How to feed a guinea with a broken beak

[R2elk]

Okay! I have six or seven of her older eggs that I've collected that are just kind of sitting in my break room right now while I figure out what to do with them, so I will use those and try making a spot for her that is out of the way until I can find some dummy eggs to use Will fake chicken eggs work, or do they need to be specifically guinea-egg sized and shaped? I have clay somewhere I can use to make some custom ones, if need be.

You can try fake chicken eggs. I have used wooden bantam eggs that I sanded down to make them more guinea egg shape. I have had the best luck with eggs that I made using Sculpey oven bake clay.

 

[southwind00]

Will fake chicken eggs work,

I've used faked chicken eggs three years in a row and they work til the nest gets crowded and then they are the first that get pushed out. Chances are it will become a community nest if it is in a partially hidden location.

 

[SuiladMellon]

You can try fake chicken eggs. I have used wooden bantam eggs that I sanded down to make them more guinea egg shape. I have had the best luck with eggs that I made using Sculpey oven bake clay.

I've used faked chicken eggs three years in a row and they work til the nest gets crowded and then they are the first that get pushed out. Chances are it will become a community nest if it is in a partially hidden location.

Okay, I'll give the fake chicken eggs a try to start with! Fingers crossed it works and I won't have to be rescuing eggs from getting trampled anymore haha. Thanks for all your help! ^^

 

[SuiladMellon]

Weelll, everything is going well with Bob, his beak has been growing back a lot faster than I was expecting! He's made friends with two other guineas and they all hang out together on the top rung of the perch. I've started calling them the three amigos, ha! They always get super excited when they see me coming with the feed, even jumping on me sometimes in their enthusiasm- which hurts! But I don't mind it too much ^^

As for the eggs... well, I'm having mixed results I'm still finding eggs kind of everywhere in the coop, but I have found a few actually laid in the fake nest I made so its sort of working? I'm thinking there might be more than one hen laying now since I've been finding a lot more eggs than I was before.

This morning I watched a hen go sit on the nest, lay an egg in it, then roll some of the others around a little bit, tucking them under her, etc. and sitting on them for a while before leaving THEN one of the males wandered over after she moved away, kicked all the eggs out of the way, and started digging around in the shavings leaving the eggs scattered everywhereWould putting some sort of shelter or cover over it help keep the other guineas out of it? Right now its kind of tucked away in a protected corner but not really covered.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Weelll, everything is going well with Bob, his beak has been growing back a lot faster than I was expecting! He's made friends with two other guineas and they all hang out together on the top rung of the perch. I've started calling them the three amigos, ha! They always get super excited when they see me coming with the feed, even jumping on me sometimes in their enthusiasm- which hurts! But I don't mind it too much ^^

As for the eggs... well, I'm having mixed results I'm still finding eggs kind of everywhere in the coop, but I have found a few actually laid in the fake nest I made so its sort of working? I'm thinking there might be more than one hen laying now since I've been finding a lot more eggs than I was before.

This morning I watched a hen go sit on the nest, lay an egg in it, then roll some of the others around a little bit, tucking them under her, etc. and sitting on them for a while before leaving THEN one of the males wandered over after she moved away, kicked all the eggs out of the way, and started digging around in the shavings leaving the eggs scattered everywhereWould putting some sort of shelter or cover over it help keep the other guineas out of it? Right now its kind of tucked away in a protected corner but not really covered.

Guinea laying in coops is not an automatic thing, so it’s good that your hen is making a nest! It sounds like your guy hasn’t really gotten the memo. Are you wanting her to set and incubate the eggs? Do they free range? If confined then your cock is probably looking for things to do…

 

[SuiladMellon]

Guinea laying in coops is not an automatic thing, so it’s good that your hen is making a nest! It sounds like your guy hasn’t really gotten the memo. Are you wanting her to set and incubate the eggs? Do they free range? If confined then your cock is probably looking for things to do…

Well, they aren't fully free-ranging yet, though we are getting there. They get supervised free-range time in the evenings and we are slowly working up to them being out all day, training them to come back at night in the process. But they are shut up for a while overnight and in the mornings so I can see them getting bored for sure. What sorts of things can I do to help with that?

I am very glad she is laying in the coop so far and hasn't snuck off during an outing to go lay in the woods I'm trying to encourage the coop-laying behavior as best I can! Eventually I would love to have her actually incubate some for me but the main thing right now is just trying to get her to lay consistently in the nest rather than right in front of the door or in other bad places where they get kicked around and damaged

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Well, they aren't fully free-ranging yet, though we are getting there. They get supervised free-range time in the evenings and we are slowly working up to them being out all day, training them to come back at night in the process. But they are shut up for a while overnight and in the mornings so I can see them getting bored for sure. What sorts of things can I do to help with that?

I am very glad she is laying in the coop so far and hasn't snuck off during an outing to go lay in the woods I'm trying to encourage the coop-laying behavior as best I can! Eventually I would love to have her actually incubate some for me but the main thing right now is just trying to get her to lay consistently in the nest rather than right in front of the door or in other bad places where they get kicked around and damaged

Can you put some fake eggs in (like Sculpey eggs) to encourage her nesting while you collect the real eggs? If you aren’t ready to incubate them, Guinea eggs are so tasty!

 

[SuiladMellon]

Can you put some fake eggs in (like Sculpey eggs) to encourage her nesting while you collect the real eggs? If you aren’t ready to incubate them, Guinea eggs are so tasty!

I bought a couple of fake chicken eggs last time I was at tsc, but I can't really tell if they're working or not... they might just be too different from the guinea eggs. I was going to go ahead with making some clay eggs, but then I found these smallish wooden eggs on amazon that I think are pretty close to guinea eggs in size and color. I'm just waiting for them to arrive now & I'm hoping they will work better ^^ If not then clay eggs it is! In the meantime I've been writing the dates they were laid on the eggs, and sort of rotating out the older ones to give to various friends + keep a few for myself ^^