i found a nest! *another update!!*

[sred98]

Oh! Well somehow I thought there was only a handful of eggs in there!

If there's 20-30 then she probably IS ready to start setting!! Keep us posted!

Shelly

 

[birdbrain5]

she was out and about this morning when i went out to feed the horses, she came over to get her snack way away from her nest. i thought maybe she decided not to sit, but now shes been back on the nest this afternoon for hours. im not getting real close but i can see shes not covering all the eggs, i thought this might happen because the pile was so big. reading that they usually wait til 20-40 eggs i imagine no guinea can cover that many eggs, so is this not a problem?

ETA: will the other hens make a new nest somewhere or will they go in and lay new eggs with her like the chickens will sometimes do?

 

[SpringtownEggLady]

My husband stumbled upon a missing hen sitting on a nest of eggs a few months ago. She was under an old abandoned riding lawnmower. We were concerned for her safety, and so my husband built an A frame out of wood and covered it with chicken wire and we put it over the whole thing - lawnmower and all. She sat on the eggs until they hatched and was forced to stay with her keets and take care of them. It worked out well for us.

 

[birdbrain5]

well shes been sitting consistantly. i havent disturbed her or put a cage around her and so far so good. i am concerned about how she cannot cover all the eggs in the nest though. i figure this is going to lead to an unsuccessful hatch rate because she might move them around and move developing eggs to the outside where she cant cover them. any idea for this? also i see the other hens going in there and sitting too so id assume they are adding to the nest. also not good. what should i do from here?

thanks

 

[PeepsCA]

Cross your fingers that another Hen goes broody on the same pile and finishes the hatch for ya, and that no predators come nab the Hens or the eggs?

I like the A-frame idea... something large and predator proof you could lift up or keep open during the day, and then just close it so they are secure from predators at night... I think I'd try and build/assemble it away from the Hen and nest, then just put it over her one evening in the dark.

Also, you might wanna make sure you have a "nursery" section wired off in your coop (or 2 sections!) ready for the keets and Hens to go into after everybody hatches unless you are going to let them all brave the wild/do the survival of the fittest thing. Other Hens, males, even chickens and roosters and other types of poultry have been known to kill keets the second they come out from under the Momma, so I'd be ready and set up if you are counting on raising some keets.

Good luck, and post pics!

 

[birdbrain5]

so after two weeks from the original hen sitting, one more sat, then a third decided, then even a forth sat for the very end. i lost hope for keets earlier this week, but this morning i went out and saw one! i noticed it was bloody, then saw the dead keet about 4 feet from the nest. looks like they pecked it in the head and it died, this other one is wounded but seems like it could pull through. what can i use on its head to clean it? i feel badly its alone, and know thats not that good. i will try to find someone with chicks or keets but i dont have any right now. so it looks like theres less eggs in the nest, so i think they either hatched and were killed by the hens, or who knows. why do you think they killed the keet and tried to kill the other keet? my other guineas are locked up so it wasnt them, it was one of the hens sitting on the nest. im kind of baffled, and also, why would that keet be so far from the nest? and ideas?

 

[PeepsCA]

First time Hens aren't all that bright and don't always have the Mothering instincts required past going broody... But it's hard to say why this is going on, you never really know with Guineas, especially if these are young first time Mommas.

Here's a few more thoughts:
-Maybe she could have felt something was wrong with the clutch, so she's following instinct and nature is taking it's course (sad but it happens).-
-Maybe the brooding Hen is so frustrated from the lack of privacy from the other Hens that she just pecks at anything that moves, including freshly hatched keets (like I said, not all that bright).
-Maybe the other Hens that are not brooding the nest could have gotten aggressive and killed the keets as soon as they emerged thinking they were a threat to the nest.

Do a head count on all the Hens, if one is missing she may have left with a few keets. If that's the case I'd find her/them, take the keets and raise them in a brooder. You could use a hardware cloth divider wall in the brooder to separate the injured keet until it recovers enough to be with the rest (if there are any). In the mean time I'd put a mirror in the brooder with the lone injured keet to keep it company.

Have you candled the other eggs to see if there are any live keets or developing keets in them? If there are, you may want to incubate them... or at the very least be ready to snatch any keets away that do hatch as soon as you see them

Good luck, and sorry you have to deal with the carnage.

 

[birdbrain5]

well i kept an eye on the nest, i ended up with 3 keets which i was happy the little wounded one wasnt all alone. they seem to be doing fine, and with a few eggs left in the nest all the hens gave up. ill never know where all of those egg shells came from or where the keets went if they hatched. there were so many eggs in there and so many shells as if a ton hatched. i feel like if any animal bothered the nest and got at the eggs they would have bothered the 3-4 hens laying there too. the nest was in a spot i couldnt put a cage around, it was under some fallen limbs and whatnot.

you sure are right the hens are not so bright. hopefully its just cause its thier first time around. the second keet i found was wobbling and rolling away from the nest and the hens didnt care or notice. i scooped him up quick in fear once they saw him they would kill him like the other one. the third i grabbed at night, i went to check one last time and saw the hen squirming around a bit i knew something was under her. we poked her off the nest enough to reach in ad grab it. i hated to butt in and disturb nature but i didnt want to see the hens kill anymore keets.

so i have two pearl pied keets, and one im not quite sure of. hes lighter brown and not quite the same striping on his head, and only a little bit of white on the wings and underside. ill take better pics if need be but here are a couple:

next to the pied for comparison:

 

[PeepsCA]

That's a "Teddy Bear" Pied Pearl, he'll only have a little white ob his chest and some white flight feathers (what I call "Slightly Pied"). In a couple week when he gets his first set of feathers all the way in you will not be able to tell his feathers apart from the others Pied Pearls and Pied Pearl Greys. Do a search on "Teddy Bear" on this forum's search box... there have been a couple threads discussing TBs, with pics.