guinea nests

[greathorse]

ahhh Guineas!!!! I have a pair of guineas and for the last few days was certain I was down to just the male. Today however I saw him with the female for just a short time and now he is hanging around by himself again. Mostly he is aggravating my roosters.

I am certain she is on a nest somewhere, but I am not able to find it. Can someone give me an idea about where and how you begin to find them. Do they in general like a fence row, tall grass, under trees, farm implements? I have all of the above and still have not found her.

Will the cock go to the nest from time to time? Is there any benefit it trying to follow him? I would sure like to find her as I am fearful that she will be taken by a predator before she hatches her clutch.

Any thoughts??

 

[Debbienmousey]

Ahh guineas, yes. They love to keep us running around.

It sounds like she's been setting for quite a few days so it's not likely the cock will be visiting the nest. You can try following him but I don't know that he'll check on her. (ours didn't visit the hen until she hatched her keets) However, if you have other guineas, you could try watching them and see if they hang out for just a little while near any areas which might be good for nesting. It may just be coincidence but our other pair of guineas visited our nesting hen a couple times a week. Hens do like to nest in all of the places you mentioned. I would especially check fields with tall grass if you have any near you.

Now, I assume you lock your guineas up at night. So in the morning, allow your self a fair amount of time, and once you let the guinea cock out listen for a very specific call coming from anywhere. It should sound like a strange alarm call, very quick and fairly loud. If you hear it, go to that spot immediately, but be careful because you don't want to step allover her nest. The hen will not call for long, and although she may call several times a day, it is still hard to find a nest by this method. If you see her off her nest again, you NEED to follow her. Following her will be the absolute best, easiest, and quickest way to find her nest and keep her safe.

I wish you the best of luck finding her nest, and although it may take some hard work, lots of time, and sweat to do so it will be well worth it in the end when you see those keets with their mother. (We just had our first batch of guinea hen-hatched keets hatch last week, all the keets are healthy and happy.)

Good luck and keep us updated!!

 

[briesberrypatch]

I have a pair. My male does dote on the female when she's on the nest, and I often see them together at the same time every day.

She always nests in tall grass. Her first nest this year was in 4 ft tall grass/weeds about ten feet from a pretty busy road. Her latest nest was in 5 ft tall grass/weeds in a different spot. Her nests last year were in 2-3 ft tall grass/weeds.

The nests are extremely hard to find. I always stumble on them - I never find them by searching for them.

Laura

 

[txchickie]

I've had guineas for 2 years now.......and have never found a nest

I've found keets, but no eggs!
I joke that mine are "invisible egg layers".


Sneaky little suckers hiding those nests like that. GAAH!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

My guineas make a special call when they're on the nest, a sort of whisper-y whistle-y "whee-hee-hee-hee-he" that we've learned means "I'm going to lay an egg right here!" When we hear that Egg Song, we search for the nest in that area.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
The Guineas I have nested in fencerows, brushpiles, and weed jungles. The only way I found them is that when the female is laying an egg or sitting, the male will hang out within twenty feet. Seeing the male hanging out without his "partner" let me know where to look. It still takes me a careful search to find the nest. The raccoons don't seem to have the same trouble I do finding the nest----I had one Guinea show up one morning with no back feathers with the nest full of broken/missing eggs.