I have two guineas, Jack and Jill, that I thought were a male and a female. I bought them from an old man in a parking lot and I told him I wanted a male and
a female. They were young. He picked them up, turned them upside down, and said you could tell by the way they held their legs out, one stuck them straight
out and the other pulled them in closer to the body. One does have way bigger wattles than the other. Nests keep appearing, and I keep busting them up,
because we have heavy dew every day and I have read that when she leads the keets off through the dew, they chill and die. Every time I move the eggs to their
cage, she refuses to accept them. I am afraid for her to not sleep in the cage because we have heavy bird predation. I feel bad for busting up the nest so
many times. Last night I let the guinea sleep on the nest like the guinea wanted. My question: the one on the nest is Jack, with the bigger wattles. I
looked on the internet some and it says rheas are hatched by the males, sometimes the gander will set, sometimes the cock will take a turn when the female goes
to feed in other species. Can my male guinea be setting, or do I have two females? I can't tell them apart by their calls, but that might be my fault.
If I have two females, they'll never hatch, unless my silver duckwing bantam cock fertilized them. I have seen him getting on top of guineas, but I
don't know if he's just emphasizing that he is at the top of the pecking order, or really having sex with them, or just Jill but not Jack, or both of
them. Should I bust up the nest again? The place where the nest is this time looks a little safer than previous nests. I don't really need any more than
two guineas, but they just want to do their own natural thing, and I feel sorry for them. Help! What's going on and what should I do? Thanks.
0 Kudo
- General and Social Discussion
- Disease, Cures and Emergencies!
- Eggs to Hatch and Beyond
- Chicken Behaviors
- Coops and Runs
- Predators and Pests
- Poultry show and swap meet listings
- Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade ~ Giveaways
- Breeds in General
- Breeders & Backyard Hatcheries
- Meat Birds and Other Poultry
- reference material, med and disease info
- Egg & Chicken Recipes
- Notable Archives
Can a male guinea set?
| Author | Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tess |
Can a male guinea set? |
Lead | ||
|
Posts: 11 07/30/09 09:54 AM |
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
BarbaraNH |
#1 | |||
|
Posts: 153 07/31/09 10:09 AM |
I suppose it's possible, but I have never heard of it happening. Males will usually stand guard while a female sits on the nest. It is rare for a hen to
accept a nest after it has been moved, but I agree that it would be best if your hen laid inside the cage for safety reasons. You can get her to do that by
keeping her inside the cage during the day until she lays an egg. After she has laid the egg, you can let her out. The next day, and probably the next, do
the same thing. Wait to let her out only after she has laid an egg. After a couple of days of laying in the cage, a hen will usually return to lay on her
own. It helps if there is a place within the cage or coop that is "private" so that the hen will accept the new nesting place.
You should be able to tell if you have two females by the number of eggs that are being laid. Are you getting more than 1 egg each day? If you keep both guineas inside the cage for a whole day, you can see how many eggs are being laid each day. I'm betting you could have two females. 
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
Tess |
#2 | |||
|
Posts: 12 08/11/09 08:50 AM |
Thank you, Barbara. I am convinced now that I have two females. Jack is now Jackie. She has the same two-note buckwheat call as Jill and she set on those
eggs for 11 days, then she abandoned it on her own. Why? I dunno. Maybe my bantam rooster had not successfully fertilized any eggs and Jackie could tell.
Maybe she's flaky and not that bright. Maybe she just wanted to go back in the cage with her flock. At least she survived. When she abandoned the nest,
I moved the eggs to a place where raccoons would dispose of them. Now it makes more sense why I get so many guinea eggs from just two guineas, and why they
don't challenge my tiny bantam rooster for the alpha male spot: I have two guinea hens. I am thinking of buying a chain link dog kennel, then lining it
with smaller wire, with a wire ceiling and wire buried underground all around the perimeter, to keep out diggers, climbers, and flyers. I guess they sell them
in sizes around 7' x 13', or maybe 10' x 10', I'm not sure. I'm thinking if I have a nice big coop, I might be able to get a guinea to
accept it as a nest spot. They won't accept their current cage as a nesting spot because it is only 2' x 4', way too small to hide in, and it has
no weeds, because it has a wire bottom covered in grass clippings, up on cinder blocks. It's so small they really just spend the night there so they
don't get eaten, they roam around all day, so they make nests in dangerous spots. I don't get my chicken eggs because I can't find them. Does
anyone know anything about converting a chain link dog kennel to a chicken coop? If anyone can give me any pointers, I'd appreciate it. I guess I need to
somehow make sure there are no little gaps along the bottom, since my favorite chickens are the tiny banties like Sebrights. I also guess they need some
shadecloth overhead? I live in a very hot and sunny area. Thanks if anyone has anything to share.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
mailmam71 |
#3 | |||
|
Posts: 1236 08/18/09 09:44 AM |
I think a dog kennel would make a great chicken run, with the modifications you talk about. You can get small size hardware cloth at any lumberyard, if you
don't know what I'm talking about, they will. It's not cloth at all but small square heavy wire. My sister has the same problem with guineas
nesting that you do and has only managed to raise 1 batch last year because she managed to find them when they hatched and moved to the coop. You could plant
some small bushes inside your kennel to make it even more wild looking. Julie
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
robin416 |
#4 | |||
|
Posts: 4399 08/28/09 05:55 PM |
The trick to teaching a Guinea where it should lay is to keep it up until it has laid for the day. It will quickly drive you nuts but once they've laid in
the designated area a few times they'll get the idea.
Something as simply as a half sheet a plywood leaning against a solid wall makes mine completely happy with that for a nest. |
|||
|
|
||||
- General and Social Discussion
- Disease, Cures and Emergencies!
- Eggs to Hatch and Beyond
- Chicken Behaviors
- Coops and Runs
- Predators and Pests
- Poultry show and swap meet listings
- Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade ~ Giveaways
- Breeds in General
- Breeders & Backyard Hatcheries
- Meat Birds and Other Poultry
- reference material, med and disease info
- Egg & Chicken Recipes
- Notable Archives
