Do you need nesting boxes in a quinea coop when they will be free ranging during the day?

[MelindaAustin]

We're in the process of building a guinea run with a storage building for their coup and we're wondering how we should build up the coup for them. We're going to create place for them to roust but we're wondering if we need nesting boxes? They will free range during the day and be put up at night. Also, what do you do for weed control and spraying weeds when you have guineas?

 

[Hotcookie]

I think I may be one of the lucky ones here on this forum, but the majority of my females use the nest boxes inside their coop to lay eggs. I had one pesky little girl determined to have babies, but since she was on the bottom of the pecking order, was not allowed by the other females to lay inside. We managed to find her nest out in the woods twice this summer, and when we did, we got rid of all the eggs & destroyed the nest so she couldn't lay there anymore. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky the third time. When we finally figured out where she was, it was too late - something had gotten her during the previous night.

On the plus side, my females that laid inside their coop successfully hatched out 12 babies by themselves a few weeks ago. So yes, in my humble opinion, if you don't want to lose your females to predators, build those nest boxes inside and encourage them to lay their eggs in them. To get them started, any eggs I found laying around went inside a nest box, & before I knew it, they just thought that was the correct place to lay them.

 

[lakebound]

How big do you build your nesting boxes?

 

[red horse ranch]

How big do you build your nesting boxes?

A few of my guinea hens will lay inside the henhouse or barn. They seem to like the long plastic milk crates that I use for the chickens. I use screws to attach the milk crates to the wall. This way the milk crate can be easily moved to a brooder with hen and babies inside once the hatch begins. Not sure of the exact size but they are probably 12"x18".

 

[MakeshiftAcre]

I agree you want to do everything you can to encourage them to nest in their coop.

I use sheep for weed control.

 

[R2elk]

We're in the process of building a guinea run with a storage building for their coup and we're wondering how we should build up the coup for them. We're going to create place for them to roust but we're wondering if we need nesting boxes? They will free range during the day and be put up at night. Also, what do you do for weed control and spraying weeds when you have guineas?

Here is one design for nest boxes on the Guinea Fowl forum. I don't think that I would build them elevated thus eliminating the need for the ramp. If you do a search over there, they do have some good photos of well thought guinea coops and runs.

http://guineas.com/forum/index.php?id=10662

 

[NBKOC64]

We have a few guineas that will lay eggs in nest boxes with the chickens, but the majority of them just lay eggs on the ground. The ones that lay on the ground don't appear to even try to keep the eggs together. They are strewn all over the inside coop. Occasionally, one will lay in the outside run part of the coop, but not very often.

 

[MeepBeep]

We have a few guineas that will lay eggs in nest boxes with the chickens, but the majority of them just lay eggs on the ground.  The ones that lay on the ground don't appear to even try to keep the eggs together.  They are strewn all over the inside coop.  Occasionally, one will lay in the outside run part of the coop, but not very often.

Pretty much the same with me, rarely do I find any guinea eggs in the actual nesting boxes, they are usually all over the coop as if they just fell out of the guinea unnoticed or sometimes if I'm lucky all piled in a corner...

 

[MelindaAustin]

Wow, I do hear sometimes that guineas aren't good mothers, I guess sometimes that is true. We will have to keep our eyes open in their coop when it comes time.

 

[MeepBeep]

Wow, I do hear sometimes that guineas aren't good mothers, I guess sometimes that is true.  We will have to keep our eyes open in their coop when it comes time. 

I finally had my fist guinea actually go broody, she collected a dozen eggs from who knows where into the corner formed between the dust bath pool and the coop wall and is sitting on them... I have never let a broody bird do the work, as I prefer incubators, but I figured I will let her run the course and see what happens this time around just for fun... The only drawback is that I have to kick her off the nest every day because she somehow acquires a new single chicken egg every day...