- Dec 30, 2012
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Hoping someone has some thoughts on what's going on with one of our guineas. She had a nest of 16 eggs. I removed 10, left 6 behind so she would continue to lay. Every day she lays one, but three days ago she didn't want to come off the nest in the evening to go into the barn. We got her off with very little difficulty (just poked her gently with a stick), collected that day's egg, and locked her into the barn. Next night she did the same thing, and again a new egg had been laid. Last night she was more difficult to get off, hissing at us a little, snapping at the stick. But again there was a new egg in the nest. In our limited experience (just a few years) of raising guineas, they never start incubating till all their eggs are laid, and they are extremely protective of the nest, fighting very hard if we try to get them to leave. There isn't another guinea laying in the nest, because we only have two females and the other has her own nest elsewhere. She spends most of the day on the nest, although I do see her off occasionally. While on the nest she occasionally makes that unusual call they make when they're laying an egg, but then if I notice her off the nest and can check, there's not always a new egg. But by the end of the day there is. So what in the world is going on with her? I'm pulling the new eggs and storing them, but I'm wondering if they're going to be any good since she's spending so much time on the nest. I also wonder what's going on inside those that I've left for her since we're making her get off at night. I know sometimes they can spend time on the nest just to keep the eggs cool rather than warm, and it has been unseasonably warm here in Virginia this spring. But if that's what she's doing, I would think that she would still want to come back to the safety of the barn at night. Any thoughts would be welcome.
