Guinea Nesting Boxes...

[tomingreeneco]

All my birds free range during the day. Last spring the one guinea started laying eggs in the their coop's nest box. We also found eggs from some of our other guineas out in the woods so we started taking a couple from those nests and placed them in the coop nest box. After a little while, there was a clutch of about 30 eggs. The guinea then went broody and did a great job of staying on the nest. When she did leave for a break, another guinea (her helper) would take over. At times both of them would sit on the eggs at the same time. Finally 4 hatched and she did a good job at keeping them in the coop for about a week. One day when I looked out the window I saw the keets had left the coop with her. I though it was too early for them to be out, so I ran outside, scooped them up and placed them back in the coop. She followed me back and went inside with them. I then closed the coop. Next day a purchased an inexpensive window screen at the hardware store. When I opened the coop, I made sure all the guineas could get out except mama and the keets. I placed the screen in the doorway (see pic below) so the adults could fly in and out but the keets could not. This worked for about 3 weeks. One day I saw the keets had escaped with mama. Well, I thought they had been kept in long enough so I removed the screen and everyone was on their own. Mama and her helper really kept an eye on them, Making sure they did not wander too far and ushered them into the coop every night. The four keets are now fully grown and I'm hoping mama can do it all again this year. (Mama's helper died, but one of her daughters is always near and maybe she will be the new helper.)



Chicken just came in for a visit!

 

[Jarb1951]

I enjoy reading everyone's comments. I have 4 guineas. 2 in each pen, with nest boxes. Tried to free range, but a hawk got
my 5th one, so I got nervous and they are penned, because would like to have them lay, and have babies, and start a flock.
We live in the country...hawks, owls, raccoons, foxes, and bobcats....so wish me luck. I sure wish I knew if they are males
and females... I know the waddles are larger on the two I think are males, but they all sound the same. I feed them laying
pellets, scratch, crickets, and worms.... any suggestions? Thank you, JARB51

 

[PeepsCA]

Wattle size isn't always accurate... both the males and females can have big cupped wattles, flat wattles or even one of each. So I would not rely on the wattles alone to help you determine sex. If you catch and separate 1 bird at a time and put it into a cage or a crate where it can hear the other Guineas but not see them (or see you), a Guinea Hen will start the 2 syllable buck-wheat call as soon as her separation anxiety kicks in. Usually as soon as I walk away they start calling but sometimes it may take 10-15 minutes, so give each bird enough time to start calling to the others before you just assume it's a male. Hens will make all the same calls/peeps/trills that the males make, but the males will not make the 2 syllable buck-wheat call, no matter how long you separate them, lol. If you don't know the difference between the different calls you can check on youtube, there are lots of videos on there that give very clear examples of how the Hens sound.

Your set up for them sounds good, but I highly recommend taking it easy on how much scratch you feed them... scratch is like twinkies or candy, pure junk. Overweight Hens don't lay as well or as long as they should, they are prone to becoming egg bound due to too much fat in the body cavity, around the oviduct and other organs etc, plus they won't live long.

Your Guineas would enjoy as many fresh veggies, greens, clumps of grass/weeds etc that you can throw in for them, and even some fine stem leafy alfalfa hay since they aren't free ranging for their own greens which is a normal staple of free ranging Guineas during their breeding and laying season.

Good luck, hope you see some eggs soon.

 

[critters]

peeked in on this 'nesting box' theme as I have only had free ranging guineas myself
until this year...I put 8 late hatches (that were a rescure effort from last year) in a pen...
already in the pen are Muscovy ducks that I put up trying for another drake...6 hens
and one beautiful male....(so far got 3 more hens and one little/big boy...want at least one
more male and will let them back out of the pen)....anyway, sorry, got off track...
I had another free ranger guinea that something plucked half her feathers out but no other
injuries and added her to the pen...her mate wanted in and for days stayed outside looking
in until yesterday he just walked in when I went in for feeding....today 3 more, being nosey
I think, walked in while I held the door open.....well, long story short, I need to know what
to do for their 'nesting areas' I have put some stable crates up that they can get under
and an old dog house....so? do I try adding nesting boxes or what?? Peeps, what do you
use for your penned guineas?? what do the rest of you use??
wanting to cut back on the egg hunt....penned guineas only have so far they can go
to drop and egg...right.?..

keep in mind that I am guessing what ever I put out the ducks might take over...?

