at a 1 to 1 ratio it is not uncommon for some of the early eggs to be infertile. While there is some evidence indicating that guinea hens may tend to monogamy, there is plenty of evidence that guinea cocks are more than willing to spread their interests around.

3) The only way to tell if an egg is fertile prior to incubation is to break the egg open and check the yolk for the "bullseye". A solid white spot indicates lack of fertility while the "bullseye" indicates a developing blastoderm and fertility.

4) Seven to ten days is considered to be the optimum for storing eggs prior to incubation. Viability appears to start dropping drastically after 10 days.

Stress is never a good thing for egg production whether it is a guinea or a chicken. I highly recommend not allowing a dog to chase the guineas.

 

[jwilhite]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful. Two of my guineas like to fight each other. I always thought they just had a personal vendetta, but I guess those are just my two males.

I found a clutch of about 30 eggs and I put most of them in the incubator tonight. I don't have any idea how long they have been sitting there, though. I guess we'll see what happens.

Thanks for staying up late to answer my questions so thoroughly.

 

[Heidisgran]

I have had 4 of my guinea hens for 3 years...their roo was killed over a year ago
I hatched out a bunch in July of last year.
At this time I have 4 hens and 2 Roos but no fertile eggs? I'm stumped any thoughts?

 

[jwilhite]

I'm curious how you know they aren't fertile. Are you breaking them and checking, or are you just trying to incubate them with no results?

 

[R2elk]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful. Two of my guineas like to fight each other. I always thought they just had a personal vendetta, but I guess those are just my two males.

I found a clutch of about 30 eggs and I put most of them in the incubator tonight. I don't have any idea how long they have been sitting there, though. I guess we'll see what happens.

Thanks for staying up late to answer my questions so thoroughly.

Just because those two guineas fight a lot doesn't mean that they are the males. I have seen guinea hens take a dislike to each other and they also have to maintain their place in the pecking order. Of course you may be right and they may well be the males. If they can't make the buck-wheat sound then they are the males.

 

[Heidisgran]

I'm curious how you know they aren't fertile. Are you breaking them and checking, or are you just trying to incubate them with no results?

Yes opening to check fertility

 

[GuineaFowling]

Male guineas will take 2-3 hens. If their are more hens than males a male will take to the extras. My guineas are pretty monogamous. The pairs can't be without each other or all hell breaks loose. Of course I did raise them in pairs rather than as a whole batch. They are definitely more monogamous than a chicken will ever be but not as much as button quail.