How to : get guinea hens to lay closest to the hen house

[Geoffrey]

They naturally wander away and find a reclusive spot. Outside out
yard and 3 ace compound....the land is bare on 2 sides...so no concern
north or east. To the SW I have an enticing gully with lots of
brush. Inside the yard my 5 nest boxes are set in spots that they
see. I've been collecting 3-4 eggs daily from 6 hens. The birds are
kinda dumb but easily trained. The nest spots need only to be
"salted". I put 2 chicken eggs in each nest spot. For the guinea
hens the "light turns on" when they notice someone else has laid an
egg in a nest spot...and they think..."that's where I'm supposed to
lay my egg." These nest boxes need to look secluded and
inviting....set them in the right spot...the guinea hens will fill
them up.

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a Message from "Guinea Fowl Assn of America" your personal guinea friends group

[moxeeguy]

We have about 2.5 acres of fenced compound...yard surrounding our
house and out buildings. The guinea hens lately have gained an
appreciation for their nest boxes that I placed on the ground in the
gardens but they also like to find a new spot to lay every several
days. They also like the chicken nest boxes I place on stools under
the cedar trees....about 16 inches off the ground. Its a bit comical
to find guinea fowl eggs in a nest box designed for chickens to lay
in. Lately the 6 guinea hens are laying in one of the chicken nest
boxes. I'm not trying to "train" them to lay in chicken boxes.
Clearly it caould be done. My purpose is to collect the eggs from the
guinea hens and set them under a broody hen. I don't care where they
lay their eggs as long as they're in locations that I can
find...inside the 2.5 acre fenced compound. I need a new broody hen
available every 5-6 days to set on the guinea eggs I've been
collecting...and after 30 days...I can reuse the hens for another go
at hatching a nest full of guinea eggs. In theory...the broody hens
can be used for 2-3 rounds of brooding new eggs. I just gave a hen 14
of her (sister's) eggs. They're Game Fowl eggs...fertilized by my
Kelso lineaged American Game Fowl roo. I should get a 10 or so chicks
out of the hatch. He's a big handsome roo. The hen that just
received 14 Game Fowl eggs...just hatched out 6 keets and had 1 hatch
from her 1st attempt...a very premature attempt by myself to hatch
guinea fowl this spring. The weather here in March and April is
brutal or at least it can be. My guineas won't even lay much till the
last week of April...but I convinced Peeps to mail me some of her
extra guinea eggs...thinking that my Game Fowl hens could hatch a
rock.

Kelly