Guineas laying numerous eggs

[Jessie22]

I have 10 guineas-6 male, 4 female. I found the females nest and it had 16 eggs in it and yesterday 3 more eggs. Can 1 female lay 3 eggs or would it be other females also. I have only seen 1 female going to the nest. My question is can I remove her eggs and place them in the barn? Will she sit on them if I put them there? I can't let her start setting because she will be eaten fast because of foxes, owls and shunks. I did put a few with my female silkies but they haven't started sitting on them. My silkies are 1 week behind my guineas in age. My guineas are 7 months old and they free range during the day and go in the barn at night. One amazing thing, I trained them when they were Keats to come when I whistle and if they came they got mealworms. Boy do they love mealworms. In the evening they are waiting by the door so they can go in the barn. I whistle and they follow me to get a few mealworms before bed time. They aren't tame because I can't reach down and pet them but they do follow me!

I don't want any more guineas, I have 10 so if anyone wants the eggs, come and get them or I can incubate them and you can have the Keats. I will go to the right thread and advertise them, they will be free but I can't ship them, so be on the lookout for the ad.

 

[R2elk]

I have 10 guineas-6 male, 4 female. I found the females nest and it had 16 eggs in it and yesterday 3 more eggs. Can 1 female lay 3 eggs or would it be other females also. I have only seen 1 female going to the nest. My question is can I remove her eggs and place them in the barn? Will she sit on them if I put them there? I can't let her start setting because she will be eaten fast because of foxes, owls and skunks. I did put a few with my female silkies but they haven't started sitting on them. My silkies are 1 week behind my guineas in age. My guineas are 7 months old and they free range during the day and go in the barn at night. One amazing thing, I trained them when they were Keats to come when I whistle and if they came they got mealworms. Boy do they love mealworms. In the evening they are waiting by the door so they can go in the barn. I whistle and they follow me to get a few mealworms before bed time. They aren't tame because I can't reach down and pet them but they do follow me!

I don't want any more guineas, I have 10 so if anyone wants the eggs, come and get them or I can incubate them and you can have the Keats. I will go to the right thread and advertise them, they will be free but I can't ship them, so be on the lookout for the ad.

While there have been a few reports of guineas laying more than one egg a day, the most likely and very common occurrence is that multiple hens are laying in the same nest.

You can remove the eggs but the result will be the abandonment of that nest and the next nest may be even harder to find. Placing the eggs in the barn has a very minimal percent of chance of any guinea setting on them.

If you have somewhere that you can confine the guineas at least until they are done laying for the day, they will start a nest in the confinement area and eventually set on those eggs if they and the eggs are left undisturbed.

For the eggs that you remove from the nest, there are a number of different things that you can do with them such as eating them or incubating them.

Good luck.

 

[Jessie22]

I do have 12 eggs in the incubator and left 12 outside and the guinea hen kept on laying in her nest. The next morning I went out and all the eggs where gone. There was no egg shells or no inside of the egg at the nest. My guess it was a snake that ate them. I do have squirrels but they would leave tell tale signs but there were none. I put golf balls in the empty nest to see if the snake comes back and eats them. I hope it likes them. ha ha. I want to keep the females penned until they lay but am afraid the snake will know and enter the pen and eat the eggs and maybe kill my silkies. What next?

 

[R2elk]

I do have 12 eggs in the incubator and left 12 outside and the guinea hen kept on laying in her nest. The next morning I went out and all the eggs where gone. There was no egg shells or no inside of the egg at the nest. My guess it was a snake that ate them. I do have squirrels but they would leave tell tale signs but there were none. I put golf balls in the empty nest to see if the snake comes back and eats them. I hope it likes them. ha ha. I want to keep the females penned until they lay but am afraid the snake will know and enter the pen and eat the eggs and maybe kill my silkies. What next?

While it may have been a snake, it could have very well been a skunk. I have had skunks actually take the eggs right out from under nesting turkeys. Raccoons are another predator that can clean out a nest without leaving any signs. I even had something take one of my ceramic guinea eggs.

Good luck.