Will guineas fall for "dummy" eggs?

[RobG7aChattTN]

I had one of my guineas lay an egg the other day. A friend who was checking on them while I was out of town put it in my fridge. I would have left it in place. Anyhow, I certainly doubt it was fertile...and I don't want them to set anyway (I have an incubator). I WOULD like to get them to keep laying and I put a few dummy eggs in the coop in a pile but the next day they were all scattered. I put them all back and today they were all scattered again. I couldn't find any dummy guinea eggs and I didn't know if that was because dummy chicken eggs work fine or if NO dummy eggs work with guineas. I know with chickens a golf-ball will work but since guineas aren't as domesticated I wasn't sure if they would even fall for a guinea egg. I book I have says to leave a few eggs in place, but I don't want them to spoil in the coop.

 

[BarbaraNH]

Dummy eggs always worked with my guineas. They did roll the "eggs" around at first, but later when they were laying consistently, I rarely found any fake eggs outside of the nest area. I used soft plastic peach colored eggs that were pretty close in appearance to a small chicken egg but were much lighter in weight. They should have known the difference, but they would tuck the fake eggs beneath themselves without any hesitation.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Thank you! I personally would have liked to have left the original egg where it was and maybe after a few more were laid I could put the fake ones in their place. So far there haven't been any more eggs laid but I did lean a piece of plywood up against a wall in the coop to make a more private area for egg laying. Hopefully it will work.

 

[BarbaraNH]

Hope the plywood works for you. I know it has worked for many. My guinea hens used to lay in an area underneath the chickens' nesting boxes in a corner of the coop.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

I got two new eggs under the plywood...but then they got scattered. Maybe it was because I moved a bunch of young chickens into the adjoining coop. Maybe it was just because the guineas are young and inexperienced. These were the 2nd and 3rd eggs. Two of the three were extremely tiny and one was a tad bigger but completely round. Hopefully they will figure it out as soon as the weather warms.

 

[BarbaraNH]

Sounds like they're just not too sure about what to do with them. LOL They'll figure it out soon enough. Chances are the eggs aren't fertile anyway. Many times first laid eggs are not.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

As an update my five guinea hens are averaging 3-4 eggs every day. I've got about 50 eggs in the incubator right now expected to hatch at different times. I think the first eggs are supposed to hatch around the first week of April (I have the date written down but I don't remember off hand). The Jumbo/French really do lay very large eggs...some are about the size of a large chicken egg. They have finally started to keep all their eggs laid along with the dummy eggs which are behind a piece of plywood leaning up against one inside wall of the coop.

 

[BarbaraNH]

That's great, Rob! Best of luck with your hatches!