Do guinea hens hatch their own eggs?

[MoMo15]

I have heard that guineas don't hatch/brood their eggs. But I have also heard from some people and websites that they do hatch their eggs. I am very confused. Will I need an incubator or not? I need to know.

 

[GlassBirdy]

Some do! Out of the 10 of ours only one broods... But she broods for all of them

 

[R2elk]

incubating question; I know guinea eggs take 28 days, but what day do you put them into lockdown and raise the humidity? I have some in the bator, day 14 coming up, and wondered what day to lock down? This is my first time trying to hatch guineas

I put my guinea eggs into lockdown on day 25 just the same as I do for turkeys. Because guineas can hatch from day 26 to 28 normally, some people put them into lockdown on day 23. Others that do a lot of candling don't move any eggs to lockdown until they see an internal pip.

My current batch of guinea egg contains both shipped eggs and my own eggs. Apparently the shipped eggs got an early start during the shipping. When I went to move them to the hatcher one of the shipped eggs had already hatched on day 25 and three more eggs were externally pipped and all the rest were internally pipped.

My eggs have their first external pip today which is day 26 and most of them were internally pipped when I moved them to lockdown.

Good luck.

 

[R2elk]

How soon after the eggs are laid do you need to set them? I have about 48 in the pen, laid probably over the last week.

No different than any other eggs. The recommended length of storage time is 7 to 10 days. The longer you store them the lower hatch rate you can expect.

I normally stored mine for 14 days but have successfully hatched eggs as old as 21 days. How you store them can also affect how well they will hatch.

 

[Jean1113]

No different than any other eggs. The recommended length of storage time is 7 to 10 days. The longer you store them the lower hatch rate you can expect.

I normally stored mine for 14 days but have successfully hatched eggs as old as 21 days. How you store them can also affect how well they will hatch.

Thank you

 

[PeepsCA]

Guineas are horrible mothers, if allowed to free range they will choose to lay their eggs in hidden and unsafe places (usually out in the bushes or behind something) where the Hen and eggs usually get taken by predators. After laying 20some eggs they can and do sometimes lose interest in their clutch if disturbed, spooked, crowded by other Hens (and sometimes even for no reason at all), at any time while they are brooding. Guinea Hens in large flocks usually tend to share nests, so while one Hen has gone broody on the pile other Hens keep laying there, so not all the eggs will hatch at the same time. After the keets start hatching, the Hen brooding the nest (if she lives that long) leaves the nest and takes off with just the first few keets that hatch, leaving the other eggs to go cold and die. While out running around with the prized few keets that did hatch, she often loses the keets in the grass, gets them wet (and they die), and hawks, owls, foxes, raccoons, dogs, cat and any other predators pick them off one by one within a couple of days... and you have zero profit. NONE.

If you want to make a business out of it, here's my suggestion (speaking from personal experience here because I'm doin' it, have been doin' it, and it works, lol):
Build a huge coop and covered run, make it COMPLETELY predator proof. It's also a good idea to have fenced land and train your Guineas to stay within the fenceline when you let them out to free range too... (but that's a whole other topic there tho). Guineas are seasonal layers (Spring thru Fall), so come Springtime start your Hens' laying habits in the coop by keeping them in until they lay their eggs for the day (it's best to not even let them start the habit of laying outdoors, EVER), collect the eggs 2-3X a day, then INCUBATE them yourself in a good quality, stable incubator, raise the keets in a brooder and sell them ASAP so you have minimal cost invested. You can occasionally get lucky and have a Hen or 2 brood a clutch in the coop for you, BUT... even then they can abandon the nest or the other adult Guineas can quickly kill the keets before you collect them.

 

[cgmccary]

One of my Guinea hens hatched a clutch of twelve in early August (she had her nest outside in my pumpkin patch & with my dogs, she was safe from predators). Two newly hatched keets crawled out from under her early and died (leaving her ten). I took the 4-5 eggs she left, put them in an incubator and had one more to hatch. I let her have the 10 keets for one day. I kept an eye on her all day because it was a Saturday. Though the Guinea mother never ventured out of my sight with them (I used binoculars once however), she managed to lose 2! I found one keet body but not the other. After that, I confiscated her remaing eight keets and added the one I finished hatching in the incubator. More than a month later, I still have all nine and they are penned outside & look good.

And the Guinea hen wasn't having to run through tall grass and watching her, she proceeded slowly and methodically. IMHO, newly hatched keets are more fragile than chickens (chicks). I have seen a mother chicken hen out in freezing weather with newly hatched chicks and not lose a one (and free ranging). I had a chicken hen lose a couple keets on colder mornings (and she was penned with them). Once they are through the first week or two, they seem to be real hardy though. Just my take.

Also, another Guinea hen I had this summer sat on a clutch of eggs and failed to hatch any.

 

[justin shrew]

and in that,most keets born in the wet season have hard time to reach adulthood,than those born in the dry season...

 

[chicmom]

Yes they do! My neighbor down the road has guineas that hatched out a few clutches of eggs.....

 

[MoMo15]

Thanks. I am hopeing to start a small breeding business but it is hard figuring all this stuff out. I am new to any kind of poultry and appreciateany info I can get.