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?

 

[PuddleEndChicken]

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?

@R2elk It's about 4m wide, 2.5 m high and 8m long - concrete base with litter and some mud. Has a little shed at one end where they can roost up, the eggs are littered on the floor under the roosting area.....

 

[SamLockwood]

They like nesting sites that are covered. Mine either use the nesting boxes built into the coop or if they lay outside they'll pick natural hollows with cover.

They usually only start to sit on eggs if they have a lot of them: like around 2 dozen or so. Good luck getting in that nest, then. Few creatures are more berserk than a broody guinea hen guarding a clutch of eggs.

 

[PuddleEndChicken]

They like nesting sites that are covered. Mine either use the nesting boxes built into the coop or if they lay outside they'll pick natural hollows with cover.

They usually only start to sit on eggs if they have a lot of them: like around 2 dozen or so. Good luck getting in that nest, then. Few creatures are more berserk than a broody guinea hen guarding a clutch of eggs.

@R2elk @SamLockwood
Thank you for your helpful comments.
If she does go broody, should I leave the male in the run with her or put him back with the other guineas ?

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk @SamLockwood
Thank you for your helpful comments.
If she does go broody, should I leave the male in the run with her or put him back with the other guineas ?

He can stay with her.

 

[SamLockwood]

@R2elk @SamLockwood
Thank you for your helpful comments.
If she does go broody, should I leave the male in the run with her or put him back with the other guineas ?

Their usual nesting behavior is the male scouts out the nest first, and if he thinks it's OK he'll make some approving sounds (which sounds like my tinnitus acting up) and then he'll stand guard while she lays.

Before she lays she'll often give what chicken-keepers mistakenly call an "egg laying song" but is actually an escort call. In guinea fowl it sounds like a mournful yodeling sound. Some people mistake it for a sound of pain or distress, but she's actually saying "Hey dude, get over here and keep watch while I squeeze this egg out!"

The overwatch behavior is how I find their nests when they decide to lay eggs in "the wild." I listen for the yodeling in the forest and then look for the male standing watch next to a bush or thicket.