Watermelon day

[Guinea Goonie]

Nice looking bunch of Guinea Kins. Did not know they like watermelon ! Have to offer mine some.....

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

The other thing that helps with longevity is that my guineas do not get treats.

Ha ha, I treat the cr#$ out of our Guineas and our original flock survivors are 8 this year and many are 7 that have been added in during the second year. I guess the treats may not ne as harmful as you may think - so the Guineas tell me. The others are 1, 3, 5 years old since they were babies added on different years.

The Guineas in the watermelon photo are all 8 years old, except for 2 who are 7.

I had one death from overfeeding (fatty liver) treats in the winter, one from tumors. three wasted away (never knew why), three were taken by predators during the day, and four hens lost since they went broody outside and I could not find the nest.

 

[R2elk]

Ha ha, I treat the cr#$ out of our Guineas and our original flock survivors are 8 this year and many are 7 that have been added in during the second year. I guess the treats may not ne as harmful as you may think - so the Guineas tell me. The others are 1, 3, 5 years old since they were babies added on different years.

I had one death from overfeeding (fatty liver) treats in the winter, one from tumors. three wasted away (never knew why), three were taken by predators during the day, and four hens lost since they went broody outside and I could not find the nest.

The thing with treats is to keep them limited.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

That is the ideal humidity for my guinea eggs during the incubation stage. Of course the problem is knowing whether or not the hygrometer is accurate.

Really? Wow - I keep my humidity at 60-70% and 90% during hatching. I have a Genesis forced air incubator. I think forced air versus still air makes a difference in what humidity you are supposed to have, right?

I do "help" when they hatch - wrote a whole article on it once - I'll have to look for it to share it. Here is one photo of helping to keep the inner membrane moist while not breaking any blood vessles - tricky s%$*!

 

[R2elk]

Really? Wow - I keep my humidity at 60-70% and 90% during hatching. I have a Genesis forced air incubator. I think forced air versus still air makes a difference in what humidity you are supposed to have, right?

I do "help" when they hatch - wrote a whole article on it once - I'll have to look for it to share it. Here is one photo of helping to keep the inner membrane moist while not breaking any blood vessles - tricky s%$*!

View attachment 2254907

The thing is to use the humidity that works for you. If you aren't using a calibrated hygrometer to check the humidity, you probably don't know the actual humidity. Most factory installed hygrometers in incubators are not accurate.

It is not necessary to know the actual humidity if you are weighing the eggs or candling them for proper development of the air cell.

If you are having to help a lot of the eggs, it may be a sign that your humidity is too high during the incubation stage. An insufficient loss of weight corresponding to an air cell that is too small will cause the keet to become too big and prevent it from zipping.

I have different issues than you have because of the difference in our elevations. The higher the elevation, the trickier it can be to hatch eggs.

If I used an actual 60% to 70% humidity during the incubation phase, none of my guinea eggs would ever hatch.

 

[Sydney65]

I remember reading abt variation of humidity level at higher alt but didn't take notes on it as it didn't apply. I do have "humidity needs to be higher at hatch-60% relative humidity- for last day or so to prevent membranes from drying out too fast, preventing keet from getting out. 2 guides for correct humidity are increased air cell size and wt loss. If wt too low, increase humidity. Wts to high, decrease humidity. Needs to lose 13-15% between laying and pipping." In my case, the ambient humidity is pretty much running the show.

 

[Sydney65]

oh,and late hatches = high humidity.

 

[R2elk]

I remember reading abt variation of humidity level at higher alt but didn't take notes on it as it didn't apply. I do have "humidity needs to be higher at hatch-60% relative humidity- for last day or so to prevent membranes from drying out too fast, preventing keet from getting out. 2 guides for correct humidity are increased air cell size and wt loss. If wt too low, increase humidity. Wts to high, decrease humidity. Needs to lose 13-15% between laying and pipping." In my case, the ambient humidity is pretty much running the show.

If your ambient humidity is 60%, you should not have any trouble with using the dry hatch method as your humidity inside the incubator should be in the low 30% range without adding any water during the incubation stage.

 

[R2elk]

oh,and late hatches = high humidity.

Late hatches = incubator temperature was on the low side. Early hatches = incubator temperature was on the high side.

 

[Sydney65]

Well, like you said, if the hygrometer is accurate, it stays right around 30 unless I open it up. Brinsea manual recommended 40-50% & you guys said 50% was too high when I was just testing unit. That's why I double checked re 30%