Hatched one guinea 3 days ago, we have named her "Solo" as she was the only to hatch early. From other guinea hatchers I have talked to, there always seems to be one that hatches earlier than the rest. It rather frightened me, as there were absolutely no signs of the others. No cracks, pips, altho I candled each one, they all had nice air pockets and appeared viable. I have heard the true range for hatch can be anywhere from 26 to 30 days, depending on conditions, and as many of you have said on here, temp or humidity too high or too low by just a hair. But good success so far with all the different eggs at 99.6 for mine anyway, and sure I will have arguments, just relaying my experiences. But this little bugger was determined and totally caught me by surprised, was starting to get concerned, and then concerned about the rest.
Now this morning, 3 days later, almost all the rest, 14 out of 24 of them, are pipping out and making lots of noise with just their initial airhole. Some are just trying to bust out with a big crack all the way around. Check another hour later, 4 more pipping. Another hour, 4 more. So we are at day 28 to be exact. Temp was always at 99.6 and I handled them quite frequently as I turned them myself. Humidity varied all the time, but always tried to keep it above 55%, now with hatching have added a bit more for them.
I don't know, but think the delicate handling and lockdown and all that is maybe over rated sometimes. I know a lot of you try to raise absolutely genetically and show quality and are therefore super careful. I have always handled all my eggs, duck, chicken, guinea, the same way and have had about a 95% success rate with all healthy babies. Have helped a few if the hatch took too long, but not too much, just a little piece of shell off without touching the membrane, and they do fine. Guineas seem to BURST out, one minute they are trying and the next voila! There they are! But I like to handle my eggs a lot and candle every few days so if any have expired, remove them right away. I know, you will say leave them alone and maybe you would have 100%, but most of mine that die, die very, very early, within the first 10 days. It is a lot tougher with the guineas, I don't think you can see movement until the last few days anyway, but you can at least see the air pocket looks healthy and there are no nasty looking rings or anything going on.
After my first one hatched, I decided to leave the rest alone, totally. Nothing was happening for three days, nothing. Last night I decided I had better clean out and get the Hovabator ready, just in case. Gently place all the eggs in cartons, large side up and put them in a warm spot while I scrubbed and added nice warm clean water for the humidity. Then candled them all in the dark bathroom. A few had movement, some nothing at all, but looked okay, they were definitely full of chick. Gently back in the bator after it had warmed up and had nice clean humidity, the same way up I had taken them out with the X side up. TA DA!!! This morning, 20 are pipping! Maybe they just wanted a nice clean world to come out into, who knows.
They are after all, pretty much wild creatures, and my little Solo will be happy to have some little brothers and sisters for sure. She cries to be handled at times and actually likes it, she's a funny little thing, and feel real bad for her, but she has survived, has a nice full belly and a healthy appetite, but she just loves it when we bring her out for interaction. Yesterday I brought up on youtube some videos of guineas with the sound on, she was totally mesmerized by it for a good half hour. Want her to know what she is, she sat on my chest the whole time and watched. Was too funny! Guinea TV LOL!
So will let you know how the hatch goes, expect some to bust out at anytime, they are chirping away and obviously working hard, sure once the first one escapes, the rest will follow quickly. Think Solo can hear them, she is being pretty vocal, and won't be solo for much longer. She is very lovable and hope she will be the big brother/sister and teach them. They are so super, super cute when they are first dried, little cotton balls, but also very durable. They are pretty much all spoken for, everyone is anxious to get them and have been waiting a long time as the hatchery (Stromberg) could not produce until the end of July, so they don't even have the eggs to hatch yet. They very much obliged me when I asked to cancel my order, with no charge, we don't want to see babies shipped at the end of July anyway. So very happy with that, they too had a hard and long winter and their breeding stock did not produce until late, so understand.
Just my experience, and yes, this is my first guinea hatch, but have been hatching chicks and ducklings for a few years now. Wanted to let y'all know, guineas are just a bit different than domestic, and a bit more unpredictable, so don't be discouraged if things don't go according to the calendar. As my obstetrician told me at ten days late, "when the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree," thanks Doc!, it is true when it comes to guineas!
Good luck to you all in your endeavors, and will let you know how the hatch goes!
