cath
Member
hi,
we have three guinea fowl that roam around our farm in sussex. my mum was the poultry expert but she has recently died and dad and i are not very knowledgeable.
the female laid some eggs in a patch of nettles. this morning i have seen that the nettles around the eggs have gone and the eggs are very exposed. she is not doing a very good job of sitting on them at the moment but i am worried for her safety. i'm not sure whether to move the eggs to a more covered spot or remove them altogether (and have them for breakfast?).
any advice greatfully received.
cath
TopVeg
Member
Hi Cath
They would certainly be good for breakfast!
I am not an expert, but we did have a similar problem. I put an electric fence round the nest to keep the fox off - which was fine until the battery ran out & the fox made the most of the opportunity.
Another time we borrowed a broody bantam from a neighbour, took the eggs from the nest & let the bantam do a good job. She looked after the chicks, too.
If you let your guinea hatch them in the wild, she will struggle to keep them warm at this time of year.
I think the hen would not sit if you moved the nest, unless you shut her up on the nest.
Good luck, whatever you decide, but I am sure Sara will have some good advice!
cath
Member
thanks for the advice. the eggs have now disappeared so the immediate worry is over. i think we might consider a broody hen if she tries to sit again and we can find one.
i did find another egg in the grass though so might try it in the morning!
admin
Key Master
Hi Cath,
Welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear that the eggs have disappeared. I imagine that a magpie or crow has taken them.
From my experience with my guinea fowl laying their eggs this summer - whenever I had a guinea fowl sitting on some eggs and I placed a run over the top of the guinea fowl to keep it protected, the guinea fowl would get off the eggs.
Broody hens are an excellent choice for hatching guinea fowl eggs or using an incubtaor is usually the way I do it.
I have some pot eggs that I place in the guinea fowl nest to keep them laying so that when I take their eggs away I just leave the pot egg and they come back the next day to lay.
You could try adding a small run over their current nest and see if they keep laying their and get them used to going in and out of the run to lay. If you do do this I would cover the run in foliage in an attempt to make it more private as guinea fowl rarely lay on open ground. If they do lay in the nest in the run then when they start to sit you can lock them in the run protected from predators.
When my guinea fowl become broody I find that they rarely want to leave the nest, so if yours keep getting off the nest then they may not be completely broody.
Let us know how you get on with your guinea fowl eggs.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends