Laying eggs in nighttime pen

[sunnie7]

I free range my guineas all day and lock them up in a pen at night. This will be my 3rd year with guineas and after loosing all but 3 of my original flock I was lucky last spring and summer to find 2 or their nests on our property! My flock now is currently 14, I’ve lost 2 in the past few months. I really want to hatch again this spring to keep a handful and sell some but I’m worried I won’t be able to find their nest. Our property is right next to a state forestry that they go into all the time and if they lay in there I’ll never find it! Last 2 nests were close to my house but very well hidden I just got lucky. Anyone had luck with keeping them locked in their pen later in the day and them laying in there?!? Any advice?

 

[My2butterflies]

My guinea hens first took to laying in their pen before they got tired of me taking their eggs. After that they decided the tall grass was much better. Some nests got to about 50eggs before I found it.
When they were laying in the coop I’d keep them penned till about 9-10am before letting them out. It does make things easier then hunting the eggs
But you’ll need to replace them and hope the girls don’t notice or see you mess with the nest.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I trained ours to nest in the coop by adding a run and confining them 24/7. It took about a week for them to really start making coop nests, as opposed to eggs dumped wherever. Once they had those nests, I started letting them out a few hr before dusk, then slowly increased their time out. Some of mine lay late in the day so just a morning lock up didn’t work. I steamed some eggs (as well as all sorts of other fun attempts at making guinea egg replacements!), marked them, and left those in the nest. I usually keep about five eggs in a nest to keep them coming back, and I don’t make dramatic changes in egg numbers in a day so they don’t notice so much.

 

[Sydney65]

I free range my guineas all day and lock them up in a pen at night. This will be my 3rd year with guineas and after loosing all but 3 of my original flock I was lucky last spring and summer to find 2 or their nests on our property! My flock now is currently 14, I’ve lost 2 in the past few months. I really want to hatch again this spring to keep a handful and sell some but I’m worried I won’t be able to find their nest. Our property is right next to a state forestry that they go into all the time and if they lay in there I’ll never find it! Last 2 nests were close to my house but very well hidden I just got lucky. Anyone had luck with keeping them locked in their pen later in the day and them laying in there?!? Any advice?

Rosie is a 4 O'Clock layer. I'd leave the front door of coop open during the day while they free-ranged, & 4 pm every day, I'd see her scurrying back into the coop, drop an egg, then scurry back out. But that was before they decided to build nests in the fields & wander off, resulting in the loss of 2. Rosie,the only remaining female, lost her free-range privileges for the rest of the season. Out of the coop/run, she went in an enclosed kennel that I cld move around. She got used to it quickly & was ok w/it. The boys always stayed near her & had no desire to leave the yard on their own. Once I was sure she was done for the season, I let her start roaming again.
She has dropped a cpl of eggs in the coop this winter, but stays in the yard. When spring comes, she and "the twins" will once again be in lock down for everyone's safety.

 

[Mimi Milam]

I free range my guineas all day and lock them up in a pen at night. This will be my 3rd year with guineas and after loosing all but 3 of my original flock I was lucky last spring and summer to find 2 or their nests on our property! My flock now is currently 14, I’ve lost 2 in the past few months. I really want to hatch again this spring to keep a handful and sell some but I’m worried I won’t be able to find their nest. Our property is right next to a state forestry that they go into all the time and if they lay in there I’ll never find it! Last 2 nests were close to my house but very well hidden I just got lucky. Anyone had luck with keeping them locked in their pen later in the day and them laying in there?!? Any advice?

I'm new at this...I will try to simplify my comments and questions!! I hv 2 guineas, one white guinea started laying eggs Feb 1...she started sitting on rhem March 5...she has about 39 eggs..i let guineas roam during day, put in lighted pen at pm....she laid all her eggs, but one, in pen...she was still roaming around yard but would come to pen to lay...been sitting pretty non stop since March 5. Idk if eggs are fertile- i think my grey guinea is male , I don't want to scare her by pulling eggs out from under her and since she dsnt lv pen for very long I don't want to upset her by me getting caught touching eggs...would I wear gloves?? Will she even let me reach under her?? She bows up at me when I'm in pen replenishing her snacks, food and water...i would appreciate any advice!!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm new at this...I will try to simplify my comments and questions!! I hv 2 guineas, one white guinea started laying eggs Feb 1...she started sitting on rhem March 5...she has about 39 eggs..i let guineas roam during day, put in lighted pen at pm....she laid all her eggs, but one, in pen...she was still roaming around yard but would come to pen to lay...been sitting pretty non stop since March 5. Idk if eggs are fertile- i think my grey guinea is male , I don't want to scare her by pulling eggs out from under her and since she dsnt lv pen for very long I don't want to upset her by me getting caught touching eggs...would I wear gloves?? Will she even let me reach under her?? She bows up at me when I'm in pen replenishing her snacks, food and water...i would appreciate any advice!!

The first year that my guineas nested in the coop, I was so afraid of disturbing them that I let them pile up the eggs. Things went poorly and I eventually had to push them all out amd clean out the nest. To my surprise, once I finished, they went right back onto their nests. Since then, I started chasing the hens off of the nest once a day to collect the newly laid eggs. That keeps them from having a staggered hatch and keeps a reasonable number of eggs under the hen. Your eggs are far enough along that you could close the door when she’s off the nest and candle them. If other hens continue to lay there, you might want to mark eggs and remove new ones so the developing eggs get the even incubation that they need. Best of luck with your hatch!