 

[JLeigh]

You could try leaning a piece of wood up against the pen or coop, or branches and leaves if you want to go very natural. They seem to like the teepee shape. I just use straw on the floor of my coops and pens. Easiest to rake out in my opinion, and I can toss it in the compost pile when I'm done.

 

[maggie617]

How cold is to cold once they start laying on the ground in the coop!

 

[PeepsCA]

If night time temps aren't freezing (or below) the eggs usually do ok until a Guinea Hen lays a pile big enough to go broody on. The first few laid may not hatch, dpending on how long she works on building up the pile. If the eggs freeze they won't be viable for hatching, but are still edible (once they thaw, lol).

But if you are planning on incubating her eggs then (when she is off the nest and cannot see you messing with her nest/eggs) I'd mark the first few she's laid (or use a few brown chicken eggs, marked), and leave those in her nesting spot to encourage her to keep laying in that spot. Then you can start collecting the fresh eggs daily (without her seeing you) and store them in a cool dark place your house, garage or basement where it's below 70 degrees F, and above 40 (50-55 degrees F with a decent amount of humidity is ideal). Be sure to turn the eggs a few times a day to keep them viable. You can store/collect them up to 14-16 days and still get a reasonable hatch, but I try to set eggs no older than 10 days old.

 

[maggie617]

We are in the high 30s at night and 70 during the day!

 

[gguineasfamily]

My guineas lay on the floor of the coop. They share a nest with the Silkies. I'm wondering if I build nesting boxing boxes for the silkies will the guineas lay in them? Or will I get fighting males in them? I have a lot of fighting males and I'm a bit worried that they will use nesting boxes to corner each other in and step on eggs and step on hens. I also want to make somewhere private for my guineas to lay where the males won't get in but everything I tried with my first, wild guineas was rejected. I want to try again with my tame hand raised guinea hens but I don't know if they will like it.

 

[trev1lov3]

Hi reviving this because i wantt to know a couple things. I have a friend near by whos a fellow poultry keeper. And not a neighbor just about 3 miles and through a few big pastures across a couple rds.and patches of woods. He raised up a flock of guinea along with his chickens. He also was doing ducks.raisef them up to adults. Ive had chicken for a while now and talk to him about farming ideas. One night his **** got raided by sum coyotes didnt get his ducks cause they were separate and of different age but got all the chickens and guineas but one chicken hen and one guinea cock and he asked if i wanted to take them to integrate into my flock of chickens. So I said okay because i had already heard of their benefits and trust me since adding the one i had mice or rats that were hanging out my coop now they mice are more scared and not so much trying to live there just break into my food storage area in a separate room to the coop. Anyways. I started reading more about them i know they tend to wanna go back home where they were raised and they bond with one mate? But was wondering if anyone could shed some light. I got 6 guinea hens to try try and start some of my own. Will the male mate with them/one or not because he lost his female? The ghens (lol g-hens) are 6 to 8 months they said when I got them so im pretty sure they hatched em so im wondering if I should keep them cooped up as to collect their first hatch hopefully by having a bunch of shavings on the floor and hay for them to nest (maybe move my chickens and build another coops for them as the guineas have gotten a lil bossy and cut back on droppings). It would make me feel a lil better as insurance to perpetuate the flock immediately but not getting any free range food in is starting to hurt the pockets. Its been about 3 seeks since i got the hens like 5 since i got the guinea cock. We very much do have coons and coyotes and stuff out here so
Yeah sorry if that was lengthy. So will this male mate again so i can hatch out more before i start letting these guys out or will i probably have to find or order some more eggs to hatch out a male or two.