Guinea Eggs Question

[toyzbox]

One of my girls is sitting on about 20 eggs. So far they have never had a successful hatch. I'm in NW Florida and the red ants are terrible. As soon as the eggs hatch the ants are on them before they can be saved. And while Guineas will eat almost any bug they will not touch red ants. They are at about 21 days (we think) and of course the laid date is going to be different for each since it takes about a week for each of them to add to the nest. I have an incubator standing by so my question is, should I take the eggs and try to finish them in the incubator????

 

[PD-Riverman]

One of my girls is sitting on about 20 eggs. So far they have never had a successful hatch. I'm in NW Florida and the red ants are terrible. As soon as the eggs hatch the ants are on them before they can be saved. And while Guineas will eat almost any bug they will not touch red ants. They are at about 21 days (we think) and of course the laid date is going to be different for each since it takes about a week for each of them to add to the nest. I have an incubator standing by so my question is, should I take the eggs and try to finish them in the incubator????

If the eggs are important to you----you want them to hatch, then I would----being they have not had a successful hatch. I hatch all my guinea eggs.

 

[pauleberly]

I have zero experience with guinea, so take everything with a grain of salt

I have sprayed neems oil (its just a bunch of essential oil) all around my crops, and have never had any type of insect/bug problem ever
I am not sure how pet safe it would be, but I am wondering if you can spray a foot away from the nest in a circle

Also, I have heard that bee keepers plant spearmint around their hives, because it keeps all the ants out of it.

I am a firm believer in as natural as possible, but if the ants are that bad, you may have to incubate yourself.

Best of luck

 

[toyzbox]

What temp and humidity do you think I should set the bater at this late in the game???

 

[toyzbox]

Interesting idea....not sure about Neem Oil being pet safe but I wonder if Diatomaceous Earth would do the trick

 

[pauleberly]

Yeah I am not sure, you might have to read on it. I know when I spread it on my crops, it did not have any bugs on it. Maybe a combo of DE around her, then some neems oil on the outside of the DE would make a good barrier