missing guinea eggs

[chickencharnewbee??]

had a guinea hen sitting on 15 eggs. noticed today she was out and about all day, checked her nest only 1 egg left and no signs of the others not even shells....what could have gotten them? forgot to tell you she sat on them for over a week.

 

[R2elk]

had a guinea hen sitting on 15 eggs. noticed today she was out and about all day, checked her nest only 1 egg left and no signs of the others not even shells....what could have gotten them? forgot to tell you she sat on them for over a week.

I don't know what the predator situation is in your area but around my area the number one egg predator is the skunk. I have had them shove right up under nested turkeys to get their eggs. I have also had domestic cats and raccoons and other birds eat eggs. Raccoons will take the nesting bird also but if the bird gets away they will clean out the nest. A skunk may take only a few eggs a night until they are all gone. If they are in your area, foxes and opossums can also clean out a nest.

 

[chickencharnewbee??]

thank you for your input...,something took the last egg last nite..we have fox, raccoons, etc......I have not seen skunks, but nothing is even leaving the shells....we are going to try to entice her to lay in the coop...any suggestions?
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[R2elk]

thank you for your input...,something took the last egg last nite..we have fox, raccoons, etc......I have not seen skunks, but nothing is even leaving the shells....we are going to try to entice her to lay in the coop...any suggestions?
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Most people don't see skunks since they are for the most part a nocturnal animal. Usually the way that people know that skunks are around is when they smell them. All of the predators that I have dealt with eat the entire egg shell and all. The only reason that any shell fragments are left behind is when the culprit is interrupted during its meal.

The way I get my hens to lay in the coop is to not allow them out of the coop until after they have laid their eggs for the day. Once they get their egg cycle set, they typically lay at the same time every day. The one and only guinea hen that I had last year laid her egg between 4 and 4:30 PM every day. The hens that I have this year seem to be laying their eggs about 2:00PM daily. Another possible help is to seed the desired nesting area with a marked egg or a fake egg.

Good Luck.