mt guines are 6 months old kept in a run have boxes but no eggs!! can anybody tell me when i should expect them or am i doing some thing wrong
when do guines start to lay eggs?
try this place and i don't think they like regular boxes
http://www.guineafowl.com/board/
fieldsems, Given the time of year .... you maybe should not anticipate eggs till next spring. They'll lay under a board leaned up against the wall ..... just a small bit of privacy is all they require. Few people % wise keep guineas locked up. Them being locked up may be advisable given the potential list of predators in your region. We're 10 miles out in the farmland so few problems other than neighbors who are clueless to the dangers of a wandering dog. We lost 2 chickens 2 days ago. A momma hen stepped on a chick ... flattened it. We had a dog bothering my neighbors turkeys and all of the shared Game Fowl were up in my 50 ft tall oak tree ..... way up there. I thought something must be bothering them (duh). We had game fowl remains on the lawn the day before ..... and the count is down to about 55 now. I put 2 & 2 together. We won't be having dogs wandering around over here for a while I suspect. I noticed late yesterday .... there was NO barking .... not any. They must have had 5-6 Pit Bulls. My bet is they took them ALL back to where they used to live. Dogs prices are incredible. $500 and up ..... can't say I'd ever want a dog for fighting other dogs but the local Native Americans seem to have a liking for it.
THANKS UNFORTUNATELY I WAS LETTING MY GUINEAS FREE RANGE UNTIL A NEIGHBOR CALLED THE SHERIFF ON THEM SAID SHE WAS TERRIFIED OF BIRDS. THEY ONLY WENT IN HER YARD ONCE AND I QUICKLY HERDED THEM BACK OVER. THIS IS MY FIRST TIME WITH GUINEAS I HAVE ONLY HAD CHICKENS BEFORE. I'LL TRY THE BOARD THING.
I have guineas too. my pretty much hang out away from any neighbors homes, they did spook a horse (visiting for a day long ride) other than that everyones amazed that they come in different colors, especially the coral blue! try that site they litereally wrote the book on raising and keeping guineas I am Lora in NH.There are a lot of guez here too! If you have different colors we are doing an egg swap this spring
fieldsems, I've never in all my life heard of anyone scared of birds. Sounds like you're situated too close to this particular neighbor. You can always hope they move or even encourage them to do so. Good luck. I too would prefer more space or even better if my neighbors moved and took all their vicious Pit Bull dogs away. I'll have more space before long or a larger parcel. My neighbors still have at least one Pit Bull ..... he's been barking today.
I have a nieghbor who is terrified of birds, not just poultry but parrots. she is fine a bird is say on a feeder and she's in the house or behind a fence but is totally freaked out by them if they come near her. the only time she has been in my yard when the birds were out was on her huge horse, in her car or truck or with her husband and two rotties. She has always been terrified of live birds, she fine with roasting a chicken or turkey. There are a lot of different phobias out there.
LoraK, I have just 3 color varieties ..... Pearl, Royal Purple & Blonde. I hatched out the Blonde. He's kinda uncommon. From what I've been told by Frit over at the guineafowl.com ..... the blonde is a genetic obscurity somewhere between Albino white and and a very pale Buff. He's a nice guinea. We're hoping for more guinea keets with the Blonde guy as the roo in charge but until the fence is improved we're wasting our time. Egg swaps sound like a neat thing to participate in. I can't seem to get my guineas to hatch a nest in the yard lately (due to skunks) and I'm disinclined to use an incubator. I have 30 Game Fowl hens who will go broody if a rooster gazes in her direction so I'll have 50 opportunities next spring/summer to get my guinea eggs hatched under 1 of them. We can store a 50 gal barrel cut into 2 half barrels in a corner of a garage, toss in grass trimmings and come back in 30 days to discover 2 broods of chicks. I've never seen such a broody group of chickens before.
WE ARE BULIDING A HOUSE ON ALOT MORE ACREAGE THAN WE HAVE NOW BUT I WORRY ABOUT INTRODUCING THEM TO A NEW AREA. ABOUT THAT DOG PAINTBALL GUN!! WON'T KILL THE DOG BUT WILL TEACH HIM AND OWNERS A LESSON. IM LUCKY I HAVE A COON DOG SO I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CRITTERS OR OTHER DOGS TRYING TO GET MY BIRDS HES REAL PROTECTIVE OVER THEM EVEN HELPS HERD THEM IN. SO GUINEAS DONT LAY EGGS AT ALL IN THE FALL WINTER MONTHS?
fieldsems, That pretty much sums it up but I do think a more mature group of guinea fowl hens will continue to lay into November .... especially in the South .... they lay less in the Fall but guineas have an egg laying winding down period from Fall to Winter. 2 yrs ago 1 of my my Guinea hens hatched out a group of 7 keets in early Fall I think. I still have most of them. I found 3 keets running around my water trough (without their mother) last October. Guineas lay like gangbusters from April -August. Kelly
I have one guinea hen that is setting on a clutch of eggs out in the middle of an overgrown pasture. Guineas are not very smart, but they are very quick and very mean, so I'm not worried about her safety. I will probably collect the babies when they hatch and keep them in a safe place.
broncbuster, My only guinea hen that I was aware of setting on a nest 13 months ago was in our overgrown strawberry & raspberry patch that is visible from our northside dining room picture window (15 ft away). There's quite a bit of human activity in that part of the yard so the skunks didn't happen upon her nest within the 40 days. We were lucky is all. I really need to sew a wire skirting around our perimeter fence line to keep skunks from digging their way into the yard or gardens along the fence. I like my guineas more than the chickens to honest. Guineas are far less prone to digging up my garden flowers. They wander all over and are better at reproducing offspring than chickens (except for the Game Fowl). The color spectrum for Guinea Fowl is remarkable as well. There are also Giant Guineas available ...... they are about twice the size of normal guinea fowl. Some varieties are incapable of reproduction but others are fine.
We just lost 3 guineas in one nights time.
Usually lock them up about 8, when we went out that night there was one dead one laying by the pen, head and neck eaten off. The other 3 were gone. by morning time 2 more were dead, right in their pen both with the head and necks eaten off. Leaves us with one scared to death guinea that is so lonesome it breaks our hearts to see him.
Are thinking it was an owl that did the killing and eating of head and neck--has anyone else had this happen?
I have had hawks get my chickens before and they eat just like that. They start with the head because it's more accessible and easy to hold on to. Were they roosting or on the ground? I have goats with my birds and they must deterr predatory birds because I haven't had any problems since I've had the goats.
Head and neck eaten I have heard are raccoons.
jbpb in Pine City, MN, I'm not a "know it all" but you're in a region where raccoons are notoriously thick and they are the #1 biggest headache for folks with poultry.