And a P.S. While going thru the youtube videos, ran across one where a woman hatched out twins from one chicken egg, she basically did it all by hand, helping them thru the whole thing. Both survived, it was kinda very scary to watch as she was using a big knife and I had to hold my breath. Fascinating but like a train wreck, could not look away. Both seemed to be perfect, have any of you ever hatched twins, and were they both alright? Have heard usually only one survives...you can find the video on youtube by just searching for hatching twin chicks, if you need a few minutes of a very suspenseful human assisted hatch...
Now this morning, 3 days later, almost all the rest, 14 out of 24 of them, are pipping out and making lots of noise with just their initial airhole. Some are just trying to bust out with a big crack all the way around. Check another hour later, 4 more pipping. Another hour, 4 more. So we are at day 28 to be exact. Temp was always at 99.6 and I handled them quite frequently as I turned them myself. Humidity varied all the time, but always tried to keep it above 55%, now with hatching have added a bit more for them.
I don't know, but think the delicate handling and lockdown and all that is maybe over rated sometimes. I know a lot of you try to raise absolutely genetically and show quality and are therefore super careful. I have always handled all my eggs, duck, chicken, guinea, the same way and have had about a 95% success rate with all healthy babies. Have helped a few if the hatch took too long, but not too much, just a little piece of shell off without touching the membrane, and they do fine. Guineas seem to BURST out, one minute they are trying and the next voila! There they are! But I like to handle my eggs a lot and candle every few days so if any have expired, remove them right away. I know, you will say leave them alone and maybe you would have 100%, but most of mine that die, die very, very early, within the first 10 days. It is a lot tougher with the guineas, I don't think you can see movement until the last few days anyway, but you can at least see the air pocket looks healthy and there are no nasty looking rings or anything going on.
After my first one hatched, I decided to leave the rest alone, totally. Nothing was happening for three days, nothing. Last night I decided I had better clean out and get the Hovabator ready, just in case. Gently place all the eggs in cartons, large side up and put them in a warm spot while I scrubbed and added nice warm clean water for the humidity. Then candled them all in the dark bathroom. A few had movement, some nothing at all, but looked okay, they were definitely full of chick. Gently back in the bator after it had warmed up and had nice clean humidity, the same way up I had taken them out with the X side up. TA DA!!! This morning, 20 are pipping! Maybe they just wanted a nice clean world to come out into, who knows.
They are after all, pretty much wild creatures, and my little Solo will be happy to have some little brothers and sisters for sure. She cries to be handled at times and actually likes it, she's a funny little thing, and feel real bad for her, but she has survived, has a nice full belly and a healthy appetite, but she just loves it when we bring her out for interaction. Yesterday I brought up on youtube some videos of guineas with the sound on, she was totally mesmerized by it for a good half hour. Want her to know what she is, she sat on my chest the whole time and watched. Was too funny! Guinea TV LOL!
So will let you know how the hatch goes, expect some to bust out at anytime, they are chirping away and obviously working hard, sure once the first one escapes, the rest will follow quickly. Think Solo can hear them, she is being pretty vocal, and won't be solo for much longer. She is very lovable and hope she will be the big brother/sister and teach them. They are so super, super cute when they are first dried, little cotton balls, but also very durable. They are pretty much all spoken for, everyone is anxious to get them and have been waiting a long time as the hatchery (Stromberg) could not produce until the end of July, so they don't even have the eggs to hatch yet. They very much obliged me when I asked to cancel my order, with no charge, we don't want to see babies shipped at the end of July anyway. So very happy with that, they too had a hard and long winter and their breeding stock did not produce until late, so understand.
Just my experience, and yes, this is my first guinea hatch, but have been hatching chicks and ducklings for a few years now. Wanted to let y'all know, guineas are just a bit different than domestic, and a bit more unpredictable, so don't be discouraged if things don't go according to the calendar. As my obstetrician told me at ten days late, "when the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree," thanks Doc!, it is true when it comes to guineas!
Good luck to you all in your endeavors, and will let you know how the hatch goes!
And a P.S. While going thru the youtube videos, ran across one where a woman hatched out twins from one chicken egg, she basically did it all by hand, helping them thru the whole thing. Both survived, it was kinda very scary to watch as she was using a big knife and I had to hold my breath. Fascinating but like a train wreck, could not look away. Both seemed to be perfect, have any of you ever hatched twins, and were they both alright? Have heard usually only one survives...you can find the video on youtube by just searching for hatching twin chicks, if you need a few minutes of a very suspenseful human assisted hatch...