I named this guy Miracle because I said if any of these eggs hatch it will be a miracle. This is our first attempt at raising chickens and guineas.
My guinea, Dutchess, laid a nice clutch of eggs and started setting. This was her first time and she picked a nice spot inside the barn in the hay room. We really didn't think her eggs were fertile but let her alone to do her thing. I put her in a cage with water and feed so I could lock her up at night (for her safety). During the day she would come out for a little bit and go right back to her nest inside the cage. Everything was going fine until I put a box in another corner of the hay room for the cat to have her kittens in. Dutchess didn't appreciate that and decided to quit the nest a week before hatch date. I moved the cat box out and tried to get her back on the nest but she wouldn't even sit down on the eggs. She would just stand up and squalk at me. Soooooooo.....we candled the eggs and were surprised to find out that some of them were fertile. There are young male guineas with her and also an EE roo but we had never seen the guinea cocks mate with her. The EE, however, jumped her every chance he got.
So here we were with 8 eggs with keets in them of the 21 she was sitting on and no incubator. We grabbed a light bulb, hung in over an open cooler and set a flower pot of water in it for a humidifier. Now, I'm really new at this but I have read enough to know this setup should NOT work. I just felt like I had to do something. I put a thermometer in there but had nothing to check the humidity. The temperature stayed just over 100 most of the time. That hatch date past and nothing was happening. I decided to give it an extra week and then unplug the light bulb. The day we were going to unplug it I went in and found a crack in one of the eggs. I could hear it peeping in there. Hours past and it seemed that the little guy couldn't get out. I couldn't stand it so I would go in every few minutes and pick off more of the shell. Finally the little guy came out - alive but weak. The next morning Miracle was running around.
Three days later I heard peeping from 2 more of the eggs. On the fourth day the peeping stopped. I was afraid they were too weak to get out of those thick shells with the humidity so low so I got a hammer and needle and gently cracked those two eggs. A few hours later I got 2 more live babies out.
Miracle is a LOT bigger than the other two. I know he is 4 days older but just look at him. What do you think? (don't know why I'm calling Miracle a "he" because I sure don't know that either)
My guinea, Dutchess, laid a nice clutch of eggs and started setting. This was her first time and she picked a nice spot inside the barn in the hay room. We really didn't think her eggs were fertile but let her alone to do her thing. I put her in a cage with water and feed so I could lock her up at night (for her safety). During the day she would come out for a little bit and go right back to her nest inside the cage. Everything was going fine until I put a box in another corner of the hay room for the cat to have her kittens in. Dutchess didn't appreciate that and decided to quit the nest a week before hatch date. I moved the cat box out and tried to get her back on the nest but she wouldn't even sit down on the eggs. She would just stand up and squalk at me. Soooooooo.....we candled the eggs and were surprised to find out that some of them were fertile. There are young male guineas with her and also an EE roo but we had never seen the guinea cocks mate with her. The EE, however, jumped her every chance he got.
So here we were with 8 eggs with keets in them of the 21 she was sitting on and no incubator. We grabbed a light bulb, hung in over an open cooler and set a flower pot of water in it for a humidifier. Now, I'm really new at this but I have read enough to know this setup should NOT work. I just felt like I had to do something. I put a thermometer in there but had nothing to check the humidity. The temperature stayed just over 100 most of the time. That hatch date past and nothing was happening. I decided to give it an extra week and then unplug the light bulb. The day we were going to unplug it I went in and found a crack in one of the eggs. I could hear it peeping in there. Hours past and it seemed that the little guy couldn't get out. I couldn't stand it so I would go in every few minutes and pick off more of the shell. Finally the little guy came out - alive but weak. The next morning Miracle was running around.
Three days later I heard peeping from 2 more of the eggs. On the fourth day the peeping stopped. I was afraid they were too weak to get out of those thick shells with the humidity so low so I got a hammer and needle and gently cracked those two eggs. A few hours later I got 2 more live babies out.
Miracle is a LOT bigger than the other two. I know he is 4 days older but just look at him. What do you think? (don't know why I'm calling Miracle a "he" because I sure don't know that either)
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