Eggs

[ColtHandorf]

One of the biggest problems with letting guinea hens hatch and raise their keets is that here in most parts of the United States it is much cooler and wetter than their rather arid environment where they evolved. As such their little brains are not hardwired to understand that letting the little ones out in the dewy grass to get wet and chilled is not the same thing as running through dusty acacia and scrub in the African bush.

 

[BuckwheatandClucks]

We get large clutches of eggs during mating season. My girls would never sit on them for any length of time. I typically don't disturb them if I see a clutch near to home because otherwise they would wander in the woods. Eventually they lose interest and I toss them. I know some people love to eat the eggs, but since we don't know how long they have laid there-we choose not to eat them. Same with the scattered eggs in the yard. We have tried to get them to lay in nesting boxes and that just doesn't happen.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

We get large clutches of eggs during mating season. My girls would never sit on them for any length of time. I typically don't disturb them if I see a clutch near to home because otherwise they would wander in the woods. Eventually they lose interest and I toss them. I know some people love to eat the eggs, but since we don't know how long they have laid there-we choose not to eat them. Same with the scattered eggs in the yard. We have tried to get them to lay in nesting boxes and that just doesn't happen.

Their eggs are super tasty. You could mark the eggs you will leave behind and collect the new ones every day... If I had an outdoor nest like that, it would be quickly decimated by predators/scavengers at night.

 

[My2butterflies]

Not going to lie, when I found nests like that I’d still eat the eggs.
I float test and then crack them individually into a bowl before using. Just to be sure it’s not “off”.
I love guinea eggs. I really don’t care for chicken eggs anymore, even my own chickens eggs just aren’t the same.
I can’t wait for spring! I’m going to eat my jumbos eggs and hatch the eggs from my standards. Hahaha

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Not going to lie, when I found nests like that I’d still eat the eggs.
I float test and then crack them individually into a bowl before using. Just to be sure it’s not “off”.
I love guinea eggs. I really don’t care for chicken eggs anymore, even my own chickens eggs just aren’t the same.
I can’t wait for spring! I’m going to eat my jumbos eggs and hatch the eggs from my standards. Hahaha

Oh do the jumbos lay large eggs? That would be a plus!! How are your jumbos getting along with the regular sized ones?

 

[My2butterflies]

Oh do the jumbos lay large eggs? That would be a plus!! How are your jumbos getting along with the regular sized ones?

Yes, I *believe* they do based on weight I’ve seen regular guinea eggs weigh in at opposed to how much mine weigh.
I’ll have visual comparisons once they start laying this spring. My younger guineas were hatched too late and never laid last year.
Im hopefully the difference will be more obvious then just weight. It will save a step when I collect for incubating. Haha.

They have been getting along great! There is still an obvious division in the flock, pearls vs regulars. But there isn’t aggression between the groups. At least not now. We will see what the breeding season brings...