moved her eggs

[prairie]

Hi all,
I haven't been on here in a while -- tad busy with life!

But I had a guinea hen who laid her nest in our large chicken coop (all our guineas and chickens roost at night in the coop) Well I was worried about her and our cold weather that has arrived -- some days at least! -- and what she might do with the keets after they hatched such as take them out into the wet grass.

So............ we decided to move her and her nest into a large wire cage (abt 6 ft X 3 ft) inside the coop. She was back in a corner so it was hard to sneak up on her and grab her-- she got away from hubby but he finally caught her after feathers were flying and she was flying every where in the coop! He held her while I moved her eggs and tried to make a scooped out nest like she had on the floor of the coop. We then placed the cage over the nest and he put her in there.

We left her alone and went to the house but I checked her in an hour and she was still not on her nest and I was heartsick! But by morning she was on the nest like it had never been moved. She has been on it for the last 3 days and now this afternoon I saw a broken egg shell so thought some eggs must have hatched. She was hissing big time at me and then ran at me (while she was in the cage) and I finally got to see under her-- I counted 10 babies and not sure how many eggs there were.

Can't wait to see how many there are tomorrow. I want to leave them in there for a few days before I let lift one end of the cage so she can get out if she wants to. I have done this with the chicken hens and it works out fine.

Just wanted to share with you my trial at moving a guinea hen!

 

[PeepsCA]

Congrats on your success with moving the eggs and Hen... you are one of a very few who are lucky enough to get away with that, lol. I'm sure the fact that she could feel and hear the keets in the eggs helped a lot in that situation, but none the less, CONGRATS!

We want to see pics as soon as possible!

 

[KrisH]

I agree with peeps, pictures please! here is one of ours to get you started. These are from last weekend.
Thanks to Peepsca for all the support.

RobertH

 

[prairie]

Well, mama is sitting really tight because of our cool weather but I am hoping to get pics this weekend. This morning just one of them peeped out from under her. I hate to make her mad so she will come off the nest so will wait this weekend.

Peeps -- I got my courage up to move her after searching online and found others who had done it. I think my success had to do with the fact that she was only a few days from hatching the little ones -- and like you said she could probably hear and feel the babies in the eggs.

Anyway they are safe for now and will stay in the cage for quite a few days. Pics soon.

p.s. hubby is still shaking his head because I already have 19 guineas--- started out with 5 and gathered eggs and plopped them under a chicken that was setting and hatched out 12 this summer. Was surprised that this hen laid so late in the year. I also have 5 chickens so am anxious to see if there are any little peeps of theirs in this batch. I never did want to disturb her nest and never got a good look.

 

[critters]

congrats to both prairie and KrisH on your new babies!!
I'll chime in on pics please!!

I am expecting some eggs to hatch in a week or so that were
uncovered during bush hogging (kinda guessing at a hatch time)....
mama's legs got hurt and she is in our "hospital" and 11 of the 14
eggs are doing well (when candled) that are in the bator..

again, congrats!

 

[karensc]

Cute keets RobertH. Teddy and Tara are still at the pecking order thing. He mostly picks at her at night while they are on the perch. Tara mpved to another perch before. I don't know if he was getting on her nerves or what happened. This pecking order thing is upsetting to me. I cannot wait until it is over. Should I mix some grit with their food because neither one is eating it just in the dish by itself. They must have just hatched when we were down to see you......