Guineas eggs

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Do guineas lay year round? Mine have been spending a good deal of time free roaming, rarely going back in the pen during the day. I was wondering if they might be laying in the woods or if they stopped laying because we had a cold snap. It has been a couple of weeks since we have gotten eggs and the weather has gone from 40s to 100 and back again.

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 03, 2000

Answers

Cindy,

I live in NE Oklahoma and mine are still laying. I usually don't know where the nests are until the dog finds them. He had an egg today, so I know they are still laying!

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), October 03, 2000.


When we had guineas they would really slow down egg production in winter, but a few would keep on laying. We just had them for the fun of it, so we weren't giving them straight laying mash. If we had they might have done better. We had them confined so I know they were not hiding the eggs.

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), October 04, 2000.

HI Cindy- Actually I am going to skirt your question with mine....hope you don't mind. Are guinea eggs good to eat? Are they better for baking like duck eggs? This might seem like a dumb question but guineas sound like something I might want.

-- Carleen (netocrs@mo-net.com), October 04, 2000.

I LOVE my guineas and even better, the yummy eggs they have. The kids won't eat regular store bought chicken eggs now. I have a pen for mine, feed them layer feed, but they prefer to be out of the pen since the crows seem to keep getting the eggs in the pen. I hope our poodle isn't finding them out of the pen and eating them. :-( I am allergic to chicken eggs (at least store bought one, I wonder if home grown ones are the same?..probably) so I really need to keep an eye out for the eggs. sigh.. They are a bit noisy, but I love those birds! :-)

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 04, 2000.

My 19 year old son moved into his "new" house that he recently bought. He moved this past weekend. He not only inherited several fruit trees and a giant pecan tree but also two guineas. He's found some of their older eggs but can't find where they're laying every day. Is there some trick to following them or something. They generally roost in the pine tree in his back yard at night. Anybody got any ideas?

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 05, 2000.


If anybody knows this answer, I would like it too. I have been following my guineas around, trying to find the nest...no luck. I think perhaps the crows are taking off with them. We watch them all the time and they keep going back to the same spot, so we believe (the We being the kids and I) that they must be laying there, but no eggs. sigh...silly birds wanted back in the pen today. I made the house a little bigger, maybe they will be happy enough with it to lay in the house.

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 06, 2000.

We have a lot better luck hatching Guinney eggs by just keeping them penned up while they are laying then using the old GQF incubator. When we just let them free range, they hid their nests from everthing but the coyotes & snakes. We have had some luck by saving the eggs then putting them under a broody chicken hen.

-- Okie-Dokie (tjcamp6338@aol.com), October 07, 2000.

Guineas are still laying in south central Texas. Some of the hatcheries sell keets thru October. If the keets are trained, they will return to their pens to roost at night. After they feather up and are put outside in pens, keep them closed in the pens for 6 full weeks. Open the gate and let them go out on their own. It may take a few days. If you move, or move their housing, you have to once again pen them for 6 weeks or they'll go back to where they were.

Guineas will eat bugs and weed seeds and little of the feed you put out during the day. They will eat a bit of the feed before going to roost at night.

Guineas can fly really high, so they'll fly out of a pen without a roof. If they roost in a closed pen at night, you won't have to worry predators getting them.

They like to hide their eggs, so if you put up some boards or some kind of barrier to hide the nest boxes in their pens, it'll help. (Makes me think of those folding room divider thingies they use for cat's privacy)

Guineas will kill snakes. Some will eat the snakes. So they're not just good for ridding your property of ticks, fleas and other insects.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.


Ok, thanks. I know about having to keep them put up and all, I have done that. My problem is, finding the hidden nests. They did lay their eggs in the pen, then the crows were flying in and taking them, so they began laying outside of the pen, I guess. We have a way to incubate the eggs, if we can ever find any. We saw the crows take off with some more this morning, so we have an idea where the nest is. :-( I will have to get netting over the top of the pen so they can't get out if I want to have eggs to eat and hatch. :-( They are so happy roosting on the gate top.

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.

My guineas are still laying eggs and it's Dec. 26 and in the sinlge digits here at night with highs in the 20's during the day. Mine lay in the chicken coop with the chickens they have been raised with. In fact when I went in today a Road Island Red was in a nest laying with a guinea hen laying with her in the same nest. They all like the same nest and usual take turns.

-- Noreen in IA (noreen@unitedwestern.net), December 26, 2001.


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