Good news/Bad news in guinea land

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Good news: I made ceramic guinea eggs last weekend. Since then, I’ve sanded the worst of the lumps out and rolled them in our sandy clay. I put three ceramic eggs in the outdoor nest and it seemed to work - three more eggs laid there today! So far our critters have left them alone, but I’ll be sad when a snake eats them... Pic of nest with three ceramic and three real eggs.

Bad news: I’ve had so much trouble with the guineas crossing the road and getting hit. I penned them for six weeks, then for the last six weeks I’ve let them out of boy in the afternoon when I could keep an eye on them. If they went towards the road, I’ve been waiting there with an umbrella to scare them away. They seemed to be doing so well, and our ticks have gotten so bad, that I started letting them out earlier. I’ve slowly worked down to 1:30 PM free range today.... and my husband called to tell me that guineas were on the road and almost hit by a truck! I had to go out and scare them back one more time! I’m so so frustrated with their desire to go across the street to our neighbors pond! Pic of problem road from the road looking towards our property, and from our property towards the road. I’ve been considering a visual barrier there, but that mowed area is an easement mowed by the county, and our property is the small cliff bordering the road...

 

[R2elk]

Good news: I made ceramic guinea eggs last weekend. Since then, I’ve sanded the worst of the lumps out and rolled them in our sandy clay. I put three ceramic eggs in the outdoor nest and it seemed to work - three more eggs laid there today! So far our critters have left them alone, but I’ll be sad when a snake eats them... Pic of nest with three ceramic and three real eggs.

Bad news: I’ve had so much trouble with the guineas crossing the road and getting hit. I penned them for six weeks, then for the last six weeks I’ve let them out of boy in the afternoon when I could keep an eye on them. If they went towards the road, I’ve been waiting there with an umbrella to scare them away. They seemed to be doing so well, and our ticks have gotten so bad, that I started letting them out earlier. I’ve slowly worked down to 1:30 PM free range today.... and my husband called to tell me that guineas were on the road and almost hit by a truck! I had to go out and scare them back one more time! I’m so so frustrated with their desire to go across the street to our neighbors pond! Pic of problem road from the road looking towards our property, and from our property towards the road. I’ve been considering a visual barrier there, but that mowed area is an easement mowed by the county, and our property is the small cliff bordering the road...

Nice job on the eggs.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Nice job on the eggs.

Thanks!

 

[My2butterflies]

Maybe give them a small pond? It doesn’t need to be fancy. Just something you can toss a small pump into so they have running water to drink from.

I have a pond I dug and mine love to drink from it. If that’s the main reason they are going over there then maybe making your own will keep them home
Picture of mine from a month ago.

The eggs look awesome btw!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Maybe give them a small pond? It doesn’t need to be fancy. Just something you can toss a small pump into so they have running water to drink from.

I have a pond I dug and mine love to drink from it. If that’s the main reason they are going over there then maybe making your own will keep them home
Picture of mine from a month ago. View attachment 2149728
The eggs look awesome btw!

Thanks! I really like how cute and relaxing your pond is! What’s the lattice structure?

We actually have our own large and small pond on our property. The small pond is currently dry because we are a bit droughty, but the big pond has plenty of water... There is a pond and wild area around it across the street that I think one guinea made a nest in months ago. At that point, it was more green and lush than our property, since it was barely spring and Oklahoma gets brown over winter. However, now that wild area looks a lot like our property.

I’ve kept them penned in enough that I think they are all using either the coop nest or that one wild nest in our property, though I could be missing a few eggs as I’m getting 8-9 eggs from 12 hens... However, I think it’s my well behaved older birds that I’m missing eggs from, not my adventuresome young ones... I guess I’ll keep them in until 4 or 4:30 again today and see how many eggs we get. I hate to punish our older group, who have the outdoor nest and are much better about staying in place!

I woke up at 2 AM last night worrying about the guineas... I think I’ll try putting 100 ft of opaque silt fence just at the edge of the mowed area where the guineas tend to cross, and see it that gives them pause. That’s something that @BennieAnTheJets suggested previously, but I’ve had difficulty imagining how that would work. I am afraid that the fence will just trap them on the other side...

 

[My2butterflies]

Thanks! I really like how cute and relaxing your pond is! What’s the lattice structure?

We actually have our own large and small pond on our property. The small pond is currently dry because we are a bit droughty, but the big pond has plenty of water... There is a pond and wild area around it across the street that I think one guinea made a nest in months ago. At that point, it was more green and lush than our property, since it was barely spring and Oklahoma gets brown over winter. However, now that wild area looks a lot like our property.

I’ve kept them penned in enough that I think they are all using either the coop nest or that one wild nest in our property, though I could be missing a few eggs as I’m getting 8-9 eggs from 12 hens... However, I think it’s my well behaved older birds that I’m missing eggs from, not my adventuresome young ones... I guess I’ll keep them in until 4 or 4:30 again today and see how many eggs we get. I hate to punish our older group, who have the outdoor nest and are much better about staying in place!

I woke up at 2 AM last night worrying about the guineas... I think I’ll try putting 100 ft of opaque silt fence just at the edge of the mowed area where the guineas tend to cross, and see it that gives them pause. That’s something that @BennieAnTheJets suggested previously, but I’ve had difficulty imagining how that would work. I am afraid that the fence will just trap them on the other side...

Oh ok. Here I was hoping it would be a simple fix for you just putting a small pond in. Haha.
Hopefully the fence will work to keep them away from the road.
I think mine would be drawn to the fence. They are so curious about anything “new” going on. And I’m not sure if it’s because of breeding season, but mine have been extra bold lately towards our dogs and us. Getting a lot closer then they normally would.

I totally understand worry keeping you up! I’ve lost a few nights sleep over mine.

Oh, and the lattice is surrounding the filter for the pond. It works great, but was ugly to look at. Lol. This past week and weekend we finished the patio and got our gazebo up It’s been a work in progress to finish the pond area.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Oh ok. Here I was hoping it would be a simple fix for you just putting a small pond in. Haha.
Hopefully the fence will work to keep them away from the road.
I think mine would be drawn to the fence. They are so curious about anything “new” going on. And I’m not sure if it’s because of breeding season, but mine have been extra bold lately towards our dogs and us. Getting a lot closer then they normally would.

I totally understand worry keeping you up! I’ve lost a few nights sleep over mine.

Oh, and the lattice is surrounding the filter for the pond. It works great, but was ugly to look at. Lol. This past week and weekend we finished the patio and got our gazebo up It’s been a work in progress to finish the pond area.

It’s very pretty, what a relaxing spot! Our dock has a falling apart so not quite as relaxing, but I snapped a quick picture for you.

 

[My2butterflies]

It’s very pretty, what a relaxing spot! Our dock has a falling apart so not quite as relaxing, but I snapped a quick picture for you.

Very nice! I’d love a pond that big!

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

So sorry you are still having trouble with your Guineas.

Awesome eggs! I just get mine on Amazon wooden, unpainted, not as nice as yours, I am sure. The ones I get have a little flat area on the bottom, so I can tell which is which when I have to take the real ones out from under something that is hard to reach.

oops got something in the oven - will chime in again about the Guinea problem

 

[R2elk]

So sorry you are still having trouble with your Guineas.

Awesome eggs! I just get mine on Amazon wooden, unpainted, not as nice as yours, I am sure. The ones I get have a little flat area on the bottom, so I can tell which is which when I have to take the real ones out from under something that is hard to reach.

oops got something in the oven - will chime in again about the Guinea problem

I got wooden bantam eggs and sanded them down to a more pointed shape. My guinea hens are much more accepting of the Sculpey clay eggs than they are of the wooden eggs.