Female Guinea laying but not sitting

[PuddleEndChicken]

I've put together a guinea fowl pair in their own run. Male is about 3, female is 14 months and has started laying for the first time at the beginning of June.

I've put a nesting box at ground level in a corner of the indoor part of the run. The run has a concrete floor but about 4 inches of wood shavings.

The female started laying eggs all over the floor. When there were 8 I put them in the nesting box. She immediately pushed them back out onto the floor. She's kept on laying until there are about 16 eggs, she pushes them around the floor, 2 she's half buried. (some of these are now too old to hatch). She roosts up but spends a lot of time looking down at them. She's not sitting.

Is she still too young to sit as she's only been laying for a month ?
Is it disturbing her to have the male still in with her ?
Should I put a cover over the nesting box to make it more private ? It's currently doesn't have a roof.
Does she need to dig a nest so the litter is too shallow ?

Any advice welcome. Thank you.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don’t know if chicken broodiness translates to guineas but with chickens you can’t just expect them to sit on a clutch just because there is one. When they are broody they will set. Following along since I have designs on getting guineas some day

 

[R2elk]

I've put together a guinea fowl pair in their own run. Male is about 3, female is 14 months and has started laying for the first time at the beginning of June.

I've put a nesting box at ground level in a corner of the indoor part of the run. The run has a concrete floor but about 4 inches of wood shavings.

The female started laying eggs all over the floor. When there were 8 I put them in the nesting box. She immediately pushed them back out onto the floor. She's kept on laying until there are about 16 eggs, she pushes them around the floor, 2 she's half buried. (some of these are now too old to hatch). She roosts up but spends a lot of time looking down at them. She's not sitting.

Is she still too young to sit as she's only been laying for a month ?
Is it disturbing her to have the male still in with her ?
Should I put a cover over the nesting box to make it more private ? It's currently doesn't have a roof.
Does she need to dig a nest so the litter is too shallow ?

Any advice welcome. Thank you.

Not all guinea hens will go broody. If you want to make sure the eggs get a chance to hatch, use an incubator.

It might help to put a top on the nest box but it might also not make any difference.

How big is the area they are confined in?