Questions about guinea nests

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi, we have 8 guinea hens and one guinea cock, all 10 months old. They free range and go in and out of their coop all day, to roost at night. Male appears to have a Harem of five girls, but I’ve seen mating with the fringe girls also. The problem is that they are laying eggs in the woods, and I can’t find most nests. There are two eggs in the corner of the coop, which I’ve left alone. We cleared a thousand cedar trees last fall, and have huge to mid sized piles of cut cedar over our 10 acres. I suspected they were nesting in those and finally located a nest of four eggs today. I had to reach blindly into a hole (in copperhead country!) to get those four eggs hidden in a smaller cedar pile. I threw out one broken egg and marked the remaining three then returned them. If the guineas do go broody in the cedars, I’m guessing they will experience cedar toxicity, plus we have many predators. My goal is to prevent guineas from going broody on outdoor nests so I don’t lose the girls. Any other considerations are secondary. Questions:
1) how many eggs should I leave behind in the nest so they continue to lay there?
2) can I slowly swap remainder eggs with golf balls, so eggs don’t explode or attract predators?
3) I can maybe keep in a small run for the morning, but they will hate that and may attack each other. Besides burning all of these tree piles (!), Any suggestions to keep from brooding nests?

Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

Hi, we have 8 guinea hens and one guinea cock, all 10 months old. They free range and go in and out of their coop all day, to roost at night. Male appears to have a Harem of five girls, but I’ve seen mating with the fringe girls also. The problem is that they are laying eggs in the woods, and I can’t find most nests. There are two eggs in the corner of the coop, which I’ve left alone. We cleared a thousand cedar trees last fall, and have huge to mid sized piles of cut cedar over our 10 acres. I suspected they were nesting in those and finally located a nest of four eggs today. I had to reach blindly into a hole (in copperhead country!) to get those four eggs hidden in a smaller cedar pile. I threw out one broken egg and marked the remaining three then returned them. If the guineas do go broody in the cedars, I’m guessing they will experience cedar toxicity, plus we have many predators. My goal is to prevent guineas from going broody on outdoor nests so I don’t lose the girls. Any other considerations are secondary. Questions:
1) how many eggs should I leave behind in the nest so they continue to lay there?
2) can I slowly swap remainder eggs with golf balls, so eggs don’t explode or attract predators?
3) I can maybe keep in a small run for the morning, but they will hate that and may attack each other. Besides burning all of these tree piles (!), Any suggestions to keep from brooding nests?

Thanks!

Good luck!

Getting guineas to do what you want is no small feat. It often takes me several days to find a guinea nest after they quit using the ones I have found and I have a limited area that I have to search. Sometimes I can get a general location by spotting a lone male as he stands guard when his hen is on a nest. With only one male, that probably isn't going top work for you.

The other helpful part is when a guinea hen sings her egg song. Mine do not seem to start singing the egg song until they are ready to go broody. It does give me a general area to search for the nest.

I find it is easier for me to find a nest when the hen is not on the nest. The hens can seemingly disappear into nothingness when on a hidden nest and can be very difficult to spot.

 

[perchie.girl]

I know that PeepsCA used to keep them in till the eggs were layed... I have nO idea how she figured this out... but she said it worked for her for the most part.

Good luck.... In the wild they find sandy spots under fallen branches and make a scrape for the nest... But all I ever saw was them playing soccer with them in the Coop....

 

[50-45-1]

I have lost many a female guinea to preditors when she steals her nest outside in the orchard.
Usually at night to coon, possum, fox or coyote.
The nests i have found have had sometimes in excess of 40 eggs in them and i have just brought them in and filled the incubator and had 100 % hatches!
Here in Michigan the orchard grass is tall, thick and dew covered and keets die of exposure and cold as they can not keep up with mom in the tall wet grass. Michigan is not alike to Africa.
I dont let the keets stay with mom most times because of it.
Good luck!