Why is one guinea laying eggs in separate nest from other guineas?

[Nunny Davis]

I have guineas that are laying eggs in my coup. However one of the guineas has decided to lay it's eggs in the woods while the others continue to lay in the coop. Is this normal or is something wrong with my one guinea?

 

[R2elk]

I have guineas that are laying eggs in my coup. However one of the guineas has decided to lay it's eggs in the woods while the others continue to lay in the coop. Is this normal or is something wrong with my one guinea?

Absolutely normal but I recommend not letting the guinea go broody on the outdoor nest. Broody guineas on outside hidden nests are very vulnerable to nighttime predators.

 

[Nunny Davis]

Trouble is I have no idea where she is laying. But thank you for your reply. Also the rest of the guineas are laying in the coop and now one has gone broody. Will they continue to lay in the coop even though she is on the nest?

 

[R2elk]

Trouble is I have no idea where she is laying. But thank you for your reply. Also the rest of the guineas are laying in the coop and now one has gone broody. Will they continue to lay in the coop even though she is on the nest?

Probably.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Trouble is I have no idea where she is laying. But thank you for your reply. Also the rest of the guineas are laying in the coop and now one has gone broody. Will they continue to lay in the coop even though she is on the nest?

Hi Nunny, mine usually communally lay, and continue laying under the broody guinea. That gives you both a low hatch rate, as the hen can only cover so many eggs well, and a staggered hatch, since eggs are at different stages of development. To prevent that, I sort through eggs when mom is off the nest, mark a dozen to keep (or no more than 20), then remove the rest. Each day I remove the unmarked eggs to eat or sell.
For your outdoor nest, I just went through this with my super sneaky girl Slate. Usually I can find their nest pretty well, but not Slate’s. When she failed to turn up at the coop one night, I knew she had gone broody on the nest. It took me three days to find it. I finally brought out the bag of mealworms and followed Slate when she greeted the flock in the morning. Occasional mealworms kept her from being too upset that I was following her. She finally led me to her nest. I would have liked to keep dummy eggs in it or destroy when she wasn’t around, but to protect her safety, I had to grab her off it when it was getting dark. Now she’s no longer broody and I have a pile of partially incubated eggs…