Keets arrived from Guinea Farm of Iowa. Pics included.

[R2elk]

I found a hen sitting on a nest tonight. I removed her and escorted her to the coop. This flock was hatched 4/12/22. Would the eggs even be viable at their age?

ETA, I don’t want keets this year. Do I put some eggs back in the morning to keep this hen to a known nesting location so I can escort her to the coop every night? Or get rid of all eggs and hope she forgets about it?

If you remove all the eggs, they will most likely find a better hidden place to lay. Mark the eggs that you leave and collect the freshly laid eggs daily.

The eggs are most likely viable.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I found a hen sitting on a nest tonight. I removed her and escorted her to the coop. This flock was hatched 4/12/22. Would the eggs even be viable at their age?

ETA, I don’t want keets this year. Do I put some eggs back in the morning to keep this hen to a known nesting location so I can escort her to the coop every night? Or get rid of all eggs and hope she forgets about it?

It depends on what you want, but I leave 3-6 marked eggs so I can find where the guineas are laying. I have to collect those eggs every night for outdoor nests or they get raided and abandoned anyway. Then I put the eggs back out in the morning. Due to my continuing bobcat issues, birds are locked up so no wild nests for them right now.

 

[Bicoastal]

Thanks to you both. I marked and returned the eggs this morning. This location is convenient so I’d like to keep her there for easy relocation to the coop each night.

My goal is for the predators to believe there are no easy meals here and get my young flock through their first year with minimal losses. I don’t wish to consider keets until next year.

She’s back sitting on the eggs and hollering for the group to come back. How long will she persist in this behavior? Funny time of year, with days getting shorter.