Guinea Hens as incubators

Date sort Score sort
BYC-user-452147

BYC-user-452147

Chirping
Nov 20, 2016
42
13
62
Before the incubator became popular and afordable people would have a guinea hen to hatch and raise the poultry. I know guineas are exelent mothers and I know they will raise chicks but does anyone still use guineas as an incubator/chick raiser? I'm curious as to wether it would be a good idea to get a guinea to incubat and raise quail because quail are terrible mothers and almost never go broody.
 
Last edited:
Pacey Hillson said:
Before the incubator became popular and afordable people would have a guinea hen to hatch and raise the poultry. I know guineas are exelent mothers and I know they will raise chicks but does anyone still use guineas as an incubator/chick raiser? I'm curious as to wether it would be a good idea to get a guinea to incubat and raise quail because quail are terrible mothers and almost never go broody.
Click to expand...

I don't know where you came up with this information but it is contradictory to any information that I have. If you want a broody to hatch and raise quail for you, I highly recommend that you get some Silkie hens. They are also available in bantam size. You can find out lots about them in the chicken forums.
 
Well, i believe, and truely belive that guineas are good brooders even though they are not good parents. They can hatch any kind of gamefowl egg same as a chicken hen. But guineas being poor parents if allowed to forange.

This guineahen is 7 years old and has raised so many clutches successfully
700
 
ludwing said:
Well, i believe, and truly believe that guineas are good brooders even though they are not good parents. They can hatch any kind of gamefowl egg same as a chicken hen. But guineas being poor parents if allowed to forage.

This guinea hen is 7 years old and has raised so many clutches successfully
Click to expand...

Your guineas may be good brooders but they can never match Silkies for broodiness. My understanding is that Silkies can and do go broody at the drop of an egg. With guineas being seasonal layers, trying to use them as an incubator for hatching quail eggs would not work out very well.
 
Most chicken breeds are good brooders,but there still varies with species. Guineas are seasonally, and do good with their incubation periods. Only the quail eggs can be hatched under a guineahen during the laying season.
 
ludwing said:
Most chicken breeds are good brooders,but there still varies with species. Guineas are seasonally, and do good with their incubation periods. Only the quail eggs can be hatched under a guinea hen during the laying season.
Click to expand...

Perhaps your guineas are different but another huge advantage with the Silkies versus normal guineas is that the Silkies will not abandon their nest because of a person messing with it. My experience with guineas indicates that messing with the guinea hen's nest can very often cause the guinea hen to abandon the nest.
 
R2elk, that totally correct about guineas abondoning the nest so easly. but still that depend on how the guineas were raised. probably in my opinion it also depend to the hand raised. and that as a guineahen becomes older,she become more connected and fondful on the incubation. i have so many young guineahen abondoned their nest last year because of I, trying to move her nest to the coop. but my adult hens seem to tolerate my moves around them. some of the hen might not abondon the nest even if its still few days of her incubation, but others might abondon on few days, of the incubation.
this is a virse versa, some chicken hen are not prone to broodiness, and are not totally good parents
 

Similar threads

T
Guinea on back spasming
Replies
5
Views
1K
titp
T
B
    • Sad
Male Guinea Fowl attacking chicken hen
2 3 4
Replies
35
Views
5K
R2elk
R2elk
B
What would you do? Hurt guinea hen.
Replies
6
Views
2K
R2elk
R2elk
Erinnlyn
Brood guineas under hen?
Replies
6
Views
882
Erinnlyn
Erinnlyn
centrarchid
    • Like
    • Love
Trainability of Guinea Fowl
2
Replies
10
Views
3K
centrarchid
centrarchid

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom