Guinea nest questions..

[nursesammy]

I have been watching an finally found it. I saw her sitting in there an then out after a bit. I checked an saw 3 eggs. Its in the pasture an im afraid cattle might step on it. Can i fence it so she can get in an cattle cant? Or would that scare her away?

 

[robin416]

Actually if the live stock did trample it that would a blessing in disguise. A Guinea on a nest out in the open is a prime target for predators.

My suggestion is to remove the eggs from the nest. Then keep her locked up in the coop until she's laid her egg for the day. Then let her out for the rest of the day. Do that for a week, you'll be training her to lay in the coop and not out where predators can get at her.

 

[nursesammy]

Ill have to try that. I didnt know they would do that. I thought i always was going to be looking for the nest. Luckily the nest is less than 15 yards away from the house and we dont have a predator issue. However my dog steals eggs at times.

 

[robin416]

Unless you're in an area that has never had raccoon, possums, fox, coyotte, you get the idea then a bird on a nest out in the grass is in danger. The fox that grabbed one of my Guineas was close enough to our house that I was able to run out screaming and get it to drop the Guinea. I have found signs that predators have been all the way up to our house.

Lean a half sheet of plywood against an inside wall of their coop. Put straw in it. Chances are good she'll begin laying in there.

 

[glenolam]

My $0.02 - it's not always bad to have a guinea lay eggs in the pasture. They usually will lay their nest in thick brush or woods - it took me two weeks to find where my guinea was building her nest. Long story short she decided after three weeks she'd had enough and abandoned the nest. I took all the eggs and put them in an incubator and hoped for the best. One guinea keet hatched out yesterday and I'm hoping more will today!

Now the flip side is that I have two others out there and I'm fairly certain one is a goner. Found tufts of feathers throughout the field and three eggs cracked open at the other side. Still can't find the nests or the other guinea, though, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. I have boarded up the remaining guineas, male and female, to start retraining them, so that's definitely the way to go.

 

[casuarius]

You could just incubate the eggs yourself? they are very easy. In my area, (NC) the guineas always lay around the late afternoon, and they always make a high pitch chattering noise different than their normal noises as soon as they lay a egg. I have gaurd dogs for predators, and the Guinea hens allowed to sit on her own nest still gets gone. I just use a incubator, hatched over 70 this year.