Daily Guinea Egg Hunt

[kuntrygirl]

Is anyone else on a daily easter egg hunt looking for guinea eggs? My guineas have been doing SOOOOOOO great at free ranging and coming back in at night and roosting in their pen but they have NOT been doing great at laying eggs where they are supposed to lay eggs. I'm sure there are about 100 eggs somewhere out there in the woods that I cannot find. Why can't guineas be like chickens and lay in a nesting box? Why do they have to be so much trouble? :/ I'm to the point where they can lay where ever they want to. I'm not worrying about the eggs anymore. The only time I will worry about eggs is when a customer wants to buy some eggs. When that happens, I lock them up in their pen during the day, so that they can lay there eggs and they I let them out when everyone is done.

Anyone else having problems with their guineas laying eggs in secret places?

 

[KrisH]

YES, we have found they keep 2 to 3 nests. after they go up at night, we go and collect some of the eggs and mark the ones we leave. the next day we collect the marked eggs. they usually won't abandon the nest if we don't clean out the nest and they don't watch us. but when more eggs are not there, they have moved on to annother. if you watch carefully you can identify future nests.

On the bright side, it gets us out n the field to walk around, check fences etc.

RobertH

oh, I forgot to mention... it seems that if there are 14+ eggs in a nest, someone goes broody, then it becomes a guinea hunt before dark.

 

[blueeyeddemon]

Nope But, only because I don't have any Guineas XD

 

[PeepsCA]

My laying season is finally coming to an end (starts in January here, lol), but during the breeding/laying season I keep my flocks in 'til I get eggs from most of the Hens (usually by the afternoon, but some times some Hens lay really late in the day), then I let them out to free range. Saves wear and tear on me... and I'm not crawling around in the bushes, poison oak and thistles looking for too many eggs that way. My flocks aren't happy about it, but they deal with it. I refuse to lose eggs or Hens to predators.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I agree PeepsCa, I can't afford to lose eggs or guineas. I'm in an area where I really don't have any predators. I think the guineas ARE the predators. I saw them gang up and run away a Tom cat the other day. When they say him they started screeching and took off after him and ran him in the woods. When they were done, they ran out of the woods and made the "We Got Him" screeching noise again and ran back home. Gotta love'em.

 

[Lmoreau70]

I just found a nest today with 16 eggs in it. I was out cleaning the coop and saw there were only 3 of my 4 guineas out and I walked around the area where the others were hanging out about 4 times and didn't see anything until I told my dog to start lookin for them. She found her! She was only about a foot off the yard in some tall grass sitting on a big clutch of eggs. Not sure what to do with them. I do not want any more guineas!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I just found a nest today with 16 eggs in it.  I was out cleaning the coop and saw there were only 3 of my 4 guineas out and I walked around the area where the others were hanging out about 4 times and didn't see anything until I told my dog to start lookin for them.  She found her!  She was only about a foot off the yard in some tall grass sitting on a big clutch of eggs.  Not sure what to do with them.  I do not want any more guineas!

WOW!!! You could crack them open to see if they are good or not. If they are still good, you can cook them or feed them back to your flock. When I find eggs, that's what I do. 95% of the time, they are still good for consumption.