I have a guinea hen on a nest... so i have a couple of questions????

[lizzard14]

I have a lavendar guinea on a nest. Luckily she is in their barn stall, fenced in where we put them up at night. They free range during the day. I was just wondering should I try and shut the door to back room so the other guineas can't get in there with her? Will they disturb her if I don't? I know at some point I'm gonna have to because of the babies. Also, she has been on it the last 3 nights but she still goes out during the day and free ranges. Well I say that, but today is the first day she has been on it all day, so do I count those 3 nights in with the 28 days to hatch, or do I start with today since she just started staying on it today? Man, she has put her nest right in front of the entry way, she is on the opposite wall from the door, so do you think if I put food and water in there tonight and shut the door she will be okay, that she won't leave the nest because I disturbed her? Wow..I can't believe we got this goofy guinea to lay in their pen. They have layed all over our land all year, the mommas either got eaten or all the eggs get eaten while they are off the nest at night. Finally! One of them got wise. We had a chicken hen hatch 3 out of 15 guinea eggs, they hatched fathers day and are going strong. I've just never had a momma guinea do her thing, they usually get killed while on their nest after the 1st or 2nd night.

 

[PeepsCA]

Congrats on having a smart Guinea Hen!

If she were my Hen, I'd just watch her for a few more days... if she's staying put and she and her nest are out of the way of all the Guinea traffic then I'd just leave everything as is until it's close to hatch time, then lock her in with food and water. Since she's used to the traffic and has been laying eggs in that spot for a while she may not like the sudden change of being locked in so soon, since she's just recently gone broody. She will probably still want to get up for food water and a potty break for a while.

I would start counting today as day 1, and mark your calender for 26 days from now, then watch for keets

 

[damselfish]

I bet she'll be fine in there, and if the other guineas annoy her, she'll let them know.

I'm not sure I would even lock her in at hatching. I had my first experience with an in-coop guinea hatch this year and I found that the other flock members gathered around as time got close. Generally one stayed at the coop door as a guard while she was further back inside, and the others gathered around outside. Plus they all cooped there at night with her, the whole time. So it seemed important for her to have them around. Can she see the others if you lock her in?

Once our keets hatched, she kept them in for one day and then took them out. That would give you some leeway to close the gate or whatever after they've hatched. Letting her take them out worked out fine for us (with various hilarious efforts on our part) but if you don't want to take that risk, start stopping up any tiny holes in the holding area now because those babies are itty-bitty and fast!

Oh, one other thing. If she sticks on the nest, think about going regularly to sit as near as she's comfortable with, and talk to her. This will improve your chances of a front row seat with a semi-relaxed guinea when the hatch is happening. Nothing cuter than little guinea heads popping up! Plus I think it's good if you're one of the first things they see and they can see that mamma thinks you're not scary.

Good luck! Just do your best and what seems right for your situation. Everybody's flock is different.

 

[lizzard14]

Wow thanks PeepsCA and Damselfish for the replies. Yes, she is sticking on her nest. All day and night. I'm so excited! They should hatch the 2nd week of October. Do you guys think she will keep them warm enough at night after they hatch? I know the momma chicken that hatched our baby guineas in June kept them under her all night and she would run them in the pet taxi whenever we went out to feed them and they would run under her and hide. I just didnt know if the momma guinea will do the same. So Damselfish, you dont think the other guineas will harm the babies? The stall I have them in is actually a horse stall that I have fenced in. There is a back enclosed room (where she is at) and then there is the long front room that is all fenced in. I've decided at one point i'm just going to put chicken wire up over the door to the room where she is at, because if I shut the door it is going to be awfully dark in there and she is going to be shut off from the rest of the flock so I thought if I just put chicken wire up she will still be able to see them and be with her flock when they are in there. I thought about pulling the babies when they hatch and bringing them inside but I really want her to raise them. I just want to make sure they are going to be warm enought and that the bigger guineas won't harm them. The other thing, does she get off the nest when they start hatching? The momma chicken stayed on the nest and they hatched under her. I've read that after a few hatch a momma guinea tends to lead them off the nest and leave the other eggs or babies to themselves. If I do chicken wire her in that back room, do you guys think that will entice her to stay on the nest until all hatch that are going to, and if a few hatch, and she leaves will the rest of them hatch if the eggs are good, if there is only a day or few hours between hatching? Sorry for all the questions, i'm stressing out and I'm new to this. When the momma chicken hatched to 3 babies, one of them hatched on the afternoon of fathers day, then one more didn't hatch until the next morning about 8 and the other one cracked but he didn't arrive until about 7 that evening and that was because we helped him. It was so dry and membrane had shrunk up and dried to him and he couldn't get out. So, we helped him just a little bit, he popped right out like he was superman. It was sooo cute! My husband was headset against helping one hatch, he said that is natures way of weeding out the sickly ones, but when he heard the little guy yelling and saw that he had punched a big hole in the side of the egg and you could see the membrane of the egg dried up and stuck to the little guy. His little feathers were even dry and fluffy, anyway my husband looked at it, went back to raking and then said "crap, do you want me to help you rescue the little guy?" LOL! I said I sure do! So we did. All 3 babies and big and healthy! Anyway, enough rambling. I'll keep you guys posted on the outcome of all this. ;-)

 

[lizzard14]

Oh..and one more thing. Will she leave the nest for a little while from time to time? For instance this morning when I let them out to free range she came running out with all the rest like they were on fire, like they always do. She ran with them across the yard and now they are all just walking around eating bugs in the rain. Will she go back to her nest? She was on there all day yesterday, i never saw her leave at all. So why did she leave this morning? Man..I sure hope she goes back.

 

[PeepsCA]

She should go back to the nest, hopefully she has by now.

If your Hen and flock have never experienced keets before, then I'd be a little concerned the other adults may kill the keets as they hatch. I think the chicken wire is a good idea (with her own food and water in there), but I'd wait until she stops getting off the nest to come out with the others except for a super quick bite to eat and a drink so she doesn't get claustrophobic all of a sudden and just pace back and forth wanting out. That way she can't go off with the first few keets that hatch, she will be more likely to stay on the nest and hatch more (if not all) of the eggs. Plus the babies need high protein starter feed and a waterer they can't drown in. After they hatch and are running around with Momma you will have to see how the rest of the flock reacts to them and decide if it's a good idea to let everybody in/out together or not. And of course you will want to herd Momma and babies in each night to keep them safe from predators and warm enough. Hopefully she keeps them warm and doesn't immediately roost up with the other adults.

Keep us posted, hope all goes well and she hatches some cute little keets that the whole flock will accept and foster

 

[lizzard14]

Thanks PeepsCa for the reply, and yes she was back on her nest with in 30 min. or so. Might not have been that long. I think I will wait a little while before I put the chicken wire up so she doesnt get claustrophobic. Your right about that. I was so afraid this morning that Baby D (our one and only female broadbreasted turkey) had done something to run her off the nest. They had been housed together since Feb. and they are used to each other, but this morning Baby D was just standing over her stairing at her. I thought Baby D was trying to get on the nest with her. Then when I opened the door, Baby D and all the guineas came running out, her included. She didn't run out with them yesterday. She stayed on her nest all day long. so i was really afraid Baby D had done something, but I guess not because she was right back on the nest. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. I'm sure I'll have many more questions. Thank you again. Oh..before I forget, I counted the eggs while she was gone this morning and she has 21 eggs in her nest! I just hope they are all fertile!