Loaded Nest

[jtbuck]

New with Guineas and after weeks of looking I found what looks llike a family nest that all the hens lay in. There must be 20-30 eggs, and not sure what to. Not interested in hatching no time.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Just pitch them then

 

[My2butterflies]

I’d eat them

 

[neo71665]

How many weeks are we talking about and what has been the outside temp?

 

[R2elk]

New with Guineas and after weeks of looking I found what looks like a family nest that all the hens lay in. There must be 20-30 eggs, and not sure what to. Not interested in hatching no time.

If you destroy the nest, the guineas will find somewhere else (harder to find) to lay. When able to be unobserved by the culprits, mark some of the eggs and daily carefully remove the excess eggs.

Again, you want to do this unobserved because you don't want to hunt for the next place they decide to lay.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

New with Guineas and after weeks of looking I found what looks llike a family nest that all the hens lay in. There must be 20-30 eggs, and not sure what to. Not interested in hatching no time.

If a hen is not broody on the nest, eggs should still be edible. They are so tasty! I made a lot of pickled guineas eggs last year. The smaller size makes them pickle well and they were wonderful. I found them hard to peel though, so you might refrigerate for a week or longer if the air cells are small.

 

[jtbuck]

Wonder if they will hatch. I go up and there will be a bird on the nest but not all the time. Been in the humid/hot 90's here

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Wonder if they will hatch. I go up and there will be a bird on the nest but not all the time. Been in the humid/hot 90's here

Well, if it’s been that warm, the older eggs might have development. It’s likely that one (or more) will eventually go broody on them. A big nest is hard to incubate though. I tried that once and it was a huge, gross mess! Now I remove eggs so that the nest keeps the same 12 eggs for incubation. They still go broody on the nest, even though I’m removing eggs, but this works best if you have a run so can condone them there most of the time. Otherwise, they may start another nest in the woods. Mine have once again ditched their woods nest that I was taking eggs from and started a new nest, which I have not yet found… I really need to work on their run, but it won’t be this weekend either…