BYC Guinea hen club

Pics
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...
 
I still don't have any pips, cracks, nothing. One of the 2 eggs was rocking 2 days ago and the other was yesterday. I candled them and the one has a VERY big air cell. I can also see it breathing and there is a dark spot like it has broke into the air cell. It is day 24 now. Could it hatch soon?
 
You still could have one, two, three days to go, or even hours, would leave it pretty much be for now, or handle very, very gently. I handled all of mine the night before they all started pipping out, there is no 100% way to tell, but sounds close! Just don't be up pacing the floor all night. You may wake tomorrow to see a crack or pip hole, and then just wait. The ones where I saw them movng/breathing are actually being the last to pip, so you just never know. They are just getting themselves into the best position to do what they have to do, patience is key. At this point, there is nothing you can do to help other than keep the temp and humidity at a constant level and just bite your nails. Good luck, let us know what happens!
 
You still could have one, two, three days to go, or even hours, would leave it pretty much be for now, or handle very, very gently. I handled all of mine the night before they all started pipping out, there is no 100% way to tell, but sounds close! Just don't be up pacing the floor all night. You may wake tomorrow to see a crack or pip hole, and then just wait. The ones where I saw them movng/breathing are actually being the last to pip, so you just never know. They are just getting themselves into the best position to do what they have to do, patience is key. At this point, there is nothing you can do to help other than keep the temp and humidity at a constant level and just bite your nails. Good luck, let us know what happens!
Oh I will! :p I just switched them into the hatcher. Crossing my fingers and hoping I will soon see some more progress! They have excited now that I saw the eggs rocking!
pop.gif
 
Guinea's I just love them.. mine are 4 weeks old now and scooting around all over the place. A friend might bring me a couple more when he comes to visit from Virginia. He has Lavender ones and they look pretty. I never knew their were so many different types. I still would like to incubate some eggs.. Just can't stop the incubating thing..
 
Guinea's I just love them.. mine are 4 weeks old now and scooting around all over the place.  A friend might bring me a couple more when he comes to visit from Virginia.  He has Lavender ones and they look pretty. I never knew their were so many  different types.  I still would like to incubate some eggs.. Just can't stop the incubating thing..

Incubating seems to be an obsession! I speak from experience! I just hatched off 7 and I've still got 12 to do as well as 4 peas!
 
ALL of mine hatched out last night and this morning. Boom, boom, boom! They were popping all over the place! The early one took them right in, like a little mother. But she is different than the rest, she has a black saddle and a white belly and like a lone ranger mask. The guy I got the eggs from said she might be a cross from a rooster, but she has a guinea beak and guinea legs. He thinks also she might be a cross guinea, he has 3 different breeds. She is super special and very friendly, which leads me to believe she is a rooster cross?

Anyway, all are hatched and all are healthy, they are supposed to be extra large French, but can see some are Pearls for sure. Some have a lot of white on them. Super cute, and was up all night watching them and putting them in the brooder box as they dried. They all cuddled up and the early one, Solo, stood on top of the stuffed animal I had in there to keep her company, like she was watching over them. If one toppled over on its back, she would right him up. Way too adorable. They will all be going to new homes over the next few days BOO HOO, but I already have enough.

As far as introducing a new guinea to your flock, good luck to you. It is possible, but you will really have to keep an eye on things. They will maybe reject her altogether or hurt her, so be careful. Once they have their flock established, they are not very keen on having newcomers.

Yes, yes, the incubator addiction. Have it too. We lost our beautiful pekin girl last week and have another that appears to have gone lame in one leg. No, no bumble or anything, nothing visible, almost like she broke a hip or something, no visible injuries. She keeps up with the rest as they wait for her and huddle around her, eats and drinks fine, hoping she will recover, does not appear to be suffering at all, and laying eggs. Hmmm. She just emerged from the duck house one morning like that, and they do not fight at all. Very odd. So I set 3 duck eggs to replenish the flock, my drake is super virile and don't want the remaining girls to have to be constantly raped.

But oh my, I do love my guineas and the older ones are out in their pen for over a week now. They will eat from my hand, so hope they will stay around the house when they get their freedom. Talked to the guy I got the eggs from, what did he do with his guineas in winter, he said he wrapped the pen in plastic and put a corrugated top on it, and they did fine, and we had a super hard winter last year So going to give that a try, as we are out of enclosed housing. Sure they will be fine, he says they will huddle and actually put off a lot of body heat.

Good luck to all of you incubator addicts, after these ducklings hatch, I am done for this year. Will miss it, but the others need attention too, so they will get some extra now.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom