single guinea hen left with 50+ eggs

[Marmack]

so my guinea story goes something like this (2 hens & 1 male)..... over the past 4-6 weeks the 2 hens have been laying eggs in the coop under the nesting boxes. They laid over 50 eggs at my last count before one of the hens started sitting on the nest. The second hen never became broody and the male has only kept her company once that i have seen. At night he roosts with the chickens (slacker). Hen one has continued to try to flatten herself to cover all of the eggs. Yesterday she divided the eggs into two groups, one set for you and one for me. Hen two sat on the eggs last night and was still on the eggs this morning. Tonight when i went to check on everyone, the flock (the chickens and guineas were raised together) is on lock down so she will stay on the eggs, the second guinea hen had died during the day. Hen one is doing a galent effort trying to care for all of her eggs.

Should I leave her alone to care for all of the eggs or should some be removed?

She is very protective of her clutch. If i had a broody chicken I would give her some work to do but unfortunately the hens are not cooperating. I

Just looking for some ideas, suggestions, or real life experiences. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Percheron chick]

How long has she been sitting? Can you keep or sell 25 keets if you have a good hatch? I would cut her down to 20. Either fire up the incubator or feed the eggs back to the chickens. I let guinea eggs sit on my counter for over 2 months and still had 20% hatch rate. You could also sell 2 dozen on CL and let some one else figure out what to do with them .

 

[justin shrew]

yoh!! that is a biggest clutch ever. its a totally sadness to lose a hen, especially when she is broody and ready to introduce the young ones to the world. you have to think carefully about this. you already lose a hen, so you need to think more than that. trying your best for the hen to make the best world for the incoming keets is a great place to be.

normally guinehens about the size of a bantam can cover about 15 to 22 eggs. Standard guineas can take it up 30 eggs. i had a hen hatched out 22 eggs out of 31 eggs.
wait ntil dark, remove some of the eggs,atleast to 25 eggs. they are good brooders when it comes to option. it is not a good idea to disturb her while shes broody. I normally do sometimes take a bold risk, by removing a hen, and recreate the nest, by making it more deeper so the eggs wont have to roll out of the nest. even if its more than 10 days. remove the eggs and live with it. too many eggs in one clutch cause the balance of the heat to be unstable, like when the hen got up, living the middle eggs warm,then comes back roll the outside eggs way back living the eggs that were warm getting cold to death. the only advice is to remove the eggs, hard as it is...

best wishes

 

[Marmack]

I removed a quarter of the eggs tonight when she was out feeding. She seemed to be a bit depressed tonight without her buddy.

I'll check her i. the morning to see which eggs she is not sitting on and will remove a few more.

thank you for your response it was very helpful.

 

[justin shrew]

good luck with the egg incubation then.

 

[Marmack]

well i have given up on hatching guinea foul and ordered 15 on line. the hen that is left was lowest in the pecking order for the flock. she is now attached to the male a d you see them together all of the time.

we have timed the hens death to the same day the county was spraying the gypsy moth pheromones. or could it have been the stress of so many eggs?

 

[justin shrew]

guinea hens can adapt easly than males. especially during the laying season. the hormonal growth cliches her to bond more easly to males. and soon will gain trust on the male and lay again.

im not surer about the egg question you ask, what you really mean. but what i know is, the number of eggs no matter how many are they, will never cause a hen to abandon the nest of brake the brooding mode.

 

[Marmack]

I have a new dilemma. The guinea pair have bonded and go everywhere together. Today I found the male at the feeder by himself. I look for the hen but found no sign of her. After awhile he called her and I did hear a response but never found her. I went back to cleaning up some old downed trees which now have weeds growing all around the through them. I found the hen when I got close to her with the chainsaw. oops!! She came flying out of the wood pile. I looked at where she came from and found a clutch of eggs.
What is the best way to protect the hen and her eggs while she is sitting?

 

[Marmack]

She also hisses, so this is day one of her setting

 

[Leaguinea]

View attachment 1484347
She also hisses, so this is day one of her setting

I have a new dilemma. The guinea pair have bonded and go everywhere together. Today I found the male at the feeder by himself. I look for the hen but found no sign of her. After awhile he called her and I did hear a response but never found her. I went back to cleaning up some old downed trees which now have weeds growing all around the through them. I found the hen when I got close to her with the chainsaw. oops!! She came flying out of the wood pile. I looked at where she came from and found a clutch of eggs.
What is the best way to protect the hen and her eggs while she is sitting?

If this is outside of an enclosure or run I would not allow her to stay there. Herd her with a long stick or wait till dark and throw a light blanket over her and take her back to the coop. A predator will kill her if left out at night.