Egg hiding guineas

[greathorse]

My guineas very conveniently started laying in the hay bunk in my barn. I let about 36 eggs get together there and took most of them and added some chicken eggs so they would hopefully keep laying there. Not so. I am sure I will be on a guinea egg hunt. They laid one more egg there and now there are no more. UHHHH

I have a lot of cover here so may never find the nest.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Ours lay all over the place - in the wood pile for the fire place is one of their fav's. They go between the logs and lay. I'm quite sure the snakes get their fill.

Steve in NC

 

[jvls1942]

mine were laying in the chicken nests, then they moved to the floor, then they moved to under the 2 row cultivator, then they moved to under a large brush pile, now we do not have a clue again..

It takes us about 20 eggs to track them down each time..

 

[txchickie]

I have had guineas for 2 years now and only last year was I able to locate a nest ONCE.

This year, nada

 

[Katy]

The only way I know when mine are laying is when my dogs discover a nest and start bringing eggs into the yard to eat.....and then I still usually can't find the nest!

 

[Debbienmousey]

Last year I found 1 of 2 nests when they were going. (The other we found later on but it was all dried up shells, the hen never brought any keets back and she never sat full time.)

This year I have found 3 of 4 nests. (We only have 3 hens now, but one of the nests belonged to a hen which started to set and then on her 3rd day of setting she disappeared with all her eggs.) Only 1 of the nests are still going, and eventually I assume we'll try caging the hen "on spot" and if she gets broken up then we'll either incubate or sell the eggs.

I found that the best way to find a nest is either to a) follow the hen / hen and cock, or b) look around in an area you know the guineas visit often.(An area they visit, but not an area that you normally see them eating at, or not eating a lot anyway.) This year I have found 2 nests by following the hens. I found 1 nest by looking for another guineas nest. (The one I was looking for I never found)

It's kind of hard to explain what a "nesting" guinea hen looks like. If you lock them up at night, she'll generally be running kind of frantically along the edges of the run trying to find a way out. Especially if you can figure out what time of day she lays. Most of my guineas lay in the afternoon. Therefore it's kind of easier if I wait until 12:00 or 1:00 PM before letting them out. (Only on days I want to follow them) If I wait that long, the hens will generally be ready to lay and will hurry off to their nest. The hen will normally bring her cock along with her. He kind of "escorts" her to her nest. Follow them at a distance, not too far though because as soon as she gets to her nest she will disappear and it will be harder to find her if you don't notice where she went. The cock will probably hang back a little, the hen will go out in front calling buck-wheat. As soon as she determines that nothing threatening is following her she'll stop calling and dart into her nest. The cock will probably head back to the coop/run. If you didn't see where she darted into it's wise to hang around for a few minutes. I've found that 5-8 minutes (Roughly) after the hen gets on her nest she will call out, kind of a weird alarm call. This will help you find her. (In my experience, the cock comes back to the nest when the hen calls out) I like to determine where she may be, and then slowly creep up to that spot. If I find her, then I make sure to mark the spot somehow, or better yet take pictures of it if I brought the camera, and then I leave quietly. Once I see her back with the rest of the flock I go to the nesting site and count the eggs. I do not mark them because I find that guinea hens are VERY picky about where they lay their eggs. They always know when their nest has been messed with. (Especially since 2 of the 3 nests were in berry bushes, lol, it's easy to see when it's been messed with)

I'm sorry I wrote so much, but I hope I helped.

 

[greathorse]

Thanks that was very helpful. I had not thought about waiting for a while to let them out. When mine were laying in the barn they did lay at about 2 pm it seemed. I will let them out later than normal this weekend and see whats up.

 

[Aj1911]

mine lay on the floor of there pin

i make them a nest out of hay every night and they go for it

also i dont let them out tell 1:30pm so one of the females have laid a egg in the pin (i also keep 2 eggs in there nest at all times)

so far so good