Eggs finally but never saw guineas breeding

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That’s awesome that your guineas are laying in your coop!!! I’ve had a terrible time with our guineas laying eggs outdoors. Their nests attracted many predators, and have lead the flock off of our premises and into the road, where they’ve been killed... So when they laid in our coop last year, I left them alone... 150 egg communal nest, 5 guineas broody on it, and big failure! When the keets hatched, mom(s)? killed them, plus there were broken eggs and yolk everywhere... I ended up having to hatch in my incubator and integrate juveniles later.

 

[Joev1973]

Holy cow thats alot of eggs. I have a buff orphington whis life goal is to hatch shes at it. Also i have honed my incubator skills to near a 100% hatch rate. I hatched 24 eggs in 3 batchs and only 1 didnt hatch. It wasnt fertile. Will probably try to hatch some guinea eggs as well. Assortment of eggs coming next month to.

 

[Joev1973]

You know the amount of eggs piling up makes me believe I have alot of girls. Only 5 birds and im finding alot of eggs and wondering if i have a boy at all. The birds are almost 1 year old ...9 months maybe. When will i be able to tell who's what? And how do i distiguish?

 

[R2elk]

You know the amount of eggs piling up makes me believe I have a lot of girls. Only 5 birds and im finding a lot of eggs and wondering if i have a boy at all. The birds are almost 1 year old ...9 months maybe. When will i be able to tell who's what? And how do i distinguish?

You can tell by their call, only the females do the "buckwheat" call. The hens that are laying will have a raised "bustle" during the laying time of year. Adult hens that are laying are easy to vent sex if you know what you are looking for.

Males can be told from their posturing. Hens will look straight at you. Males will sidle around you as they look sideways at you. Another poster put it very well when describing it "as if they are sizing you up".

Out free ranging or in a large run, a male will lie down while his hen circles around him as she forages.